Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) for investment in new communications hardware can be avoided by delivery of Communications as a Service, where communications is delivered based on an Operational Expenditure (OPEX) model.

Communications as a Service (CaaS) has become a widely adopted alternative to capital expenditure in on-premise equipment which then needs to be managed and maintained ongoing.

CaaS moves the responsibility for providing and maintaining your communications services onto your chosen service provider for a monthly service charge. Services can be readily scaled up or down to meet your requirements and you only pay for what you need.

CaaS is a means of reducing fixed assets and shifting technology risk to the service provider. Technology obsolescence will be more easily managed by the scalable third party.

What is CaaS?

Gartner defines CaaS as IP telephony that is located within a third-party data centre and managed and owned by a third party. The assets are corporate rather than carrier-grade, the service is not 'in the network' but owned by the servie provider and the assets are multitenant in terms of usage. IP Centrex is an example of one type of CaaS. SIP trunking where your calls go over an IP network instead of TDM is another example. Advantages of CaaS include the provision of a single bill that consolidates telecom services with equipment infrastructure and the opportunity to have access to more new features and capabilities on a per user basis and without the investment risks associated with new technology.