In business, it’s pretty well understood that there’s no such thing as standing still: If you’re not moving ahead, you’re being left behind. More and more, companies pursue “continuous improvement” not just as a vague goal, but as a continuous daily practice. Businesses understand that they have to constantly ramp up efficiency, quality, effectiveness and speed if they’re going to do well in our fast moving, fast changing society.

Continuous improvement goals run into big problems, though, when outdated technology is holding you back. It costs a lot, though, to stay on the cutting edge: Hardware upgrades are a major capital expense, and one that it is often all too easy to stall indefinitely when budgets are a concern – sometimes until it’s too late for a company to catch up. You may know exactly what hardware and software you need in order to remain current and competitive, but that technology can hang just out of your reach if you don’t have the resources to make the big investment in buying new servers, applications and gear outright.

At Red Level, we get that. Many of our clients have only recently bounced back from the damaging effects of the last recession, and they are rightfully concerned about the economic and business outlooks going forward. A new approach to infrastructure renewal was needed, and now we’re providing it: “Hardware As A Service,” or HaaS.

HaaS basically means that you don’t buy servers, routers, firewalls, laptops and so forth anymore – you subscribe to them. Rather than making a huge capital expenditure to buy new hardware and revamp your IT – and winding up stuck with truckloads of obsolete, valueless gear a few years down the road – you make regular monthly payments, transforming your investment into a predictable, controllable and scaleable operating expense. At the same time, you establish a framework for regular, orderly IT upgrades that keep your company at technology’s cutting edge.

It may sound like a big change – but if you think about it, this is a model you’re probably already familiar with. Your cable provider, cell phone provider, even some software providers already deliver hardware/software packages as part of their service to you. With HaaS, you upgrade your IT the same way you upgrade your phone every couple of years – through an orderly, cost-controlled process that leaves you with better service, no disruptions, and costs held squarely in check.

Red Level is now offering one, two or three year HaaS plans as optional add-ons to our regular managed services packages. Because of these plans, it can now be possible to get the speed, efficiency, and security benefits today’s technology can offer, without needing to write a massive check up front. As to the technology that investment gets you – we’re talking strictly state-of-the-art:

• Dell Latitude 5000 and 7000 series laptops – powerful, lightweight multitasking masters
• Dell 13th generation PowerEdge servers with Intel Xeon E5-2600 v3 processing power under the hood
• Dell N-Series networking switches – energy efficient and cost-effective
• The Dell SonicWall security suite – firewall, Network Security Appliance, wireless network security, and WAN acceleration

We think that for many businesses, HaaS is an idea whose time has come. If you’re trying to run lean and mean, HaaS leaves you with more capital to reinvest in your business, while gaining the peace of mind of knowing that you’re doing what it takes to drive continuous improvement forward – your tech won’t hold you back.