How the subscription economy can benefit your business

The subscription economy has come of age. The notion is gaining traction in the United States and Europe for a wide range of services.

Subscription models, such as Netflix for TV, Spotify for music, Adobe Creative Cloud for design services, and Ring for home security, have steadily woven themselves into our daily lives and enterprises over the last decade. Given the model’s rapid adoption, it is apparent that businesses and individuals are reaping the many benefits of having access to flexible, scalable technology on their terms.

Subscription models in software are dramatically altering the traditional perpetual licensing model and redefining how firms, partners, and customers collaborate.

AVEVA had record subscriber growth in the previous fiscal year as organizations sought nimble access to breakthrough technology. According to ARC Advisory Group, subscription models are expected to grow at nearly four times the rate of traditional software in the industrial automation software markets over the next five years, with Enterprise Asset Management and Field Service Management software markets leading the global transition.

Financial advantages

Furthermore, when compared to an outright purchase, the cost of using software in the first year is far lower with subscription licensing. Customers that subscribe to software pay only a percentage of the entire cost in the first year. This means that software procurement is moved from the capital budget (CapEx) to the operating budget (OpEx), and capital spending can be transferred to other expenses. This means that customers may be able to support other high-priority capital projects.

Access to innovation must be flexible.

Customers will also have unprecedented access to technology innovation and transformation at a cheaper starting price point, as well as flexibility, scalability, and built-in customer support, thanks to the subscription model.

You buy only what you need and grow it as your needs change, while the service provider fully manages your cybersecurity needs.

For example, our subscription service ‘AVEVA Flex’ grants clients the right to utilize and receive upgrades to software advances on an ongoing basis. This strategy has a significant advantage in that as soon as new features are added to the software you’re using, they’re automatically available with no additional rollout or purchase necessary.

Customers are empowered to exploit innovative technologies and adapt rapidly to growing market demands by reducing traditional obstacles to software adoption, without having to navigate onerous capital budgeting cycles.

As an example, AVEVA recently launched its new Operations Control software, which is offered on a subscription basis and provides a game-changing mix of cloud, on-premise, and hybrid solutions across AVEVA’s full industrial portfolio.

For the first time, businesses of all sizes will be able to concentrate on enabling their workers and harnessing agility and flexibility to maximize their operations. From industrial IoT designs to cloud-driven remote edge administration to multi-site control, AVEVA’s software is now available through a flexible usage model and simple subscription.

Technical agility

Subscription-based software provides access to a wide range of market-leading technological solutions, either on-premises or in the cloud – all in one package. Companies can monitor and control systems from a variety of platforms, including web, mobile, cloud, and desktop.

Organizations can also benefit from a variety of “scaled to fit” scalable choices that allow them to adjust scale use and data points as their needs change.

This paradigm also provides the necessary flexibility to enable a wide range of architectures and integration capabilities with an assortment of open, seamless, hardware-agnostic solutions. Subscriptions considerably improve and simplify the ability to integrate technology across a wide range of industrial applications. It also means that clients have the freedom to change the solution architecture at any time during the project’s lifecycle, including prototype, design, commissioning, and expansion.

Transformative technology

With such compelling advantages, it’s no surprise that the subscription model is rapidly acquiring global clout. Its distinct combination of commercial, architectural, and technical benefits is poised to continue changing the world of industrial software and beyond, allowing clients to harness the power of world-class technology on their terms.