Is Robotics As A Service The New Business Model ?

The world is changing and by the term changing, we mean to say – it is digitizing.

Shared services, for long, has been part of the above digital transformation. Industries, aware of the benefits of shared services, showed a huge interest in deploying these as an integral part of business operations.

The known and the most popular ones consist of:

• Platform-as-a-service
• Software-as-a-service
• Infrastructure-as-a-services

Whether it was because of the cost-effectiveness or convenience or easy business integration, these services succeeded in creating an excellent effect on business leaders compelling them to embed them into existing infrastructure. However, the wave of digitization paved ways for newer technology to see the light of the business world. From artificial intelligence to virtual reality, robotics to automation, each has made an entry to the digital world.

And of these, the one to be one step ahead is the model of RaaS Or Robotics-as-a-Service.

RaaS is an inquisitive model of business and merges technologies like AI, robotics, cloud computing, and shared services. According to Loops Ventures Research, the global market of robots is expected to multiply by 175% in the upcoming decade. Considering such figures, nearly every industry plans to integrate robotics solutions to improve their business efficiency and RaaS aims to achieve exactly the same at a lesser cost and shorter time to market.

For organizations that are low on budget but high on functionality, RaaS is something they need to know about. The business model of Robotics-as-a-Service prevents them from buying an integrated and customized solution. Instead, they could rent or lease corresponding devices which is similar to the cloud as a service model.

Added to the above is it’s higher customer engagement propensity, flexible options of purchase and improved customer loyalty backed up through satisfaction.

How Does RaaS Work?

Robotics-as-a-Service function in two modes, either robotics as cloud or rent robots.

Robotics as a cloud service

Robots that are employed in retail stores or company warehouses own access to the cloud and shared services. These can then gather significant data about the goods stored, exported or imported and store them on a shared cloud-based data system. This centrally located data is human accessible and embeds a layer of seamless data integration. Employing such a business model enhances the overall functionality of the organization and removes the possibility of error or data redundancy.

Rented Robots

With almost every industry vesting in AI and automated devices, it is imperative to deploy robots and stay at par with the market needs. Now, integrating a robot might not be feasible for all companies ranging between small scale to high scale. Given the scenario, Robotics-as-a-Service emerges as an excellent alternative for SMEs. Instead of buying a dedicated robot, they can rent robots and be part of the shared model. Not only does it cuts down the total cost of operation but adds flexibility and gives more power to create a difference.

How Has Robotics-as-a-Service Model Gained Momentum?

Owing to the constant rising competition, business leaders have always been in awe of technologies that would revamp their business operation and give it the required boost. With the evolution of Robotics-as-a-Service, professionals have had the opportunity to integrate a better, cost-effective and flexible model. One that would fuel their business growth and at the same time adhere to their cost to business ratio.

Robots have been in the technology industry since ages and the pool of benefits rendered by the same, no doubt led to its integration on a large scale. However, the fact that it is a bit expensive and costly affair, the small and mid-sized companies preferred not to risk their business. Integrating robot’s then meant investing a huge sum and wait for years before even getting something in return. This prevented the technology from getting the exposure, it should have been given.

Robotics-as-a-Service is the model, apt for such industries. It is more like a way out for them. They can use the shared service model which offers exactly the same service but at a lesser price. Organizations, today can scale their business in a way that suits best the industrial needs. And all of this at a lesser investment capital and optimized cost.

Thanks to the operational fluency with the software-as-a-service model, organization do not find hard to sign up with cloud services connecting with robots. No wonder, robotics-as-a-Service is appealing professionals industry-wide.

RaaS Industry Benefits

Though the majority of the leaders believe, RaaS to be more inclined towards the automotive industry, the truth is that it isn’t. The technology has its shadows reflected on all major sectors like retail, manufacturing, agriculture, healthcare and supply chain management.

The fact that there is surplus demand but lack of labor, organization shift their focus to a better and more effective form of employment. Where manufacturing industries employ robots in the warehouse for goods and inventory management, the healthcare industry vests in robots for surgeries and related tasks. Disaster and control management sector are using robots to perform tasks in life-threatening situations, retail sector promotes customer engagement and predicting analytics through robots. No doubt, all of these witness higher operational efficiency and greater ROI, post the inculcation of robots in their business operation and the demand keeps growing gradually.

Conclusion

According to Allied Market Research, the RaaS market is estimated to grow to nearly $34.7 billion worldwide in the next three years and is growing at a fast clip — nearly 23% CAGR. This figure is sufficient enough to suggest that worldwide usage of Robotics-as-a-Service model. A report states that very soon RaaS would affect industries and their annual tipping as Crop dusting ($70 billion), industrial cleaning ($78 billion), warehouse management ($21 billion), causing total disruption.

And all of this would have a huge effect on the consumer market, dramatically. Dangerous, life-threatening and labor-intensive tasks would be replaced by robots accelerating digitization. What we need to do is keep up by the technological advancement and educate people on its potential. Nonetheless, this is just the start and the world is on the verge of witnessing another technological revolution.