Why it pays to compliment the chef, and other takeaways from the anything-as-a-service economy

In the business jargon landscape, “anything-as-a-service” (XaaS) is zooming past “Uber for X.”

The OG of the XaaS model is, of course, software-as-a-service (SaaS). The SaaS model revolutionized the tech industry by delivering software via the internet rather than on premises.

This change created benefits for both consumers (who got cheaper and more flexible services) and software creators (who could earn recurring revenue while accessing global markets).

Microsoft Dominates SAAS. AWS Dominates IaaS. You Dominate XaaS?

Other concepts that have adopted the X-as-a-service playbook include platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS). Amazon Web Services (AWS) is considered a trailblazer in both spaces.

The economics of the PaaS and IaaS models are so strong that while AWS accounted for only 13% of Amazon’s total revenue ($9B) in its previous quarter, it delivered 71% of the company’s operating income ($2.3B). 

Now, dozens of business functions are ripe for X-as-a-service treatment

In all of our post-turducken hangover generosity, the Trends team has compiled a list of 100+ XaaS opportunities for your perusal. Among our favorites:

• Clothing-as-a-service (new wardrobes for $88/month)
• Egg-freezing-as-a-service (fertility assessments for $300)
• Games-as-a-service (unlimited video games from $12.99/month)
• Knowledge-as-a-service (like having an “on-demand, personal, graduate-level Ivy League research assistant who never sleeps”… which you probably can’t afford)
• Thanksgiving-leftovers-as-a-service (AKA “your mom”… now, go give her a big hug, you ungrateful doofus)