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Olga Weis
Last updated Nov 18, 2021
Introduction
The move to remote work due to the global pandemic has brought new big challenges for both employees and business leaders. Lots of companies worldwide started looking for flexible and cost-efficient solutions to let their workers access office equipment and devices remotely.
Be it a hybrid or a full remote scenario, the question of saving costs takes center stage for modern businesses.
Which billing model to choose: subscription or Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG)? Which software solution would work best for full-remote employees? And which is better for part-remote workers?
In this article, we are going to compare the subscription and PAYG approaches using the example of the Business and Team plans of the FlexiHub remote access service.
With the massive switch to remote work in this new remote world, companies around the globe are increasingly adopting new strategies for providing their services offsite. In these circumstances, it becomes of crucial importance to make sure that company processes are uninterrupted and remote teams function efficiently within a new work environment.
To help employees be productive from anywhere and deliver high-quality output, companies rely on third-party solutions that allow remote access to office equipment and devices. Thanks to dedicated software and hardware tools, it becomes possible for remote workers to connect to office peripherals over a network.
FlexiHub for Business is a safety-oriented remote access service that enables access to USB and serial port devices over the Internet and LAN. It is based on advanced port virtualization technology that gives your team an efficient way to establish remote connections to physical devices no matter where they are.
The number of connections your team can create depends on the number of Sessions you purchase. A FlexiHub Session means one-time access to a remote peripheral. Based on your company’s needs, you can select a suitable Session package and use the service until your sessions run out. The pay-as-you-go (PAYG) pricing model allows you to pay a one-time cost for the service and start using it whenever you need it. You can simply reactivate your account when required by buying another Session package.
The PAYG approach seems to be the optimal choice for companies that have opted for a hybrid working model.
If some of your employees spend several days of the week working away from the office, or your team has to work remotely during a lockdown, or someone on your team is not allowed to come to work because they are required to self-isolate for a specific period, it will be wise to purchase a limited number of Sessions for a reasonable price and let your employees connect to office devices when such a need arises.
The PAYG FlexiHub plan will undoubtedly save money for companies with non-regular connection needs.
But if your organization has shifted to a full-remote work and there are office-based non-removable hardware that needs to be accessed remotely day-to-day, it’s recommended to try a subscription-based solution like FlexiHub for Teams.
With a monthly or yearly billing plan, you get unlimited access to the service and can create any number of connections to remote devices from any number of computers. You can cancel your subscription at any time.
The subscription billing model will also work well for companies that are going to redirect USB and serial port equipment to the cloud and connect it to virtual machines for constant use.
It’s no surprise that the PAYG model is commonly chosen by remote access software and service providers. This approach has many advantages for customers, including:
On the other hand, there’s a subscription-based model that provides the following benefits:
A subscription model means that customers are automatically charged a fixed reoccurring fee for the subscription to be renewed. Customers get continual access to products or services until they cancel their subscription.
With the FlexiHub service, you have several options to choose from. As you already know, there is PAYG-based FlexiHub for Business and subscription-based FlexiHub for Teams.
Let’s compare the solutions to see the differences between the two:
| What’s included | Team | Business |
| Number of computers | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Number of simultaneous connections to remote devices | 10+ | Unlimited |
| Number of Sessions | Unlimited | 100/200/300 |
| Billing | Monthly | Prepaid |
As you can see, each of the plans has conditions that may or may not be suitable for your company’s needs.
But whichever option you choose, FlexiHub will come in handy for your remote team to access office devices from anywhere fast and securely.
