For almost every aspect of their IT services, today's enterprises can choose between on-premises and cloud options, including security, software, storage, servers, backups, and enterprise resource planning (ERP). Although the cloud is getting more popular, on-premises or "on-prem" systems continue to play an important role. Significantly, each approach has its benefits and challenges.
As a managed services provider (MSP), it is your responsibility to ensure that your customers make the best decision. In this post, we'll look at the benefits and downsides of cloud vs on-premises computing and how to help your customers choose the best fit for their needs.
On-Premise vs. Cloud
It's hardly surprising that cloud computing has gained such popularity because of the freedom it offers businesses in terms of time and money savings and increased agility and scalability. However, on-premise software, which is installed on a company's servers and secured by a firewall, has long been the only choice and may still be able to suit your business's needs.
- Security
On-Premises
When comparing cloud vs on-premise security, companies with sensitive information, such as the government and banking industries, require the protection and privacy that an on-premises environment provides. Despite the cloud's promise, security is a central issue for many companies, so an on-premises system makes more sense despite some limitations and a higher price tag.
Cloud
Security concerns continue to be the most significant impediment to cloud computing usage. Many notable cloud breaches have occurred, and IT organizations worldwide are concerned. Security concerns range from employee personal information such as login credentials to intellectual property theft.
- Cost
On-Premises
Enterprises that deploy software on-premise must bear the continuous costs of server hardware, power usage, and space.
Cloud
Enterprises that use a cloud computing model pay for their resources with no maintenance or upkeep charges, and the price changes up or down based on how much is consumed.
- Compliance
On-Premises
No matter their industry, many businesses nowadays are under regulatory control. Perhaps the most well-known is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which protects private health information. There are still numerous others, such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which contains comprehensive student data and other governmental and commercial rules. Companies subject to these constraints are required to uphold compliance and understand where their data is.
Cloud
Businesses that choose the cloud computing model must perform due diligence to ensure that their third-party supplier is current with all applicable regulations and complies with them. They must preserve sensitive data and respect the privacy of your customers, business partners, and employees.
- Uptime
Every company desires optimum uptime. After all, time is money, and when systems fail, you lose opportunities to reach clients. Both the cloud and on-premises have significant advantages and disadvantages in this sense. A broadband internet connection is required for cloud access. Significantly, you will lose access to your cloud data if the internet goes down.
On-premises data is stored locally, so no internet connection is required, and the data is always accessible. However, the cloud is likely to be more dependable regarding servers. On-premises solutions rely on a small number of servers; redundancy is prohibitively expensive. Your productivity will suffer tremendously if your local server is not functioning correctly. On the other hand, massive cloud data centers are highly redundant and guarantee a given amount of uptime. Customers may not even notice if one server fails.
- Scalability
On-Premises
In the same case, a corporation with on-premise security would need to spend swiftly on additional hardware and software to expand its infrastructure. This concept could be highly beneficial to start-ups and other rapidly growing businesses. Furthermore, businesses with a significant number of remote workers may profit from the scalability of cloud-based security.
Cloud
Scalability is an area where the cloud excels. The cloud allows data centers to swiftly modify their resources to match client demand. For example, if a company experienced significant expansion and wanted to expand its infrastructure and processing power, the cloud could easily accommodate this.
- Deployment
On-Premises
In an on-premises environment, resources are deployed internally and within an organization's IT infrastructure. An enterprise must maintain the solution and all of its allied procedures.
Cloud
While there are various types of cloud computing, in a public cloud computing environment, resources are hosted on the service provider's premises. Still, organizations can access and utilize as much as they want at any given time.
- Control
On-Premises
Businesses keep all their data on-premises and have total control over what happens to it, for better or worse. As a result, businesses in highly regulated sectors with elevated privacy concerns are more likely to be reluctant to adopt cloud computing before their competitors.
Cloud
Many businesses, as well as service providers, have struggled with the problem of data ownership in a cloud computing environment. Your third-party supplier keeps data and encryption keys, so if the unexpected happens and there is downtime, you might not be able to access that data.
Bottomline
The cloud can provide enormous benefits to businesses. As a result, IT departments must comprehend how the fundamental distinctions between on-premise and cloud infrastructures affect security. If this information is not considered, the firm will not protect sensitive cloud data to the best of its capacity. However, if this information is deemed while developing a new cloud environment, enterprises may benefit from a higher level of security than their on-premise solution.
