To continue our mini-series on cloud migration topics, we wanted to lay down a figurative gauntlet that can help you decide between two incredibly useful, and fairly different, ways to compute for your business, namely picking either On-Premis or Cloud computing.
While IT teams of every size consider the best options for deploying digital workloads, these days the choice always seems to come down to these two options. Public cloud resources offer extraordinary scalability, lower operating costs, and boundless access to new technologies – but on-premise infrastructure offers more control, dedicated security options, and internal visibility.
Look, we know every business is different, so we’re not here to shove one of these methods down your throat. In fact, the opposite is true. We’re going to present on-premise and cloud computing in all their glory before highlighting the key differences between the two. And when you’re done reading this poetic manifest (or whatever you want to call it) you’ll be able to assess your own situation and make the best decision for your team.
The Benefits of Choosing On-Premise Computing
On-premise infrastructure, known also as a private cloud, is a specific kind of cloud environment available for use only by one client (organization) which is typically stored on-site or with a dedicated third party group. Instead of sharing resources with multiple clients, companies like yours theoretically have complete access to all the resources that private cloud computing can provide.
Additionally, due to their nature, private clouds provide a highly secure environment that can simplify compliance with stringent regulations around the world. Private clouds simplify data governance and data locality issues and can deliver high SLA performance and efficiency. For any businesses operating in highly regulated industries, knowing data is located within an in-house server (and IT infrastructure) can also provide more peace of mind.
Of course, the downside to on-premise solutions is the costs associated with housing and maintaining all your specific solution entails, which can run exponentially higher than its cloud counterparts. On-premise setups require additional hardware, software licenses, integration capabilities, and knowledgeable employees and contractors on hand to support and manage problems as they happen.
The Benefits of Choosing Cloud Computing
On the other hand, we have cloud infrastructure, also known as public cloud solutions, which acts as an elastic computing resource with pay-as-you-use-it pricing. These types of public cloud solutions are entirely managed through third-party providers, meaning IT teams need to purchase, install, manage, and upgrade all of this technology on-site.
The key benefit to these types of solutions is they can scale easily to meet unpredictable workload demands in ever-changing markets while providing highly-reliable solutions due to a great deal of redundancy. Public clouds can also provide access to otherwise unreachable next-generation services like AI/ML, containers, blockchain, serverless computing, and especially cloud-native applications.
With these third-party options, there are no capital expenses except for what you use and data can be backed up regularly from anywhere in the world. The cloud can also aid in connecting with your customers, partners, and other businesses anywhere with minimal extra effort. And because cloud computing is already configured, updates and patches are instant, so any new software that is integrated into your digital environment is instantly ready.
More about the cloud: How Does the Cloud Benefit Small Business?
Key Differences Between On-Premise & Cloud Computing
For our money, it’s like owning vs. renting a home. When you own, there are endless possibilities available to alter your home from the garden to the basement and beyond. The downside, of course, is if something like your water heater breaks, you can’t contact your maintenance hotline for a quick fix.
So are you looking for freedom, affordability, or both?
On-Premises |
Cloud |
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DEPLOYMENT |
Resources are deployed in-house, within the IT infrastructure. Your business must maintain the applications and all of the related processes. |
Resources are hosted on the premises of a service provider. You are able to access those resources and use them as much as needed. |
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COST |
You are responsible for the ongoing costs of the server hardware, power usage, and space. |
Pay for what you use after you use it, with none of the associated maintenance and upkeep costs. |
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CONTROL |
Here you can retain all your data and are in full control of what happens to it – great for companies in highly regulated industries with extra privacy and control concerns. |
Data and encryption keys reside within your third-party provider, whoever that is, so if the cloud is compromised in some way, you may be unable to access your data. |
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SECURITY |
Your team has complete control over who has access to your servers and more – but also takes 100% of the blame should something go wrong with your cloud. |
Cloud breaches are rare but catastrophic across industries when they happen. When you aren’t in control, you are always adding layers of risk to the situation. |
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COMPLIANCE |
With nearly every industry operating under strict regulatory control, keeping data on-premises means your team takes the lead here. |
Most industry-based cloud servers automatically create compliance where it’s needed – but do your due diligence to ensure they are above board. |
Want to learn more ways your company can protect itself? Click here!
Depending on the square you pick you may believe we’re a little biased one way or the other, but truly the decision must be made by your team to best fit your needs. In most cases, and quite frankly like most things in life, hybrid solutions to computing problems are the best answer for nearly every business we talk to. In fact, two-thirds of businesses chose hybrid options in 2021, no matter what the blend looked like for their team.
The reality is hybrid solutions offer businesses the best of both worlds, which allows them to combine the benefits of lower costs and high flexibility with greater control and security wherever each is needed most in each case. Hybrid solutions are tailored to your needs, ensuring you’ll never have to make compromises by using a hammer when a screwdriver will do just fine.
Conclusion
Jets or Sharks, tacos or sushi, on-premises or cloud solutions… the toughest choices seem to nag at us until we just make them. No matter what you do and how you do it, to be successful in the modern marketplace your team needs a scalable infrastructure that can support hybrid integration, data transformation, fast and secure file transfer, and end-to-end visibility of all the data that flows through your systems.
To serve your team and protect all that you do, you face the tough task of determining whether to utilize internal, external, or both kinds of computing. And whether you bring nearly everything in-house or send it all out the right answer is the one that fits your situation.
To learn more about which solutions can work best for your business, give us a call at (864) 552-1291 and we'll help you evaluate capabilities and options. Also, sign up for PTG Tech Talk for bi-monthly tech news and consider following us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter!
