The Pros and Cons of SaaS Deployments versus On-Premises

What are the deployment options?

There are many different deployment possibilities, all of which have their own advantages and disadvantages that will need to be considered as a part of any IT strategy. The two standard starting points are:

1. On-premises (aka on-premise or in-house): This traditional deployment method is where you have your own hardware, infrastructure, and support. It is all done in-house. Although there are some specific benefits to this method, in the modern world with its superfast internet connections, there are several major disadvantages.

2. Cloud: As the power and capability of hardware along, with the security and speed of networking, have dramatically increased, rather than having and maintaining server hardware and infrastructure for a specific service or solution, cloud deployment allows you to utilize remote infrastructure to run services, virtual machines (VMs), or containers (contained systems). Thus, you can run public, private, community, or hybrid clouds based on where the cloud is located and who can access it. Cloud infrastructure is also scalable – the larger and more powerful the infrastructure the more services, VMs, and containers can be run simultaneously. It is now common for you to just “rent” your bit of the cloud infrastructure that you need either on a monthly or yearly basis.

Little fluffy clouds

Clouds come in many shapes and sizes and the three primary options for cloud computing as a service are Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). These options all break down to what is managed by you and what is managed by your service provider, ranging from little or no management for you (SaaS) to quite a lot of management for you (IaaS). “As a service” options usually have centrally stored data/documents which enables easier user collaboration and analytics to be performed. With COVID-19 and the increased need for “home working”, collaborative cloud deployments have become very desirable to businesses and organizations around the world.

Deployment considerations

As always, the starting point is your business need and what the specific requirements are. What do you currently have in terms of hardware, software, infrastructure, testing, support, and personnel? Nowadays, data grows exponentially – are you prepared for this? Are you able to scale the current setup or will you need to transition to something new (and better)? Where is all your data currently? What state of quality is that data in? How many users need the data? What and when are the touchpoints? And finally, the bean counters need to get involved – costs, fees, maintenance, support, personnel, internal/external resources will all need to be accounted for.

Accurity is available on-premises or as a SaaS. We provide regular updates for both on-premises and cloud deployments. Regardless of which deployment method is suitable for your needs, we have a solution ready for you.

On-premises advantages

• Running your own infrastructure, on-site or offsite, can give you a greater degree of control over installations, updates, upgrades, backup, and recovery).

• There may be a need for specific (security) compliance – you know exactly where your data is (physically) located. This could be very important if you have to be compliant with specific data laws in your region.

• If you are in a location where there is a poor or limited internet connection, running software locally will likely give you better performance.

• Accurity can be provided as a secure, on-premises installation and we have lots of history and experience of this deployment method, especially in the banking and finance industries.

Cloud advantages

• Running your own infrastructure can be complicated, difficult to maintain, cost more in time, money, and effort. Cloud solutions can alleviate these challenges helping to improve efficiency, enhance the user experience, and make employees happier.

• Accessibility without restrictions – these types of solutions can usually be accessed anywhere as long as you have an internet connection.

• Cloud configurations are often highly customizable and more flexible. Accurity has several business plans with many customizable options. And it’s possible that cloud versions of software might have a different feature set to their locally installed counterpart – click to view Accurity’s SaaS feature set.

• Storage is easily scalable especially when dealing with huge amounts of data.

• Such solutions can be paid for, and start being used immediately, without the need for slow, complicated implementation and potentially huge upfront payments. Rental periods with fixed costs are predictable and thus much easier to budget for.

• If you are renting the infrastructure as part of the Cloud solution it is potentially more environmentally friendly as the server/data center can be optimized for energy requirements, plus there is the possibility of it using localized green energy generation.

So which option is the best?

That is generally not the right question to ask. And don’t be afraid to consider Cloud deployments over keeping everything in-house because technology has come a long way. Networking and the internet have become fast and stable, remote access has become ubiquitous with 3G, 4G, 5G and Wi-Fi, and security and encryption have both massively improved over early incarnations.

One option is not always better than the other – it depends on your use case and requirements. It is no longer about the executive team choosing between two basic options: building additional on-premises capacity with supporting personnel or utilizing the expanding opportunities of Cloud capabilities.

Modern deployments can sometimes require a combined hybrid solution which will bring its own set of specific problems. Specialized experts who understand and have experience of these types of deployment may be needed.

In all cases, it’s very useful to turn the question around and consider, ”what do you want?” first, rather than “which one is best” or “where and how do we deploy it?”. Understanding, what you want to achieve first is crucial, and then we can work with you to support whichever model works most efficiently for your business.

Accurity can do it

If you would like to understand “what you want from it” first, we offer a free 1-on-1 personalized demo, where our data experts can help you find out just that. We will talk you through your use case(s), requirements, and the best way forward concerning the deployment.

We can provide as much or as little as you need from a standalone, on-premises server application, containerized application, up to a flexible, customizable SaaS solution – click to view Accurity's deployment options. Along with basic support, enterprise level support, up to custom, bespoke installation, configuration, and ongoing support with our Simplity Professional Services personnel – all part of the Simplity Group.