On-Premises vs. Cloud Solutions: Key Differences

In IT realm, it is common to hear a question about cloud vs. on-premises solution. There is always a debate which one is better and which is not! The fact is, both are good at their own places and the real question is which is better for you. It highly depends on your preference, but to help you in process of making choice, today, we are going to share top 5 key differences between on-premises and cloud based solutions based on common factors.

1. Data Security
It is one of the most important factors to think about while we are talking about on premises solution and cloud based solution. In on-premises setup, your data, applications and other infrastructure will stay within your company premises or data center. On the other hand, in cloud setup, you are putting everything on a shared server aka cloud server. As you can perceive the on-premises solution can be better in terms of security while we give a critical thought. Of course, the cloud server takes required steps to keep data secure still you are sharing data with 3^rd party and there can be certain threat or data security compromise issues.

2. Ownership
In on-premises solution, everything, including, but not limited to, hardware and software are stored on your premises and give you the highest level of ownership and we are not exaggerating by saying, an on-premises solution gives you 100% ownership of data and your IT infrastructure. However, in a cloud environment, you don’t own infrastructure; you just lease it. Furthermore, you share data with them, which can be used by them for certain reasons which they generally mention in a long agreement and T&C page which we generally skip to read. Here, you don’t transfer ownership of data to a 3^rd party service provider, but, yes, you do give them some rights to use it.

3. Remote Access
The on-premises solution can be accessed remotely with remote applications and cloud solutions are globally available by default. Thus, in both cases, the solutions are available for remote access.

4. Response time for operations
In the on premises solution setup, you own complete infrastructure and you can run any operations at the speed you want to have! However, in cloud based infrastructure, it takes some hours to days to finish an operation because you need to raise a ticket which is then reviewed and operated by the team of cloud service provider. This process may take time, which is often longer than the solution which is installed on-premises.

5. Cost
The on-premises solution requires a considerable capital investment to setup the solution. However, it is just one time investment which comes with lifetime benefits. On the other hand, with cloud based solution, you can lease some cloud space which can fit into your current requirement and budget. In future, you can increase space as and when required by paying more. Thus, in cloud solution, you have this flexibility of pay as you go.

These are the top 5 key differences between on-premises vs. cloud based solution. Feel free to contact us to get answers of any query you may have in mind!