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Discover the main differences between the solution technologies, enhancing your business process and data exchange
Today`s technologies provide supply chain participants with a wide range of solution options. Each enterprise could choose the best type for them depending on its needs, priority functionalities, financial capabilities, industrial capacity, etc. Sometimes the great choice of options could have disadvantages. A poor understanding of what stands behind a concrete solution type brings complexity and wrong choices in consequence. Specifically for the topic, it is quite obvious that the first and clear difference between these three technologies is the location. But that`s only the surface – there is much more at the bottom. That`s why we will discover what are the differences between on-premises, cloud, and hybrid solutions, as well as a checklist of key points to take into consideration in the decision-making process.
On-premises solution
This software solution is physically installed on the enterprise`s own hardware. The infrastructure is hosted locally in-house while all data is stored on a server or on a private cloud in the same location. Users of this solution have full control and responsibility for the security and access to applications and data exchange. Moreover, on-premises solutions could be tailored, to meet the company`s specific processes.
On the other side of the coin, the on-premises solution requires great investment, especially the high initial installation costs. Therefore, using such a solution, the enterprises have to conduct hardware maintenance, enhancing data integrity and safety. That turns out the on-premises as time-consuming and brings the need for subsequent investments.
Cloud solution
Cloud services provide hosting of the company`s application offsite. All data and configurations are held in the cloud. The SaaS (Software as a Service) solution has a considerable advantage providing an easy connection with minimal effort among customers, partners, authorities, and other stakeholders. Installing and maintaining are painlessly conducted virtually, enabling an uninterrupted production process. Furthermore, cloud-based solutions usually are on subscription, saving unnecessary costs by paying only for what you prefer. Cloud providers ensure against failure, using a vast network of servers, data mirroring at multiple redundant sites, data backup, disaster recovery, and other functionalities.
Besides, as we mentioned in the beginning, SaaS services are hosted on the service provider`s infrastructure, taking control and responsibility into his hands. SaaS providers invest heavily in security technology and expertise regarding their core business focus. When SaaS vendors manage tedious tasks to keep their SaaS service up-to-date, employees can focus on other priorities.
Hybrid cloud solution
The evolution of technology and great development of functionalities, bring the last solution type – hybrid cloud solution a combination between on-premises and public cloud. A hybrid cloud provides significant scalability, providing flexibility for diverse workloads, high data security levels, and wide deployment options. For example, Microsoft Azure allows replicating in a secure and seamless way your entire environment on Azure, providing strong network capabilities and high-level accuracy that hybrid cloud implementation needs.
Additionally, this is an innovative solution that allows the business to scale up on demand without unnecessary purchases and setups. The hybrid solution provides freedom in many fields. On the first hand, the users could choose to maintain the sensitive data in a private infrastructure. On the hand, in case of the need for resources in the public cloud, the users could reach them at any time.
Checklist – future cloud provider evaluation
Here is the key criteria to consider when you choose your cloud services provider. The performance of each criteria can be used to make an assessment of the overall performance of the cloud vendor:
- Easy administration
- Secure communication
- Security functions of the cloud provider
- Secure access
- Encryption of serialization and aggregation data
- Data protection
- General data protection certification
