On-Premise Vs. Cloud: A Guide For Brands

As we enter another new year full of hopes and anticipation, more brands are reconsidering on-premise infrastructure. O-Reilly found that nearly 90% of organisations surveyed had shifted to the cloud for better customer engagement. However, 2023 still sees others straddling the fence.

This is food for thought – in light of the benefits the cloud offers, businesses should want to leap sooner than later. But the business world is no stranger to cloud migration being daunting and downright painful.

Then there's the higher management that needs to be more flexible to consider the switch and excruciatingly long implementation timelines. So, there are both benefits and challenges involved. The real question, then, is whether the high price of cloud computing worth it.

Growth Jockey explores this in more detail in our guide for brands.

The Face-Off: On-Premise vs Cloud

If so many businesses, even new brands, migrate to cloud solutions, it is worth noting the benefits these solutions bring.

1. Flexible and Scalable Operations

From what we've observed, no brand only sees days of sunshine. There are high and low days for business. During periods of low demand, it is essential to have a way to scale down business. This is readily possible using cloud solutions.

Scalability encompasses many factors, including internet usage, bandwidth, resources, etc. Since all data is stored on virtual servers, resources can be increased or decreased as per convenience. Cloud is the way to go for businesses looking for flexible infrastructural solutions.

2. Reduced TCO or Total Cost of Ownership

Another area where the cloud wins in the on-premise vs. cloud battle is the reduction in the brand's Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Businesses can invest less in IT infrastructure.

Growth Jockey supports this solution because it frees up investments for more important things, such as improvising products and services for higher revenue. To get into more detail, Capgemini surveyed IT managers.

Gartner found that 85% of organisations will make the cloud the centrepiece of their digital operations by 2025.

3. Ongoing Support and Maintenance

Another reason brands value cloud solutions are that their work reduces significantly compared to on-premise solutions because they do not have to invest heavily in an entire IT team to look into bugs and fixes.

The cloud service provider handles all maintenance, patches, and updates. Plus, changes can be made within a short span. Naturally, cost and operational efficiency also improve because of the proper utilisation of IT resources.

4. Easy Access to Client Data

Instead of data storage on a server or computer, cloud solutions offer completely virtual storage. Since all information is available on a centralised hub, it is easily accessible for anybody with proper credentials.

Consistency between users is, therefore, maintained. The customer data can be used by all members (instantly) for analysis. Based on this analysis, highly personalised campaigns can be developed. The internal teams can also leverage ongoing market trends and changes within their customer-centric campaigns.

5. Security

To many businesses, this may come as a shock. Growth Jockey has observed that new brands hesitate to take the cloud route because they have data security concerns.

On the surface, this is valid. After all, what hope of security is there when everything is online instead of being onsite, right? Also, when the business can access the data online (instantly), even cybercriminals can, right?

But nothing could be further from the truth. This is because a cloud host's full-time role is to monitor security at all levels. Moreover, a high percentage of data theft happens internally (though businesses do not openly admit it).

6. Easy Collaboration

One common complaint with on-premise infrastructure is the barrier to easy collaboration. This is a given since most data is stored in siloed systems.

Thankfully, cloud infrastructure facilitates easy collaboration among team members. Information can be viewed in real-time and shared with others accordingly. Some cloud service providers also offer collaborative social spaces so that employees may connect easily, driving greater engagement.

7. Recovery from Disaster

This is among the most critical on-premise and cloud difference. One of the keys to organisational success is control. For instance – there are things within an organisation's management. Then there are those entirely outside its control.

The current market scenario is such that even minor downtime may cost significantly in the long run – lost productivity, damaged brand reputation, and reduced revenue. While it is challenging to predict out-of-control factors, the cloud makes disaster recovery possible in the shortest time.

Challenges to Cloud Migration (with Ways of Mitigation)

Having explored why cloud computing is better than on-premise solutions, let’s also understand the perspective of brands hesitating to leap.

1. Higher Costs

In their dilemma to choose between premise or cloud, many hold back due to fears of increased costs. This is true that cloud solutions may come across as expensive, especially with the ‘single bill’ problem.

Many organisations take the support of different vendors – one for the servers, one for networking, a third for storage, and another for core infrastructure. All these costs are spread across purchase orders.

A single bill may be good since it helps reduce waste, but the costs are also high.

Our Take on the Solution

Growth Jockey believes that one of the most costly ways to operate in the cloud includes lift-and-shift migration techniques. Cloud storage is affordable, but Standard Virtual Machines (SVMs) are expensive.

One way to reduce cloud costs without revamping systems (which will not happen overnight) is to reserve SVMs for a couple of years (one to five). This converts the expenditure from the capital to operational, enabling you to avail of discounts.

Another way to reduce costs is to shut down non-production SVMs. This makes you responsible only for the storage costs.

2. Performance Issues

Some organisations hesitate to move to the cloud because of performance concerns. While expectations are high, storage access time issues may indeed persist. For instance – applications that require significant IOPS or input-output operations per second may see an outage even for minor variations.

The problem does not stop here – it only becomes trickier when the application is such that it experiences shifts in latency. We believe that applications that frequently experience spikes in bandwidth or throughout are cause for valid concerns.

Some architects try to shift from shared to local storage to solve the issue. But, in most cases, it's equivalent to jumping out of a ditch into a well since local storage lacks data persistence. At least three copies of cloud data will be needed.

Our Take on the Solution

Growth Jockey's team believes that performance concerns, though valid, are also expected with cloud computing. This is simply because performance can always cause problems with IT systems.

The solution then lies in quantifying performance metrics like latency, CPU utilisation, etc. Having a proper baseline for the systems will enable correct performance quantification.

The problem is not whether the cloud can perform as well as on-premise systems but mainly about proper testing before migration execution.

The Bottom Line

Another issue often cited is security, but as mentioned earlier, cloud computing is secure. Does this mean that you cannot make dramatic mistakes on the cloud? No, this is all the more to ensure relevant checks and testing are in place.

However, it does win the on-premise vs cloud battle. Statista found that even the cloud security market size is enormous, with experts working round-the-clock to monitor unauthorised access.

Moreover, accessing security codes and data encryption is much easier on the cloud than on-premise systems. Risks and challenges are involved, but new brands can navigate them with proper knowledge. Growth Jockey specialises in helping organisations serve their clients better through integrated cloud-based experiences.

You will enjoy powerful analytics, better insights for engaging content, higher inbound marketing revenue, and enhanced data security through successful cloud computing.

At Growth Jockey, we are committed to delivering tailored solutions that effectively address the critical challenges faced by our clients across various industries, ultimately enhancing the user experience. Regardless of your company's size, whether it's a small-scale enterprise or a large corporation, you can now leverage advanced technologies to optimize your user experience. Take a proactive step towards unlocking the next level of growth for your brand by reaching out to us today!