As the old way of doing things make way for the newer “hip” methods, businesses start looking for technologies they can adopt in the hopes they will increase their productiveness (read: “profits”) and cut down on their costs. Any new software or innovative technology that promises to deliver on either side of the accounting ledger is up for grabs.

And so too is the story with businesses looking to discard the “old” way of using on-premises applications in favor of the “new” way of doing things – adopting and using cloud applications via Software as a Service (SaaS).

In their rush to get ahead, many businesses find themselves in an unpleasant position where they can neither go back to the old way of using their local software or go ahead and make full use of the new SaaS provided technologies.

Therefore, businesses should make sure they really are going to benefit from cloud applications before making the jump; and to help with that we will look at how businesses should choose between on-premises or cloud applications before making the decision to either go ahead or stay put (for the moment at least):

Is The Move Necessary At All?

Just because technology is available doesn’t mean it should be automatically adopted. For example, if a business anticipates a rise in traffic arriving from outside (perhaps they have rolled out a global service which will result in an overload of data requests) it should look into going into the Cloud. Otherwise, simply “modernizing” its way of doing business could result in more headaches than solutions and incur costs that are absolutely unnecessary.

How Reliable Will The Service Be?

Availability is almost 100% when it comes to using on-premises software. If not, support for repair and re-installation is usually at hand or within reach (a walk to the IT lab). A failure can be corrected within a reasonable amount of time and depends on how prepared the business is when it comes to avoiding and recovering from such disasters.

But when the move to SaaS is made, everything is left to third parties: the service providers, the internet providers, etc., and full control over the applications is lost. A business should therefore make a detailed feasibility study to see if these third-party service providers can be fully relied on to deliver as close to 100% uptime as possible. If not, backup plans should be looked into and with that having failed, the move should be scratched.

Can Your Infrastructure Handle It?

A Pentium I machine (if they even exist) with a Windows 98 installation (despite it being one of the most beloved operating systems to come from Microsoft Inc.) will not be able to function well with Cloud technology.

Although the footprint may be light in terms of software and bandwidth, it is the issue of compatibility that will need to be primarily addressed in this case. Either the business will need to bring in newer and better hardware/software or alternatively use virtualization.

If the cost analysis results in unsustainable expenditures, it is better for the business to either remain with the current way of doing things or look for feasible alternatives.

Will The SaaS Integrate With Other Systems?

Businesses, especially middle-to-large ones, will most likely have more than one system in use and which interact with one another. If a move to the Cloud is proposed, it should take into consideration the fact that it will overtake the process as a whole and integrate the individual systems or at the very least offer an alternate solution (for example, manually transferring output from one system and using it as input for another, or using intermediary applications to handle the transfers).

Otherwise, having two or more separate modules that have no way of communicating with one another not only increases the man hour that will be needed to carry the slack, it will almost always be as error-prone as it will ever get.

Is There Any Information That Should Be Kept Under Wraps?

One drawback of handing control of a system over to a third-party service provider is the relinquishing of control over the data and information that goes with it. SaaS services providers will of course promise that no data will be leaked (intentionally or otherwise) and that they will do their utmost to protect it from prying eyes.

But be that as it may, the chances of the data being hijacked en-route (even when it has been encrypted) increases as it moves through the Cloud. And then of course there is the matter of the SaaS providers’ own employees having access to it.

Needless to say, careful consideration should be taken in choosing a provider with the most trustworthy service. Otherwise, the results could be disastrous for the business itself and, more importantly, for its clients who have entrusted it with their personal information.

In the case where the move is a must, a hybrid model should be considered – using both on-premises as well as Cloud applications and then integrating them – so that the critical data remains within the control of the business while the transactions can be handled by the SaaS.

While the five points mentioned above will help a business makes its mind up on whether or not to move to Cloud applications, it should be remembered that there is almost always a solution to the obstacles – if there is the budget for it that is.