Cloud, On Premises—or Both? How to Know What’s Right for Your Business

The cloud doesn’t have to be an either/or choice. Partners can help you navigate the myriad of choices and land on the right deployment model for your business. But it’s important to be an informed customer, too.

Today more than one billion people are mobile, connecting to corporate resources from their homes, through cell phones and from other mobile devices. These are not just employees of big enterprises. They’re also small business owners and employees who are no longer working in the normal business environment on a day-to-day basis.

The cloud can give employees access to everything they need online, from a variety of devices. But there are also times when on-premises deployment makes sense. For example, a customer may have a unique intellectual property and want to keep it behind its own firewall. The point is, customers shouldn’t feel they have to use the cloud just because it’s there.

Each deployment option has its advantages, and your unique business situation will determine which fits best.

On-premises solutions can have advantages when:

· Losing control and privacy are a big concern, and you are convinced that day-to-day control over hardware, maintenance, and infrastructure is the best assurance,

· Your business can tolerate very little downtime. For example, a hospital that needs immediate access to medical records,

· Your business has more than 50 users, and it has capital and IT resources to invest in a data center, and

· Your business requires a high level of customization.

Cloud-based solutions have advantages when:

· Your employees need to access systems via mobile devices, from a lot of different locations,

· Your business has cyclical or seasonal variations in server demands,

· Your business doesn’t have enough internal IT resources to handle maintenance and updates, backups, and disaster recovery, and

· Your business has fewer than 50 users, is in growth mode, and can’t support a big capital outlay.

Hybrid applications can offer the best of both worlds, not just for your business situation, but for each individual employee. A flexible deployment model can allow your business to grow while managing costs and unique business needs.

For more information on how to assess the best deployment model for your business, view the on-demand webcast, “Don’t just react to change, shape and drive it with a cloud or on premises solution from Microsoft Dynamics ERP.”

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