The dilemma SaaS vs. on-premise brings a misconception about the outsourcing of a software instead of its purchase. Understand what is best for your company.
If you want to deploy - or even to change - your company's system, you will invariably end up with a dilemma: SaaS vs. on-premise.
In other words:
Would it be better to subscribe to the service and leave its management in the hands of the supplier company or to buy it and pass this responsibility on to your IT team?
This article will point out the main differences between the two systems and clarify an unfounded myth, which you may have heard of - or even believed in.
First of all, let's dive in on how each one works.
SaaS vs. on premise: which one is the best for your business?
The acronym SaaS stands for Software as a Service. The name is self-explanatory: it is an online software, also known as cloud computing, which is provided as a service by specialized companies. Because it is a service, the access is not available by the purchase of the software, but by subscription in it.
Back to the dilemma:
Is it better to buy an application just to be able to call it 'yours', even if it implies a series of constant worries for the IT team, or to pay a monthly subscription, in which the management of the software - including the responsibility for security data and system updates - is in the hands of the service provider (which is specialized in this subject), freeing up your workforce to focus on other projects or tasks?
We’ll give you the answer at the end of this article. Stay with us. But first, let's dig a little deeper in this subject.
Data security: a critical issue
The main stakeholders in data security are the contracting company and its employees. Therefore, for some managers, this is a positive point of the on premise system: all the internal affairs stay at home, not in the hands of third-parties.
The flip side is the insecurity, in case something goes wrong. In this scenario, it is good to have a service provider partner that is extremely careful with the information and that takes care of the disaster recovery plan (backups, encryption, recovery of lost data, etc.).
The unfounded myth and resistance to SaaS services
Yes, it is true that the software on premise offers greater ease of customization, since it is owned by the purchasing company and is located on its servers.
But changing on-premise software, whether for dissatisfaction or for any other reason, presents a much greater operational difficulty than if it were in the SaaS / Cloud system.
And here lies a misinterpretation, which is adopted by many professionals and business managers that involve technology:
*The fear of vendor lock-in by SaaS providers, due to the fact that, instead of buying the software and making it their property, they start to hire it from a supplier company. *
This reasoning is unfounded, because what happens is exactly the opposite:
*It is much easier for a company to change a SaaS application than to change an on-premise application. That makes the vendor lock-in closer to on-premise than to SaaS. *
Think of the workforce that is triggered whenever a major change needs to be implemented - or a problem occurs - in the on-premise system. It's a huge weight on the IT team's shoulders.
For managers, this nightmare has the face of productivity loss. When the maintenance is a local responsibility, there is a forced adaptation of internal processes, which were not designed for this type of situation.
This hardening of the processes, added to the fact that the software was purchased (and the idea of replacing it is uncomfortable in a financial way), it forces several companies to be tied up to services that, in many cases, no longer represent the ideal solution. And this is the real vendor lock-in.
It is also necessary to make the following observation:
*The ease of changing the system presented by SaaS places on the shoulders of the supplier company the responsibility of maintaining the quality of its services always high. If the supplier company delivers a poor service, it simply packs up and leaves, as it is very easy to be replaced. *
Now tell me: does the feeling of being trapped apply more to the SaaS or to the on-premise? 🤔
SaaS vs.on-premise: the verdict
The team of professionals at bohr.io is well rounded in web applications. We’ve been in this market for more than 10 years and we have already served clients in various segments, from medium-sized companies to large corporations.
Therefore, we can surely say that, currently, the SaaS model presents itself as the best option for a huge variety of business models.
In addition to the ease of changing the system in case of dissatisfaction, and the tranquility of knowing that the service provider is responsible for the smooth running of things, as mentioned above, we list the main advantages of the SaaS / Cloud model over the on-premise to support your choosing process:
Cost savings, especially those related to internal infrastructure, since the software is in the cloud.
Access to state-of-art technology and constant updates included in the service subscription.
High availability, both in terms of service and technical support, especially in critical moments (here your IT team thanks you! 😍).
Deployments without the involvement of the internal IT team (here they thank you again!).
Progressive deployment: it allows gradual deployments, which avoids service interruptions during the process (good for the user experience).
Operating systems and updates fully managed by the Cloud provider (now the IT team is totally in love with you!).
Automatic backups managed by the Cloud provider.
Monitoring and diagnostic tools with notification system included in the subscription.
Ease of integration with other systems.
Robust, secure and reliable infrastructure.
The arguments presented in this article are based on our experiences with both SaaS and on-premise. The purpose of this blog post is to give you a conceptual basis on the subject.
But we know that it is in real life that we see things working. That's why we invite you to take a free demo of bohr.io, our one-stop-shop platform that provides a smooth developer experience for building applications from source code to production.
Consider yourself invited. 🙂