Food For Thought | cloud vs on-premise 

Author: Benito van Breugel

In a world that is rapidly changing and becoming more and more data addicted, it is difficult to regain focus and use the right information to make well informed decisions. Within the Data & Analytics landscape there is a vast number of technology stacks, vendors and solutions available, which adds unwanted complexity to make the right choice for your organization. Deciding where to build your information platform, on-premise or in the cloud, is becoming a more important decision every day. Are you ready to make that choice? Let’s dive into it!

Over the years I have seen priorities change and technologies evolve. From a standard Business Intelligence architecture on-premise to a DevOps cloud platform solution, it is all possible nowadays. Question remains, what suits your organization the best? And therefore, what do you need based on your requirements?

We can be sure about one thing; every organization takes decisions based on information, every day.  Data is everything and everywhere, without data, there is no foundation to steer upon as an organization. Each organization works with data in a different manner. A small organization potentially doesn’t need a full-blown information platform to make decisions, but what is a small organization? This simple question is already difficult to answer. However, even a small organization benefits from having an information platform. The way it suits the organization the best depends on its specific requirements. Getting a clear understanding of the requirements is key in making the right decision for the Data & Analytics solution to be built on top of the information platform.

Defining a clear vision for all these points will help you set and drive your organization’s Data & Analytics strategy. Out of the defined Data & Analytics strategy the right Capabilities, -Solution-Architecture and -Solutions will be defined and implemented. Your organization’s information platform will then provide the required capabilities to gain new and valuable insights, enabling you to make well-informed decisions. Sometimes, simple insights enable more powerful actions.

When choosing a platform, the security discussion is always on the table. A lot of customers still prefer to control their own services, rather than subscribing to a cloud solution. Answers like: “I don’t want to have my data located somewhere else”, or “I don’t trust the security, everybody can see it” are arguments used against cloud adoption. Do you believe this is reasonable in the current digital era?

Any vulnerability, on-premise or in the cloud, will have a dramatic impact on both clients and cloud providers or vendors. The cloud has many protection mechanisms and certifications to ensure the highest degree of security. Based on your organization’s requirements and business vision it is up to you to decide whether you want to build the information platform on-premise or in the cloud. Deploying on-premise will give you full control of your data center and security settings on your required location, but with a higher maintenance effort. Deploying to the cloud will give you scalability, flexibility and robustness. You can start using it with a click on a button and leverage its services through a pay-as-you-go subscription.

After reading and gathering these requirements, are you now ready to make your choice?

Food For Analytics will help you with this journey by assisting your organization in defining a clear vision, strategy, and deliverable(s) for your Data & Analytics solution. We think about what suits your organization the best. We support both solutions, on-premise and cloud. Since we deliver a scalable, flexible, and robust data solution, our information-platform can always be changed if directions and requirements change. The Food For Analytics information platform has been built under the assumption that change is the only constant. We are more than happy to support your organization’s journey and decision-making processes, by providing you with the best possible information and insights out there!

Stay tuned for more blogs and the introduction of Food For Tech where we will dive into the technical solutions out there.