Re: Slightly OT: Saas vs On Premise...
Thank you again. That seems like a bummer if a vendor would charge for migration if they completely rewrote an app instead of providing a migration tool as a complimentary offering as a part of support or the fee that has already been paid for updates. It's understandable if they would charge for services if there is no one from onsite to perform those operations and if the vendor had to provide for that. Good insight though that one might need to consider this while opting for a SaaS strategy. Joe _ From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Shellman, David Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2014 9:32 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: Slightly OT: Saas vs On Premise... Joe, Sometimes upgrades are assumed as part of the process. Just like a smartphone app, some upgrades are free and some are complete rewrites that you need to pay for. If a complete rewrite then there is the consideration of moving data and mapping fields from one system to another or even possibly a different app with a different vendor. We've done that recently as well. Dave On Feb 25, 2014, at 6:11 PM, "Joe D'Souza" wrote: ** Thanks Tauf, Chris, Terry, David for all your views you'll expressed. The assumptions I made were considering an 'ideal world' definitions of the two strategies. @ Tauf: Good point about internet connectivity. So that gives me the 4th disadvantage to SaaS subject to internet connectivity which could be a real life situation sometimes even for a number of days such as in the event of a natural disaster such as a hurricane or a storm. @ Chris: Good point about co-ordination between internal and external system administrators - you pointed it out in terms of integrations, I think it could be extended to other scenarios as well such as coordinating changes in internal systems that interact with SaaS systems. As a matter of fact I recently experienced one such minor issue recently where contact to a SaaS based system (not Remedy or any of its competing products, but a product we integrated Remedy to that was SaaS based) was lost for nearly a full business day after an upgrade on the SaaS system. I think it turned out to be a firewall issue from their side. Luckily it was in the development environment so it was a lesson learnt for migration to production to make sure the firewall settings were changed accordingly. @ Terry: Didn't even think about the vendor being outside the country :-). I was only thinking about where a vendor is within the country. In reality they could be anywhere. I can see how that could be a big NO to customers like the Department of Defense or similar entities. That would extend my Disadvantage #2 a little. @ Dale: I was not too worried about exceptions such as developers given a VPN access to a on premise solution assuming that such an access is given to individuals after security considerations of both the network as well as the individual given such an access. The security risk I was addressing is where the data is stored outside the organization and not within. VPN is only a means to access the data or application irrespective of where the application and its data resides. And yes with limitations to customizations when on SaaS I meant what you stated as well as there may be application level limitations. Such as in Remedy you are limited to not being able to run direct SQL's or any system processes through run process. Other SaaS based systems may have some limitations too if they have a On Premise counterpart as well. You are also in a way right about possessing data itself is a risk irrespective of where it is stored. Its just that having it onsite, you, your data security team and your management may get a better feel of having better control on the security as opposed to when it is off site, where you have to build a trust relationship with an external entity to protect your data. Its like keeping your money in the bank. Yes its safe. Would it be safer if you kept it with you? Disputable, but yes you may perhaps feel it is safer if it was with you even though it may be disputed as a false sense of security - you could apply that bank analogy to SaaS vendors. I'll need to add your points about cost, the business focusing on their business rather than administering a system that helps their business, etc to my list of advantages and disadvantages.. Thanks for your views.. @ Dave: I was assuming vendors conducted an internal test before rolling out updates thus bringing downtime to near 0. Guess I was wrong on that if you have experienced otherwise. Also didn't know that there could be cases where you are paying for upgrades but its not actually materialized. That's a good point. Again thanks for all your insights. Again this was not to discuss Remedy on Demand vs the AR Sys
Re: Slightly OT: Saas vs On Premise...
Joe, Sometimes upgrades are assumed as part of the process. Just like a smartphone app, some upgrades are free and some are complete rewrites that you need to pay for. If a complete rewrite then there is the consideration of moving data and mapping fields from one system to another or even possibly a different app with a different vendor. We've done that recently as well. Dave On Feb 25, 2014, at 6:11 PM, "Joe D'Souza" mailto:jdso...@shyle.net>> wrote: ** Thanks Tauf, Chris, Terry, David for all your views you’ll expressed. The assumptions I made were considering an ‘ideal world’ definitions of the two strategies. @ Tauf: Good point about internet connectivity. So that gives me the 4th disadvantage to SaaS subject to internet connectivity which could be a real life situation sometimes even for a number of days such as in the event of a natural disaster such as a hurricane or a storm. @ Chris: Good point about co-ordination between internal and external system administrators – you pointed it out in terms of integrations, I think it could be extended to other scenarios as well such as coordinating changes in internal systems that interact with SaaS systems. As a matter of fact I recently experienced one such minor issue recently where contact to a SaaS based system (not Remedy or any of its competing products, but a product we integrated Remedy to that was SaaS based) was lost for nearly a full business day after an upgrade on the SaaS system. I think it turned out to be a firewall issue from their side. Luckily it was in the development environment so it was a lesson learnt for migration to production to make sure the firewall settings were changed accordingly. @ Terry: Didn’t even think about the vendor being outside the country ☺. I was only thinking about where a vendor is within the country. In reality they could be anywhere. I can see how that could be a big NO to customers like the Department of Defense or similar entities. That would extend my Disadvantage #2 a little. @ Dale: I was not too worried about exceptions such as developers given a VPN access to a on premise solution assuming that such an access is given to individuals after security considerations of both the network as well as the individual given such an access. The security risk I was addressing is where the data is stored outside the organization and not within. VPN is only a means to access the data or application irrespective of where the application and its data resides. And yes with limitations to customizations when on SaaS I meant what you stated as well as there may be application level limitations. Such as in Remedy you are limited to not being able to run direct SQL’s or any system processes through run process. Other SaaS based systems may have some limitations too if they have a On Premise counterpart as well. You are also in a way right about possessing data itself is a risk irrespective of where it is stored. Its just that having it onsite, you, your data security team and your management may get a better feel of having better control on the security as opposed to when it is off site, where you have to build a trust relationship with an external entity to protect your data. Its like keeping your money in the bank. Yes its safe. Would it be safer if you kept it with you? Disputable, but yes you may perhaps feel it is safer if it was with you even though it may be disputed as a false sense of security – you could apply that bank analogy to SaaS vendors. I’ll need to add your points about cost, the business focusing on their business rather than administering a system that helps their business, etc to my list of advantages and disadvantages.. Thanks for your views.. @ Dave: I was assuming vendors conducted an internal test before rolling out updates thus bringing downtime to near 0. Guess I was wrong on that if you have experienced otherwise. Also didn’t know that there could be cases where you are paying for upgrades but its not actually materialized. That’s a good point. Again thanks for all your insights. Again this was not to discuss Remedy on Demand vs the AR System on site but a SaaS vs On Premise solution approach in general. Any more suggestions or inputs are most welcome. Joe From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Shellman, David Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2014 9:49 AM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG<mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG> Subject: Re: Slightly OT: Saas vs On Premise... Joe, Since this is a general discussion concerning SaaS, assumption 2 and 3 can be dependent on the vendor and the software. You cannot assume that the software will always be up to date or downtime. I have seen situations where a company is locked to a particular version of software while the vendor charges for an u
Re: Slightly OT: Saas vs On Premise...
Thanks Tauf, Chris, Terry, David for all your views you'll expressed. The assumptions I made were considering an 'ideal world' definitions of the two strategies. @ Tauf: Good point about internet connectivity. So that gives me the 4th disadvantage to SaaS subject to internet connectivity which could be a real life situation sometimes even for a number of days such as in the event of a natural disaster such as a hurricane or a storm. @ Chris: Good point about co-ordination between internal and external system administrators - you pointed it out in terms of integrations, I think it could be extended to other scenarios as well such as coordinating changes in internal systems that interact with SaaS systems. As a matter of fact I recently experienced one such minor issue recently where contact to a SaaS based system (not Remedy or any of its competing products, but a product we integrated Remedy to that was SaaS based) was lost for nearly a full business day after an upgrade on the SaaS system. I think it turned out to be a firewall issue from their side. Luckily it was in the development environment so it was a lesson learnt for migration to production to make sure the firewall settings were changed accordingly. @ Terry: Didn't even think about the vendor being outside the country :-). I was only thinking about where a vendor is within the country. In reality they could be anywhere. I can see how that could be a big NO to customers like the Department of Defense or similar entities. That would extend my Disadvantage #2 a little. @ Dale: I was not too worried about exceptions such as developers given a VPN access to a on premise solution assuming that such an access is given to individuals after security considerations of both the network as well as the individual given such an access. The security risk I was addressing is where the data is stored outside the organization and not within. VPN is only a means to access the data or application irrespective of where the application and its data resides. And yes with limitations to customizations when on SaaS I meant what you stated as well as there may be application level limitations. Such as in Remedy you are limited to not being able to run direct SQL's or any system processes through run process. Other SaaS based systems may have some limitations too if they have a On Premise counterpart as well. You are also in a way right about possessing data itself is a risk irrespective of where it is stored. Its just that having it onsite, you, your data security team and your management may get a better feel of having better control on the security as opposed to when it is off site, where you have to build a trust relationship with an external entity to protect your data. Its like keeping your money in the bank. Yes its safe. Would it be safer if you kept it with you? Disputable, but yes you may perhaps feel it is safer if it was with you even though it may be disputed as a false sense of security - you could apply that bank analogy to SaaS vendors. I'll need to add your points about cost, the business focusing on their business rather than administering a system that helps their business, etc to my list of advantages and disadvantages.. Thanks for your views.. @ Dave: I was assuming vendors conducted an internal test before rolling out updates thus bringing downtime to near 0. Guess I was wrong on that if you have experienced otherwise. Also didn't know that there could be cases where you are paying for upgrades but its not actually materialized. That's a good point. Again thanks for all your insights. Again this was not to discuss Remedy on Demand vs the AR System on site but a SaaS vs On Premise solution approach in general. Any more suggestions or inputs are most welcome. Joe _ From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Shellman, David Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2014 9:49 AM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: Slightly OT: Saas vs On Premise... Joe, Since this is a general discussion concerning SaaS, assumption 2 and 3 can be dependent on the vendor and the software. You cannot assume that the software will always be up to date or downtime. I have seen situations where a company is locked to a particular version of software while the vendor charges for an upgrade. Also have seen recently downtime for maintenance. The downtime window needed to be extended past the original schedule. Then additional downtime was required on a later date to complete the tasks. Dave From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Joe D'Souza Sent: Monday, February 24, 2014 6:14 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Slightly OT: Saas vs On Premise... ** What are the advantages and disadvantages of one over the other? I am asking about any generic
Re: Slightly OT: Saas vs On Premise...
Joe, Since this is a general discussion concerning SaaS, assumption 2 and 3 can be dependent on the vendor and the software. You cannot assume that the software will always be up to date or downtime. I have seen situations where a company is locked to a particular version of software while the vendor charges for an upgrade. Also have seen recently downtime for maintenance. The downtime window needed to be extended past the original schedule. Then additional downtime was required on a later date to complete the tasks. Dave From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Joe D'Souza Sent: Monday, February 24, 2014 6:14 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Slightly OT: Saas vs On Premise... ** What are the advantages and disadvantages of one over the other? I am asking about any generic system in general and not particularly the AR System, when used On Premise vs SaaS.. which is why I prefixed the subject of this email as "Slightly OT".. I'd like to know about the hidden advantages and disadvantages that are not so apparent other than the obvious. The obvious advantages and disadvantages of SaaS I would percept are: Advantages: 1) No onsite administration - lowers cost of ownership 2) You are almost always up to date on versions etc. 3) You do not risk downtime when a system is upgraded, or during system maintenance, or bug fixes. The vendor usually has a faster planned route to rollback. Disadvantages: 1) No onsite administration - reduces flexibility in some areas of customization. 2) Your data resides off premise so it poses some kind of security risk 3) You are vendor/manufacturer dependant - the manufacturer goes out of business, so would your solution. And the obvious advantages and disadvantages of an on premise solution I would percept are: Advantages: 1) Onsite administration - You could do what you want, when you want, how you want to the system as you please with no rules whatsoever apart from system limitations 2) You can choose when to update if at all or stay on whatever version works for you as long as you wish to. Lowers user training costs to a certain extent. 3) Your data is as secure as you want it to be. 4) Your solution life lasts beyond the manufacturers - if they go out of business, you can continue to run their solutions for a while until you have a better solution. Disadvantages: 1) Onsite administration - You usually face higher maintenance and running costs. 2) You risk downtime during maintenance or upgrades or bug fixes even with a good rollback strategy. Any other advantages and disadvantages to the two strategies that I may have not listed here? Joe _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org "Where the Answers Are, and have been for 20 years"
Re: Slightly OT: Saas vs On Premise...
> The obvious advantages and disadvantages of SaaS I would percept are: > Advantages: > 1) No onsite administration – lowers cost of ownership This is not an on-premise versus SaaS issue. Many people work remotely on "on-premise" systems. Nothing good VPN software can't handle. > 2) You are almost always up to date on versions etc. Again, this is not an on-premise versus SaaS issue, but one of the degree to which you customize the core product. The more customizations the longer the testing cycle to see what breaks and what is replaced by new functionality. SaaS CAN be customized if the vendor allows you to (which is true in all of the cases I can think of, which are not that many). > 3) You do not risk downtime when a system is upgraded, or during > system maintenance, or bug fixes. Ummm. No. Many of the ITSMaaS products have the same risk, but is often reduced simply because the level of customization is generally lower. > The vendor usually has a faster planned route to rollback. That may be so, as they go through the pain multiple times (because they have multiple customers), whereas you tend to only do it once. I think they have a better plan because their pain is higher if it fails. > Disadvantages: > 1) No onsite administration – reduces flexibility in some areas of > customization. You'll have to explain that one. The tool itself is no more or no less customizable because it runs on-premise. Maybe you are referring to it being easier for developers to collaborate with customers on customizations? If so, being close to the customer is probably a "bad thing" as it leads to excessive "tweaking", which in the end makes the upgrades so painful. > 2) Your data resides off premise so it poses some kind of security risk I hear that one a lot, but I do not buy it. Possessing data poses risk, period. People who specialize in the security of data centers tend to have a lot more knowledge of how to do it than your average corporate IT security guy, who is probably wearing a hat and a half. Terramark, for example, is Federal Information Security Managements Act (FISMA) certified, which is why Federal government IT is starting to seriously consider SaaS solutions that house their data with them. I can think of a few Federal operations that would not pass a FISMA certification audit. > 3) You are vendor/manufacturer dependant – the manufacturer goes out of > business, so would your solution. And that differs from a vendor-supplied, on-premise solution how? :^) Or are we now discussing "build versus buy"? > And the obvious advantages and disadvantages of an on premise solution I > would percept are: > Advantages: > 1) Onsite administration – You could do what you want, when you want, > how you want to the system as you please with no rules whatsoever apart from > system limitations I think you may have the wrong impression about SaaS, or at least in how it applies in the ITSM space. Not mentioning any names, but some are more flexible than others in this area. But again, it is all about the risk you are willing to accept that a patch from the vendor will break you, or that your upgrade to the next version will be long and painful. I am at a customer and the trip from 7.1 to 7.6 to 8.1 means leaving data behind twice. And that is low customization and on-premise. > 2) You can choose when to update if at all or stay on whatever version > works for you as long as you wish to. Lowers user training costs to a certain > extent. Again, without mentioning any names, some vendors provide you these options with SaaS. But just as BMC wants you to move along with the newer versions (and will cut off support, or ask for more support dollars if you don't) so do SaaS vendors. > 3) Your data is as secure as you want it to be. I would say that it is as secure as you can afford it to be. Most companies are simply not considered interesting enough targets to get owned by criminals and hackers. Also, many companies will not volunteer that they got hacked, especially if they lose no data that might be affected by the increasing number of privacy laws. > 4) Your solution life lasts beyond the manufacturers – if they go out > of business, you can continue to run their solutions for a while until you > have a better solution. Now I really think you are talking about build versus buy and not a vendor-supplied product. Granted, if you have downloaded the software and can re-install it you don't go down the day the company folds. But you are still racing against time. The only companies that I can think of that would continue to run with software where the vendor is gone are probably running their accounting software on an old Macintosh running Hypercard 20 years after the death of the product. (I only mention that because I met such a customer once ...) > Disadvantages: > 1) Onsite administration –
Re: Slightly OT: Saas vs On Premise...
Joe: One major issue that I have come across is your first Disadvantage # 2, off premise location of data. Depending upon your client, this could become an issue as certain clients insist that data stay within the country and must address certain security standards. This would be one of the first questions I would ask when evaluating SaaS. Terry _ From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Joe D'Souza Sent: February-24-14 6:14 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Slightly OT: Saas vs On Premise... ** What are the advantages and disadvantages of one over the other? I am asking about any generic system in general and not particularly the AR System, when used On Premise vs SaaS.. which is why I prefixed the subject of this email as "Slightly OT".. I'd like to know about the hidden advantages and disadvantages that are not so apparent other than the obvious. The obvious advantages and disadvantages of SaaS I would percept are: Advantages: 1) No onsite administration - lowers cost of ownership 2) You are almost always up to date on versions etc. 3) You do not risk downtime when a system is upgraded, or during system maintenance, or bug fixes. The vendor usually has a faster planned route to rollback. Disadvantages: 1) No onsite administration - reduces flexibility in some areas of customization. 2) Your data resides off premise so it poses some kind of security risk 3) You are vendor/manufacturer dependant - the manufacturer goes out of business, so would your solution. And the obvious advantages and disadvantages of an on premise solution I would percept are: Advantages: 1) Onsite administration - You could do what you want, when you want, how you want to the system as you please with no rules whatsoever apart from system limitations 2) You can choose when to update if at all or stay on whatever version works for you as long as you wish to. Lowers user training costs to a certain extent. 3) Your data is as secure as you want it to be. 4) Your solution life lasts beyond the manufacturers - if they go out of business, you can continue to run their solutions for a while until you have a better solution. Disadvantages: 1) Onsite administration - You usually face higher maintenance and running costs. 2) You risk downtime during maintenance or upgrades or bug fixes even with a good rollback strategy. Any other advantages and disadvantages to the two strategies that I may have not listed here? Joe _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org "Where the Answers Are, and have been for 20 years"
Re: Slightly OT: Saas vs On Premise...
I've found that in our SaaS environment there is very little coordination between the sysadmin, NW, Application Admin, and security services. It becomes an extreme headache when implementing integrations between internal systems & the SaaS hosted application. The engineering ownership we THOUGHT we could rely on the vendor to do ... Well, not so much. It is the exception that an implementation goes smoothly. Chris Danaceau 240-386-6728(o) 301-367-8949(c) Sent with Good (www.good.com) -Original Message- From: Tauf Chowdhury [taufc...@gmail.com<mailto:taufc...@gmail.com>] Sent: Monday, February 24, 2014 08:24 PM Eastern Standard Time To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: Slightly OT: Saas vs On Premise... ** One quick disadvantage to SaaS is that you're not only tied to the uptime and reliability of the SaaS vendor, but also your WAN provider. If a circuit goes down or there is a downtime in your network that connects you to the outside world, all of your SaaS apps are up, but in reachable from within your facilities. Sent from my iPhone On Feb 24, 2014, at 6:13 PM, Joe D'Souza mailto:jdso...@shyle.net>> wrote: ** What are the advantages and disadvantages of one over the other? I am asking about any generic system in general and not particularly the AR System, when used On Premise vs SaaS.. which is why I prefixed the subject of this email as “Slightly OT”.. I’d like to know about the hidden advantages and disadvantages that are not so apparent other than the obvious. The obvious advantages and disadvantages of SaaS I would percept are: Advantages: 1) No onsite administration – lowers cost of ownership 2) You are almost always up to date on versions etc. 3) You do not risk downtime when a system is upgraded, or during system maintenance, or bug fixes. The vendor usually has a faster planned route to rollback. Disadvantages: 1) No onsite administration – reduces flexibility in some areas of customization. 2) Your data resides off premise so it poses some kind of security risk 3) You are vendor/manufacturer dependant – the manufacturer goes out of business, so would your solution. And the obvious advantages and disadvantages of an on premise solution I would percept are: Advantages: 1) Onsite administration – You could do what you want, when you want, how you want to the system as you please with no rules whatsoever apart from system limitations 2) You can choose when to update if at all or stay on whatever version works for you as long as you wish to. Lowers user training costs to a certain extent. 3) Your data is as secure as you want it to be. 4) Your solution life lasts beyond the manufacturers – if they go out of business, you can continue to run their solutions for a while until you have a better solution. Disadvantages: 1) Onsite administration – You usually face higher maintenance and running costs. 2) You risk downtime during maintenance or upgrades or bug fixes even with a good rollback strategy. Any other advantages and disadvantages to the two strategies that I may have not listed here? Joe _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ Confidentiality Notice: This email, including attachments, may include non-public, proprietary, confidential or legally privileged information. If you are not an intended recipient or an authorized agent of an intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of the information contained in or transmitted with this e-mail is unauthorized and strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender by replying to this message and permanently delete this e-mail, its attachments, and any copies of it immediately. You should not retain, copy or use this e-mail or any attachment for any purpose, nor disclose all or any part of the contents to any other person. Thank you ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org "Where the Answers Are, and have been for 20 years"
Re: Slightly OT: Saas vs On Premise...
One quick disadvantage to SaaS is that you're not only tied to the uptime and reliability of the SaaS vendor, but also your WAN provider. If a circuit goes down or there is a downtime in your network that connects you to the outside world, all of your SaaS apps are up, but in reachable from within your facilities. Sent from my iPhone > On Feb 24, 2014, at 6:13 PM, Joe D'Souza wrote: > > ** > What are the advantages and disadvantages of one over the other? I am asking > about any generic system in general and not particularly the AR System, when > used On Premise vs SaaS.. which is why I prefixed the subject of this email > as “Slightly OT”.. > > I’d like to know about the hidden advantages and disadvantages that are not > so apparent other than the obvious. > > The obvious advantages and disadvantages of SaaS I would percept are: > Advantages: > 1) No onsite administration – lowers cost of ownership > 2) You are almost always up to date on versions etc. > 3) You do not risk downtime when a system is upgraded, or during > system maintenance, or bug fixes. The vendor usually has a faster planned > route to rollback. > Disadvantages: > 1) No onsite administration – reduces flexibility in some areas of > customization. > 2) Your data resides off premise so it poses some kind of security risk > 3) You are vendor/manufacturer dependant – the manufacturer goes out of > business, so would your solution. > > > And the obvious advantages and disadvantages of an on premise solution I > would percept are: > Advantages: > 1) Onsite administration – You could do what you want, when you want, > how you want to the system as you please with no rules whatsoever apart from > system limitations > 2) You can choose when to update if at all or stay on whatever version > works for you as long as you wish to. Lowers user training costs to a certain > extent. > 3) Your data is as secure as you want it to be. > 4) Your solution life lasts beyond the manufacturers – if they go out > of business, you can continue to run their solutions for a while until you > have a better solution. > Disadvantages: > 1) Onsite administration – You usually face higher maintenance and > running costs. > 2) You risk downtime during maintenance or upgrades or bug fixes even > with a good rollback strategy. > > Any other advantages and disadvantages to the two strategies that I may have > not listed here? > > Joe > _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org "Where the Answers Are, and have been for 20 years"
Slightly OT: Saas vs On Premise...
What are the advantages and disadvantages of one over the other? I am asking about any generic system in general and not particularly the AR System, when used On Premise vs SaaS.. which is why I prefixed the subject of this email as "Slightly OT".. I'd like to know about the hidden advantages and disadvantages that are not so apparent other than the obvious. The obvious advantages and disadvantages of SaaS I would percept are: Advantages: 1) No onsite administration - lowers cost of ownership 2) You are almost always up to date on versions etc. 3) You do not risk downtime when a system is upgraded, or during system maintenance, or bug fixes. The vendor usually has a faster planned route to rollback. Disadvantages: 1) No onsite administration - reduces flexibility in some areas of customization. 2) Your data resides off premise so it poses some kind of security risk 3) You are vendor/manufacturer dependant - the manufacturer goes out of business, so would your solution. And the obvious advantages and disadvantages of an on premise solution I would percept are: Advantages: 1) Onsite administration - You could do what you want, when you want, how you want to the system as you please with no rules whatsoever apart from system limitations 2) You can choose when to update if at all or stay on whatever version works for you as long as you wish to. Lowers user training costs to a certain extent. 3) Your data is as secure as you want it to be. 4) Your solution life lasts beyond the manufacturers - if they go out of business, you can continue to run their solutions for a while until you have a better solution. Disadvantages: 1) Onsite administration - You usually face higher maintenance and running costs. 2) You risk downtime during maintenance or upgrades or bug fixes even with a good rollback strategy. Any other advantages and disadvantages to the two strategies that I may have not listed here? Joe ___ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org "Where the Answers Are, and have been for 20 years"
