It’s easy to forget that there is still a role – and likely will be in the future – for on-premise IT infrastructure.

The traditional method of downloading or installing software on a computer or server is certainly more time and resource consuming compared to SaaS’s direct software delivery via the internet – to name but one limitation. However, there are some valuable aspects to on-premise that still hold up despite all that the cloud offers. In this article, we’re going to look at on-premise, SaaS cloud, and hybrid solutions for document creation and template management and investigate the value of each.

“…there will always be a need for on-premises software, especially in large corporations and governments where data ownership and security are paramount.” – Clearcode

Spot the difference: on-premise software vs. SaaS cloud solutions

Custom-built software on locally hosted physical servers and databases are a tangible and known entity. Servers are stored according to the organization’s safety standards and are closed off to outside networks or environments, keeping full control of security and data ownership within the organization. But there are drawbacks to this model which becomes starkly evident when compared to SaaS cloud solution capabilities.

“By 2019, more than 30 percent of the 100 largest vendors’ new software investments will have shifted from cloud-first to cloud-only.” – Gartner

What can the cloud do better than on-premise?

Why companies still use on-premise IT infrastructure

On-premise IT infrastructures, despite some limitations, still hold value. These systems were typically custom-built to serve the purposes of the particular business. For some companies, it can be daunting to consider migrating to the cloud and moving their data from the servers in the basement to a data center. But the reality is that moving to the cloud introduces many more advantages than disadvantages, by providing better security, scalability, and therefore stability. The single biggest benefit of cloud solutions is that you as a company don’t have to maintain the service yourself. Letting go of this resource-heavy task lets companies focus resources on their core business, while cloud solution providers focus on their core business, i.e., making sure that their cloud-based service runs stable and securely for the companies using it.

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Cloud means increased efficiency

Traditionally it has been necessary to do in-house development to customize a service to your business’ needs, meaning that an on-premise solution where you as a company were in control of everything would be more suitable. Furthermore, you could control what services are running and who has access to what, since all data resided on your own physical servers. However, maintaining this requires a lot of knowledge and resources inside the company, and would always be outside of the business’ primary domain.

If efficiency and resources are aspects that a company needs to prioritize, one of the first things that should be considered is outsourcing on-premise systems that require considerable IT resources in favor of a cloud SaaS solution.

Oskar Konstantyner, Product Owner at Templafy says, “cloud SaaS solutions – such as that provided by Templafy – typically means that you can access the solution from all locations independently of your company’s infrastructure. This can happen without compromising security since the full focus of the cloud solution hosting provider is on delivering a stable and secure solution. In the case of Templafy, this, for instance, means that it’s possible for us to automatically scale the number of servers according to the servers’ current workload. This would be much more difficult in an on-prem environment since that would require actually buying and setting up more physical servers.”

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The hybrid model

“One way of making a graceful migration is to take advantage of the hybrid model. This way it is possible to migrate parts of your IT-infrastructure to the cloud while keeping the more sensitive parts on your own servers. This way it is possible to get experience of how the cloud fits into the companies current IT-infrastructure without putting the company’s more sensitive data at risk. Later when confidence in the cloud platform has been built up, it will then be possible to move more parts of the IT-infrastructure to the cloud.” says Oskar Konstantyner, Product Owner at Templafy.

Reach an evergreen solution

Businesses who don’t keep up with the times risk being left behind. This translates to lost revenue and that is always going to be a front and center issue. SaaS solutions have the capabilities to bridge many of the limitations of on-premise document management software solutions such as scalability, performance and security while maintaining the existing configuration and local requirements. The result: increased efficiency for your document and template management system.

Templafy can be customized to suit the needs of any organization in the world, no matter how big. If you want to know how Templafy’s SaaS solution can help your company’s IT infrastructure take advantage of the cloud, get in touch with us to find out how Templafy can work for you.