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:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Joe D'Souza Sent: Monday, February 24, 2014 6:14 PM To: [email protected] 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"
