On Premises and Off Premises IT Services
IT services refers to the application of business and technical expertise to enable organisation's in the creation, management and optimisation of or access to information and business processes.
On-premises
On-premises, services are generally accessed and managed from the premises
It means that all the software, servers databases etc are located and hosted in the same premises where they are used
Off-premises
In off-premises services are managed by the service provider and the required resources can be accessed online. All the servers databases software is hosted and located somewhere else with ease of service provider and we just access them online.
It’s no surprise that cloud computing has grown in popularity as much as it has, as it offers newfound flexibility for enterprises, everything from saving time and money to improving agility and scalability.
Let’s understand why off-premises it services
(Cloud computing ) is more popular than on-premises services by comparing them
1.Cost
In on-premises, you need to buy your own servers, databases, cooling equipment, backup power generators etc. Suppose you want to go from Mumbai to Pune for that you won’t buy a car right? You would use a cab for the same which gives you the same facility. Similarly, In off-premises, we only need to pay based on our usage and resources consumption so it’s cost-effective.
2 Scalability
It’s very difficult to predict how much resources you require in future based on your current consumption. It can be greater or less and depends on the market and season
So it’s just the loss of money when you have more resources and its consumption is accordingly less and you just can’t do anything because you actually purchased it.
But with off-premises (cloud services )you can reduce the number of resources like servers and databases you purchased and also you can increase its capacity based on your current consumption at any time it offers more scalability than on-premises and cut down the cost.
3. Maintenance
On-campus services are owned and managed by own. So for the maintenance needed to be done, software engineers and a dedicated team is separately required. But in off-premises, the maintaining of infrastructure is done by the service provider and we don’t need to pay for it.
This is easier and the company now can concentrate on its progress without much worry of the system
4. Accessible anywhere using internet
On-premises services are only accessible within the campus But off-premises services can be accessed from anywhere over the internet and they are platform-independent. This increases the productivity and mobility.
5.Rapid implementation
Off-premises, services can be easily set up within just a few clicks. It is also very easy to
Adjust resource requirements. We can avail the service within a few minutes. But in on-premises services, the setting up the system may take some time. This reduces complexity and saves time.
But off-premises also have some disadvantages too
1. Dependant service provider and trust issues
All the data and servers are hosted on systems of service providers. So if something happens to the service provider then we may lose our data. Also, the service provider can get access to your data although it is encrypted. This create the trust issues.
2. Man in middle attacks
The data is served over the internet. So it can be prone to the cyber attacks
Due to these disadvantages, the services provided by the government and banks are generally on-premises and it is managed and maintained by them. However the startups and many of the companies and organisation prefer off campus services due to its scalability flexibility and cost-effectiveness .
