One of the most common IT questions received at Blue Layer is:
“Should we stay on-prem, or move to the cloud?”
The kicker is, there is no universal solution. Every business has different needs, goals, workflows, and budgets. So instead of forcing you in a certain direction, we want to break down your options so that you can clearly see what will work best for your business
The Cost Difference
On-prem requires significantly more upfront spending. When you choose this option, you are purchasing the hardware, required licensing, maintenance of servers, and support of IT staff to keep everything secured, patched, and running for your business.
The cloud shifts that investment into a predictable monthly model. So instead of one large payment, you’re paying smaller ongoing costs that include the maintenance and support you need. This setup is often better for businesses who prefer more flexibility and less overall oversight.
How Fast is Your Business Growing?
If your business is growing quickly, hiring new staff, adding locations, or anything in-between, the cloud can provide instant scalability. It has the capability to grow with you.
Contrarily, on-prem environments require more time and capacity planning, as well as a need for more equipment.
Security & Compliance
Security can also be a determining factor when it comes to choosing between on-prem and the cloud.
On-prem environments give you full control over your servers, data, and access. This can be essential in industries with strict compliance requirements.
Cloud platforms, on the other hand, offer strong inclusive security and protections that smaller internal teams may not have the resources to match. For many businesses, the cloud provides a higher level of security with less hands-on management.
Who Handles the Work:
Cloud solutions managed by Blue Layer reduce the pressure on your internal team. We handle licensing, infrastructure setup, updates, patches, and proactive support so your staff doesn’t have to.
On-prem environments require more hands-on administration but provides total control. Blue Layer has the experience to setup your on-prem systems with ongoing resources to secure, backup, and manage it.
Performance & Reliability
Cloud platforms are designed for flexibility and easier mobile accessibility. They should also be configured for backup and scaling as needed to keep your systems running smoothly. Cloud platforms generally have applications built specifically for ease-of-access from a multitude of platforms (mobile, tablet, workstation) and systems (iOS, Android, Mac, Windows).
For businesses running legacy tools or specialized applications, on-prem may still provide the best performance because configurations can be made to fit exactly what the system needs.
In some cases, a hybrid setup gives companies the best of both worlds: keeping sensitive or legacy systems on-prem while moving other, everyday applications to the cloud.
The Most Common, Real-World Solution: Hybrid
Bottom line? Most businesses don’t choose only one direction. Hybrid solutions allow a company to balance control, cost, flexibility, and compliance based on what works best for them and their industry.
For example:
- Keep proprietary systems or bandwidth critical applications on-prem
- Move authentication, productivity tools, email, backups, and collaboration to the cloud
- Scale cloud resources to your changing business demands
- Maintain critical infrastructure in-house
This approach gives businesses a strategic mix that grows as they grow at a speed that is right for them.
How to Choose What’s Right for You
There’s no wrong answer, only the wrong fit for your business goals.
The decision comes down to:
- How you budget
- How fast you need to grow
- What your industry requires
- What tools your team depends on
- How much IT management you want to own internally
At Blue Layer, we help businesses evaluate their current environment, understand their risks and requirements, and build a solution that makes sense now and supports growth long-term. For many, the answer isn’t cloud or on-prem, it’s finding the right balance between the two.
As you explore your options and plan for the future, our team is here to help you navigate what works best for your organization.
Contact us so we can help you understand the options available.
The Blue Layer Team