Cloud Platforms Work Together with On-Premise Platforms

Cloud software platforms are a hot topic right now: many of us are currently using them to make more efficient use of resources. And while many ISVs see the difference between cloud and on-premise solutions as being black and white -- they're exclusively offering one or the other -- it's worth keeping in mind that there can be a middle ground.

For technology managers, the decision between cloud-based and on-premise solutions can present a significant challenge, largely because each option offers some strategic benefits. But you don't necessarily have to make a clear-cut choice between the two.

You can implement platforms both on-premise and in the cloud, and can reap the benefits of each strategy as a result.

Two key benefit of a cloud software platform are better collaboration between information workers off-premise, and a lower total cost of ownership, as your IT staff has no servers to manage or maintain.

But there are some negatives: larger businesses can struggle with the volume of data required to leverage the software, and government agencies and other sensitive businesses can't be quite as assured that their data is secure. With highly sensitive information, it still makes sense to keep data warehouses on-premise.

The best choice may well be a hybrid strategy. While startups might get excited by the idea of leveraging cloud platforms, and established enterprises might feel more comfortable with staying on-premise, a far richer option is to meld the two.

Here's how that works. Sensitive information stays on-premise, but the application layer collecting that information is in the cloud. This gives a company full control over its data on-premise, while taking advantage of the cost savings that come with cloud computing. The component that connects to the data stays on-premise, meaning that the only data that gets transferred to the cloud does so as the result of a query.

The result? Data remains fully secured, and maintenance becomes headache-free, with no upkeep required: no uninstalls, no updates, no patches. You get all of the benefits of the cloud while eliminating all of its drawbacks.

This article originally appeared on Internet.com's CIO Update Web site.