On-premise server or cloud? How to decide, for your company
The question looks technical, but the decision really comes down to how your company works: do you keep the server in the office, where you have it under direct control, or move the data to the cloud, where you reach it from anywhere and pay a monthly fee? The right answer depends on several factors: how many people you employ, the applications you run, and the quality of your internet connection. And in most cases, the best option is neither purely on-premise nor purely cloud, but a combination of the two. Here we weigh them side by side, applied to your company rather than in the abstract.
The server in the office: direct control, with the responsibility that comes with it
A server in the office has one concrete advantage: it’s physically there, with you. It runs fast on the internal network, the data stays in your location, and once it’s bought it doesn’t generate a recurring monthly cost just to keep it running. For demanding applications that need local-network speed or don’t run well in the cloud, it’s often the right choice.
The less visible part is that, along with the server, you also take on the responsibility of maintaining it: uninterrupted power, a cool and secure space, a backup that actually runs and is checked, updates, and security. The real cost isn’t the figure on the invoice, but replacing the machine a few years on, plus ongoing maintenance. There’s one essential point too: a server kept only in the office, with no copy off-site, is a single point of failure. If it breaks, gets stolen, or the office is hit by a fire, the data goes with it.
The cloud: flexibility, with a monthly cost and a dependence on your connection
The cloud reverses exactly these terms. Your data and applications are reachable from anywhere, on any computer or phone. You no longer administer physical equipment in the office, you adjust resources as the company grows, and backup and recovery are considerably easier to get right. Payment is monthly and predictable, something you put in the budget like any fixed expense. And if you already use Microsoft 365, part of your company’s infrastructure is already in the cloud: email and files are hosted there, not on a server of your own.
The price of that flexibility is a dependence on two things: the internet connection and the provider that hosts your data. If the connection drops, access drops with it, which is why, for a company that works in the cloud all day, a stable connection is no longer optional. And since the data is hosted externally, it matters who the provider is, where they store it, and what the contract says. For reference: with us, cloud backup starts at €30 for 500 GB, and a full cloud infrastructure on Azure, AWS, or Google starts at €50 per month. These are fixed costs, unlike an on-premise server, where the real cost only becomes visible the moment something fails.
How to make the decision, for your company
The decision gets clearer if you look at four things. First: how many people you employ and where they work from. A distributed team, working from home or in the field, tilts the balance toward the cloud. Second: the applications you use. Some still need a local server, but more and more run just as well in the cloud. Third: the quality and stability of your internet connection. Without a solid connection, the cloud becomes a constraint. Fourth: how much direct control you want to keep over the data.
In most cases, the right answer isn’t one or the other, but a hybrid model. A local server for the parts that have to be fast and close, paired with the cloud for backup, email, and remote access. That way you get both the speed of the internal network and a recovery plan that sits outside the office. Exactly the piece that’s missing when everything is concentrated in one place.
How we work with both options
We manage both: an on-premise server, backup and replication in the cloud, infrastructure on Azure. So we have no reason to steer you one way just because it would suit us. The recommendation follows from what we find at your company, not from what we’re trying to sell. It starts with an on-site audit: we look at your current infrastructure, how the team works, and your present costs, and at the end you get a written recommendation (on-premise, cloud, or the hybrid model right for your company), reasoned and backed by figures.