Data hosting is an essential part of business today. 

Since computers are the lifeblood of modern commerce, how a company hosts its data has a significant impact on its ability to store, manage, and make the most of business-powering data.

Put simply, the better data control a business has, the better they can manage it in a way that delivers maximum value for the company.

When it comes to important business functions like your employee productivity measuring systems, how you host your data is a key decision. That’s because the type of hosting you use can determine how various processes within your business are done.

There are two primary ways companies choose to host their data: cloud hosting or on-premise hosting. In this article, we will go over the differences between the two and why on-premise hosting may be ideal for your business.

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Cloud Hosting vs. On-Premise Hosting

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Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting has exploded in popularity in recent years. With big tech corporations like Google and Apple paving the way, ‘the cloud’ has become a well-known term throughout modern business.

Cloud hosting means storing all data within what’s known as a ‘cloud’. The cloud isn’t a single machine; it’s a series of connected servers that exist virtually, rather than at the end point of the user or company.

Businesses can use cloud hosting to store data for just about every aspect of their operations. There are many benefits of cloud hosting, such as:

• Flexible pricing
• Potentially faster data access
• Simple and speedy to set up
• No need for a large IT team
• No significant internal infrastructure required
• Greater protection from utility failures and hardware issues

Typically, companies choose cloud hosting to save time, money, and effort.

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On-Premise Hosting

With on-premise hosting, everything is stored on a company’s own servers. 

This means it’s the company's job to manage their own data, software and hosting. They use an enterprise license or a copy of the software and keep everything in-house. For instance, if you rely on data from a productivity tracking system, this could be managed entirely on your own I.T. infrastructure.

For many large corporations with the money and resources to invest in their own servers, on-premise hosting is the norm.

Just like cloud hosting, on-premise hosting has its own set of benefits, including better data control, enhanced security, easier compliance, and better scalability.

Choosing which type of hosting to use for your business primarily comes down to your particular needs, plans for your data, and the internal resources you have available.

Let’s look at the types of companies that typically prefer on-premise hosting.

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The Types Of Companies That Typically Prefer On-Premise Hosting

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Despite the growing popularity of cloud computing, on-premise servers are still the primary hosting method for most large companies and enterprises.

According to a 2019 survey from Spiceworks, 98% of companies still use on-premise server hardware. This is based on results from over 500 IT decision-makers, reflecting the common opinion in large corporations as a whole.

The fact that on-premise hosting has been used for decades while the cloud is still relatively new also certainly plays a big part in the prevalence of on-premise hosting. 

The types of companies that typically prefer on-premise hosting include:

• Large corporations who require the ultimate in security.
• Companies that can afford to host everything in-house.
• Businesses with the resources (time, employees and infrastructure etc.) to manage their own servers.
• Businesses with the resources to resolve any issues that arise with on-premise hosting.

Let’s dig a little deeper into why certain businesses may prefer on-premise hosting.

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When On-Premise Hosting Is Ideal

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Here are the four core factors to consider when deciding whether on-premise hosting is the best fit solution for your team.

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Control

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On-premise hosting gives businesses the advantage of managing their own data in-house.

With on-premise hosting, businesses have full control over their own data, how it’s managed, and what happens to it. In particular, business-critical data from tools like employee productivity measuring software can be managed with on-premise hosting to enable deeper data analysis.

Naturally, this can have downsides as well. If a company uses on-premise hosting, they must dedicate additional effort and resources to protect their data. 

While this extra effort and resources come at a cost, for most large businesses this is worth the expense. Simply, they prefer to have the fate of their data in their own hands with on-premise hosting.

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Security

Security is a major component of hosting for businesses of all sizes.

Typically, the bigger the company, the more important security is -- and the more resources available to protect the business’s data from any wrongdoing. 

Considering the sensitivity of data and information within major corporations (or any business for that matter), this is a key benefit over cloud hosting.

With cloud hosting, common threats include:

• Identity theft
• Data breaches
• Malware/viruses

When these occurrences do happen, they can threaten not just the company but its customers as well. Major security mishaps can lead to mistrust and affect the livelihood of the business overall.

By securely storing your data on your own infrastructure, it means your data never leaves your network. This makes it more secure and limits the potential for external security breaches, since the servers and data are physically located at a location under your control.

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Compliance

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Every business is required to meet a certain standard of compliance, no matter what industry.

Considering nearly 80% of all businesses fail to reach compliance, it is a topic that is in need of deep consideration for all businesses. One way to heighten compliance is through on-premise hosting.

On-premise hosting can make compliance more achievable because, unlike cloud hosting, there is less non-compliance risk involved with managing virtual environments, virtual access and public network access.

The way cloud hosting is managed can create numerous compliance issues that businesses must consider.

Companies must know where their data is at all times in order to remain compliant. On-premise hosting eliminates many of these factors and makes compliance much easier due to centralized data control.

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Scaling

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When companies use cloud-based hosting, they are using the services of another company.

This means they need to pay the cloud provider for their hosting. Costs are determined by how much data storage is needed.

This can be difficult for growing businesses that require different amounts of storage month to month. Simply speaking, the more storage needed, the greater the costs. That means businesses who use cloud hosting need to track their usage to ensure they don’t exceed the limits of their plan or go over budget.

With on-premise hosting, scaling costs can be better controlled through forward-thinking planning. Instead of being at the mercy of the ever-increasing cloud costs, on-premise hosting can provide a more fixed-cost way to scale by implementing the network infrastructure needed now, and in the future.

On-Premise Hosting and Productivity

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For company leaders, there are perpetual questions around productivity. Questions like what can a business do to improve its productivity? And what causes low productivity in organizations? 

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These questions are why it’s vital to have a robust productivity tracking system  in place. What’s more, combining productivity tracking with on-premise hosting can help provide even more meaningful productivity insights.

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Today, team productivity tools are the software of choice for businesses of all sizes. This means companies are armed with more productivity data than ever before. How you choose to host, manage and analyze this data will play a big role in the value you get from it. That is, how much more productive it can make your team.

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Technology and productivity are now almost inseparable in the modern workplace. It’s critical, then, that you not only select the right corporate productivity tools to capture valuable data, but also store it in the optimal way.

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It’s not simply about selecting the best business productivity software. But also pairing it with the right hosting option. Which, for many large or growing teams, is on-premise hosting.

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Hosting your employee productivity measuring software and data on-premise, can help you build a more robust data environment where entry, management and analysis is more centralized, effective and efficient. 

Final Words

As we have discussed, choosing whether on-premise hosting or cloud hosting is best for your business is a decision that should be based on the specific needs of a company.

Both on-premise and cloud hosting offer enterprise teams the foundation for managing important data via their tech stack. Plus, as we have seen, on-premise hosting can add even more oomph to your productivity tracking system.

The level of data control, security, compliance you need, and IT resources you have at your disposal, will ultimately influence your decision to host in the cloud or on-premise.