Cloud versus on-premises: choosing the right approach

“Should we move to the cloud?” is one of the most common questions we’re asked, and also one of the most poorly framed. It suggests a single yes-or-no decision. In reality, most businesses end up with a mixture, and the sensible approach is to decide for each system what suits it best.

It’s also a question where the person advising you matters. Cloud providers and resellers have a strong interest in the answer being “yes”. So do people who sell servers have an interest in it being “no”. A fair comparison looks at your actual workloads, costs and risks.

What we mean by the terms

• Public cloud means services run on infrastructure operated by a large provider such as Microsoft, Amazon or Google, and you rent what you use.
• On-premises means servers and storage that you own and run, in your own premises or a datacentre.
• Private or self-hosted cloud means platforms you control, often virtualised, that behave like cloud services but run on infrastructure you or your provider manage.
• Hybrid means a mixture, with some systems in one place and some in another, connected together.

Where public cloud tends to win

• Email and collaboration. For most businesses, Microsoft 365 or similar is simpler and more reliable than running your own mail server.
• Variable workloads. If demand spikes and falls, paying for what you use can be cheaper than owning capacity you rarely need.
• Small teams without infrastructure skills. Letting a specialist provider run the platform removes a lot of day-to-day burden.
• Fast starts. You can launch a service in days without buying hardware.

Where on-premises or private hosting can win

• Steady, predictable workloads. If a system runs all day every day, the monthly cost of renting capacity can exceed the cost of owning it over a few years.
• Performance-sensitive or specialist systems. Some applications need low latency, particular hardware or very large data volumes that are costly to move in and out.
• Control. Some organisations need to know exactly where data sits and who can access it.
• Avoiding lock-in. Moving away from a large cloud provider can be difficult and costly. Owning the platform keeps your options open.

The questions that decide it

1. What does it cost over three to five years, including licences, support, bandwidth and the time of the people looking after it? Compare like for like.
2. What happens if the internet connection fails? Cloud systems depend on connectivity. If your internet line is a single point of failure, that matters.
3. How hard is it to leave? Ask about data export, contract terms and the cost of moving later.
4. Who will look after it? Any platform needs maintenance. Be realistic about the skills you have.
5. What are the data protection and contractual requirements? Some customers or regulators have views on where data is held.

In practice: a mixed approach

A typical sensible arrangement for a growing business is email, files and collaboration in Microsoft 365, a line-of-business application hosted where its supplier recommends, and any specialist or high-usage systems run on infrastructure you or your provider manage, with good backups and resilient networking tying everything together.

The right answer changes over time too. A decision that made sense three years ago may not today, so it’s worth reviewing periodically.

Getting independent advice

We run real infrastructure ourselves, including servers and hosting platforms, and we also manage cloud services for customers. That means we have no reason to push one answer. If you’re weighing up a move, or wondering whether the cloud bill you’re paying is really good value, we’re happy to take an objective look.