Key Considerations When Choosing Cloud or On-premise ...€¦ · security and redundancies....

6
@ 2019. Copyright. Questica. All Rights Reserved. Key Considerations When Choosing Cloud or On-premise Budgeting Software? questica.com

Transcript of Key Considerations When Choosing Cloud or On-premise ...€¦ · security and redundancies....

Page 1: Key Considerations When Choosing Cloud or On-premise ...€¦ · security and redundancies. On-premise budgeting software may be the best option for you, but it likely means making

@ 2019. Copyright. Questica. All Rights Reserved.

Key Considerations When Choosing Cloud or On-premise Budgeting Software?

questica.com

Page 2: Key Considerations When Choosing Cloud or On-premise ...€¦ · security and redundancies. On-premise budgeting software may be the best option for you, but it likely means making

Copyright @ 2019. Questica.com. All Rights Reserved. l Page 2

What Are the Key Considerations for Choosing Cloud or On-premise Budgeting Software?From cloud and on-premise to multi versus single tenanthosting, learn how to best determine what’s the right fit for your organization.

When it becomes clear that your organization needs to upgrade from spreadsheet budgeting to a comprehensive budgeting software solution, it’s common to struggle

with the next steps. Deciding when to make the switch can be hard, and so can determining what type of infrastructure to choose.

Over the past decade, cloud computing softwarehas drastically risen in popularity. There aremany software experts who believe thatcloud computing is the direction of the future.But countless public sector and non-profitorganizations are often hesitant to adopt thepractice for a variety of reasons. It could be dueto concerns about security, cost, loss of controlor access; however, these concerns aboutcloud-based software can often be unfounded.Organizations who choose on-premise softwareare choosing to be responsible for managing thehosting, access, and protection of their data. So,which deployment option for budgeting softwareis best for your organization? The following is alook at what each option offers, along with a fewadditional consideration.

Top things to consider when choosing between cloud and on-premisebudgeting software

A look at cloud hosting

Cloud software is rising in popularity becauseit is an easy and effective solution to manyeveryday hassles. If you work for a smalltomid-sized public sector or non-profitorganization, the cloud offers many benefits.

It provides security that may be difficult or costprohibitive to achieve on your own. It can alsoprovide upfront savings since your organizationis not paying for hardware or spending time applying infrastructure patches and upgrades.

Common concerns about cloud software are often related to security and privacy. If so much information is being streamed and uploaded,wouldn’t that make it easier for hackers to get in, or for there to be a potential data leak? In truth, cloud software transfers the majority of the responsibility for data security to the vendor. And since a data leak would damage their reputation, they work hard to minimize potential problems. Optimal security and server hosting also means the software generally performs better.

Another concern is lack of control. In the event of a software outage, there isn’t much you can do other than wait for the vendor to get the service working again. This can be frustrating to deal with, especially if you’re preparing for a key milestone such as a budget meeting, or audit. Sometimes, things happen that the vendor cannot anticipate, and while a loss of service is possible at some point, any reputable company will work hard to ensure that these moments are the rare exception rather than the rule. In fact, cloud-based hosting generally outperforms on-premise solutions when itcomes to minimizing outages and guaranteeduptimes or recovery times.

Page 3: Key Considerations When Choosing Cloud or On-premise ...€¦ · security and redundancies. On-premise budgeting software may be the best option for you, but it likely means making

Copyright @ 2019. Questica.com. All Rights Reserved. l Page 3

Considerations for on-premise

Some organizations don’t have the option of hosting their data in the cloud. Some public sector and non-profit organizations have specific rules about software use and installation. Institutions with specific types of data sets, such as hospitals with patient information or government agenciesthat control 911 dispatch and undercover police operations, often choose to utilize on-premise budgeting software installation and management.

To be clear, on-premise is not a bad or negativething. However, it’s important to be aware of thenecessities if you go this route. It’s essential to note that if your organization chooses on-premise, you will need to provide funding for your own IT infrastructure, software licensing, and IT chargebacks. Also, your IT team will need to educate themselves on how to maintain the budgeting software. Finally, since you are solely responsible for the data, you’ll need to arrange for security and redundancies. On-premise budgeting software may be the best option for you, but it likely means making some trade-offs.

RPO vs. RTO

No matter what hosting choice you make –on-premise or in the cloud – you’ll need to consider how to protect and save your data.There are two parameters to consider: RecoveryPoint Objective (RPO) and Recovery Time Objective (RTO).

RPO refers to how much data would be lost if your individual web-based portal went down. Ideally, you want this number to be low. RTO refers to how quickly your business processes can be up and running again. Again, we want this number to be low, for minimal disruption. An optimal vendor backs up its data at regular intervals, (i.e., at least several times a day).

That way, you can rest easy knowing that serveruptime, RTO, and RPO are all optimized and tuned to levels that you wouldn’t be able to achieve by yourself. This is a great benefit to small- and mid-sized organizations who may not have the infrastructure in place to achieve these results on their own.

Control and Consideration

Cloud providers might also impose limits or other controls for how their budgeting software can be used or customized. This is something to keep in mind when making your decision and evaluating cloud-based budgeting solution providers. Be sure that you understand your contract and address questions upfront.

Ultimately, when choosing cloud software or on-premise, a big question to ask is: Am I comfortable giving up a measure of control toanother company? If that’s not an issue, thencloud computing is an excellent option that will only continue to grow and improve as more organizations adopt the method. Those who feelhosting in the cloud isn’t right for them will want to investigate on-premise software hosting.

At a glance: Cloud-based software

Advantages

• Your data will be hosted within a very robust envi-ronment (such Amazon Web Services or Microsoft’s Azure). This type of infrastructure can handle any personnel security, natural disaster, or network issue that typical organization networks can’t afford.

• Check You can have your vendor application host-ed within a tailored environment that your vendor knows best.

• Check There is a reduced strain on your own IT department. For example, the vendor will be

responsible for all software access and performance-related guarantees.

Disadvantages

• The potential loss of control of data. Be sure to stipulate who owns the data in the event of contract termination. Also, ask if your data is being hosted in your country and under the legal protections of the laws your legal department is most familiar with.

• A potential loss of access to data. How often might you need a backup of your data? Is this supported by your vendor?

Page 4: Key Considerations When Choosing Cloud or On-premise ...€¦ · security and redundancies. On-premise budgeting software may be the best option for you, but it likely means making

Copyright @ 2019. Questica.com. All Rights Reserved. l Page 4

Additional Considerations

Licensing: To buy software or rent (SaaS)?

What are the advantages of buying vs. rentingsoftware? In this scenario, an effective way to think about it is to compare it to buying or renting a house. Either way, you still get to live in a house. It’s the same with software.

Buying software is a good, economical option if you plan on owning the software for an extended period (typically five years or longer). It’s a larger upfront cost, but over time, you’ll be paying less. One thing to consider is that a large upfront cost often trig-gers the threshold for a formal procurement pro-cess or a Request for Proposal (RFP).

In contrast, renting software as a service (or SaaS) has a lower initial cost, but it could be more expensive in the long run (typically after three to five years).

One other element to consider is if your organization has a monthly or annual level ofspending authority. If your organization exceedsthat spending authority, it could trigger the need for an approved budget. This process can be very time-consuming. SaaS is a great option in this situation because the lower monthly costs don’t trigger that need. Thus, SaaS cloud-based budgeting software solutions are quicker toimplement.

At a glance: Subscription-based software (i.e., SaaS)

Advantages

• The flexibility of paying as you go.

• Renting does not include a large upfront cost and can avoid triggering the requirement for additional funding or an RFP.

• While software that is regularly updated is benefi-cial, it’s important to understand how those updates

occur. Make sure updates occur on your organization’s schedule, not the vendor’s. Be sure to know what updates you’re allowed under your license agreement.

Disadvantages

• The total cost of ownership could be higher if evaluated over the long-term (typically more than 5 years).

Multi-tenant vs. single-tenant software

There is another important consideration: whether your budgeting software provider decides if, and when, to activate product updates. After all, your organization might not have a standard fiscal year and budget cycle. What happens if the software changes at a critical time, for example in the middle of a budget season? Are you just out of luck? Perhaps. If you are in a multi-tenant environment, you are likely at the mercy of your vendor’s decisions regarding when they force upgrades. The only way to avoid this potential pitfall is ensuring that your vendor supports you having a unique instance (or single-tenant) of their software.

Multi-tenant means that many people are sharing the same application instance, and that your data may or may not be completely segregated. It also means that your software is the same version everyone else has. Single-tenant means that your system is tailored specifically to you and your data is likely completely segregated.

Page 5: Key Considerations When Choosing Cloud or On-premise ...€¦ · security and redundancies. On-premise budgeting software may be the best option for you, but it likely means making

Copyright @ 2019. Questica.com. All Rights Reserved. l Page 5

Multi-tenant software is great for the vendor because it helps them maintain version control, which in principle can help them lower their costs. This can be a benefit to the organization if these lower costs are passed along as savings. But, this is software that is constantly being updated and approved. The software provider doesn’t ask permission or check whether the moment is right for your organization to update.

If you are concerned that forced upgrades maybe a significant inconvenience or disruption foryour organization, it is important that you are set up with a single-tenant instance that allows you the flexibility of choosing when you receive upgrades. While this approach to software is more effort for the vendor to support, it allows you to control the updates and improvements your organization receives and when they are implemented. The other upside to this is that your software can be customized specifically to your needs.

At a glance: Multi-tenant software

Advantages

• Generally, multi-tenant software should be cheaper because it’s more economical for the vendor to manage releases, versions, and upgrades.

Disadvantages

• Multi-tenant typically means you’re locked into the vendor’s upgrade schedule. When they have a new software release, everyone gets the changes at the same time, and this may not be great for your organization.

• Often, with more complicated software, you’ll need the application to be tailored to your business processes or integrations to other software. This level of configurability is difficult put into a multi-tenant application.

• Your data may not be completely segregated.

• There’s no vendor option to host your purchased application within your own network.

Choose Questica and Get theBest of Both Worlds

Ultimately, we want you to make the choice that’s right for your public sector or non-profit organization. At Questica, we believe that choice begins with open and honest dialogue about the decisions you and your organization make, and what’s best for your needs.

As such, we have budgeting preparation andmanagement solutions that meet your needs. Do you need to be on-premise? No problem. If you want to eliminate the IT headaches, or take advantage of the other benefits then cloud-hosted or SaaS might be right for your organization. At Questica, our service is customer centric, reliable, and affordable.

Our software is single-tenant, so you’re always able to get changes and updates on your own schedule. And we back up data at regular intervals, so you can be confident that there will be minimal disruption in any emergency.

Most importantly, we offer expert consulting and advice to help you determine what solution is best for you.

Page 6: Key Considerations When Choosing Cloud or On-premise ...€¦ · security and redundancies. On-premise budgeting software may be the best option for you, but it likely means making

l

About Questica For over 20 years, Questica been working with public sector organizations - governments, hospitals and healthcare facilities, colleges and universities, K-12 schools and non-profits - to better enable data-driven budgeting and decision-making, while increasing data accuracy, saving time and improving stakeholder trust. Our customers are using our Questica Budget suite to drive budget transformation by creating a single source of data truth.

Over 700 organizations across North America in 48 states and 11 provinces/territories have opted for smarter planning, budgeting, performance measures, management, reporting, transparency and engagement with our software solutions. To learn more about Questica and how our software solutions can help your organization – check out our resources and news/blog sections, or request a demo today!

Questica is part of the GTY Technology group of companies (NASDAQ: GTYH).

[email protected]

At a glance: Questica Budget advantages

• Questica Budget is single-tenant, so your data is segregated. You also get the customizations you need, along with the application updates that meet your schedule.

• You can select the type of infrastructure you prefer.

• You can host the software yourself or within our robust Microsoft Azure cloud. MS Azure allows a very secure and safe data center and meets all levels of security compliance.

• The Questica hosting environment is custom fit to host our Questica Budget Suite.

• Your data is stored in the country of your choice. (Canada or U.S.)

• You own your data.

• We can easily support robust and offsite backups.

Questica Budget is a powerful, multi-user and multi-year budget preparation and management software suite that helps your public sector organization run operating, salary and capital budgets with accuracy and efficiency. Integrating with dozens of financial systems, Questica Budget has everything you need in one place to develop, track, monitor and adjust your budget, plus generate custom reports, create what-if scenarios, and develop complex budget formulas with our new Advanced Calculation Engine. Imagine no longer having to enter data into error-prone Excel spreadsheets, and having time to analyze and plan for the budget.

In addition, our Questica OpenBook transparency and data visualization software makes sharing financial information effortless. Your stakeholders will have a better understanding of your budgeting goals when the budget is brilliantly visualized with descriptive text, informational pop-ups, charts and tables. Both tools integrate with our partner Balancing Act’s budget simulation and citizen engagement tool.

Questica Performance allows your organization to track and measure the performance of unlimited budget and non-budget KPIs with a system of programs and scorecards to ensure that your organization is meeting important goals and objectives. With interactive analytic tools, you can drill down to specific strategies, programs and initiatives to see where changes or improvements need to be made to reach peak performance.

To learn more about Questica and how our software solutions can help your organization budget with confidence – watch a product video, read one of our case studies and whitepapers or request a demo today!