Cloud versus on-premises is often treated as a matter of preference. In our IT consultancy work, we treat it as an infrastructure assessment. The right answer depends on a handful of practical questions about how and where your business operates.
1. How reliable is connectivity at every site?
Cloud ERP needs dependable internet at offices, factories and warehouses. We check primary and backup links at each location. Where a factory has frequent outages, a hybrid design or offline-capable apps may be needed.
2. Who will look after servers?
On-premises systems need someone to manage hardware, backups, operating system updates and security patches. If you do not have dedicated IT staff, cloud hosting usually lowers risk.
3. What do power and environment look like?
A server room needs stable power, UPS, cooling and physical security. These costs are often missing from on-premises comparisons.
4. Are there data residency or buyer requirements?
Some banks, government contracts and international buyers set rules about where data is stored and who can access it. We review these before recommending a hosting model.
5. How will you back up and recover?
- How often are backups taken, and where are they stored?
- How long would it take to restore after a failure?
- Has a restore ever been tested?
6. What is the five-year cost?
We compare subscription or hosting fees with hardware, licences, staff time, power and replacement cycles over five years, rather than the first year only.
Our typical recommendation
For most small and mid-sized companies we recommend managed cloud hosting. For groups with strict data rules or existing data centres, a dedicated cloud or on-premises deployment, managed by us or your IT team, can be the better fit.
Frequently asked questions
Can we move from on-premises to cloud later?
Yes. Platforms such as ERPNext and Reckon ERP support migration between hosting models.
Related reading
For the product view of this topic, read Cloud ERP vs On-Premises ERP: How to Choose on the Reckon ERP blog.
Planning a project? Book a free consultation with our team, or see our IT consultancy service.
