So your IT department is always talking about servers and clouds and you have only a vague idea of what it all means. How much tech do you really need to know as a financial person? I’m sure many of you would like to hear me say none, but that’s not true. Learning enough to be the server admin is too much. Like everything else, there’s a balance.
Speaking of balances (ooooh, smooth transition), that bring us to the point of this blog post; the difference between on premise and cloud. Oracle (and many other companies) are making a huge push to cloud. Most act like it’s completely different software, but the only difference is where the data is stored. On prem is on servers managed by your company and cloud is managed by the host
What are the benefits of a cloud environment? Upgrades are a lot easier. Instead of waiting for your IT department, you can have a scheduled time and you’re always on the latest version. The servers are guaranteed to stay up. It’s reliable.
One of the most important points for the finance department; On premise is a capital expense, but cloud is classified as an operating cost. Want to make Hyperion a purely finance play and not get IT involved? This is how you can do that. Perfect for small and midsized organizations that already have over-stressed IT departments.
So what are the downsides of the cloud? A lot of companies worry about security. Personally I feel more comfortable with Oracle, knowing that their reputation is on the line.
There is a concern over the sizing of databases in cloud environments. Hyperion PBCS gives you one application and one database.
So when to go on premise and when to do cloud? It’s faster to deploy on the cloud, but more customizable for large enterprises on prem. Large enterprises can benefit from both environments by having a fast cloud and an on prem. Please reach out to me or anyone at Brass Tacks EPM if you’d like to learn more.