Removing hidden costs with a native cloud solution

The benefits that a native cloud solution has over an on-premises alternative are manyfold. Reilly identifies licence predictability, scalability, flexibility, and security in particular.

“One of the important things that a cloud solution provides versus an on-premises is security,” he says. “A cloud platform has very high levels of security, with a dedicated team managing that security throughout.”

Another notable benefit is that the cloud-based system can provide full visibility of costs. “You don’t have to worry about a lot of the hidden costs that we see with an on-premise solution – things like hardware, maintaining your versions, getting to an upgrade path; these are all areas that customers don’t necessarily consider when they’re looking at a solution," says Reilly. “With a cloud-based solution, we include all that in your subscription cost.”

In an industrial setting, a cloud-based solution can also be particularly useful in negating many issues faced by the IT team. “Instead of having to maintain versions and patches, when you have a cloud-based solution, you get rid of a lot of that risk. You also reduce risk from a security perspective,” says Reilly. “So, we’re maintaining the security of the entire platform and de-risking it for the IT environment.”

For those businesses interested in adopting a cloud-based solution, Reilly urges them to take the time to understand the uptime of the solution they are looking at, as well as exactly what is included in the package. It is also important to ensure the chosen provider can offer the required levels of security and scalability going forward.