Go Cloud, so you can go-Prem

Cloud is great, but sometimes you need On-Prem applications because of your environment, and where your data lives. What has been interesting recently is the number of customers who have been asking us to use Cloud services to help them choose and procure On-Prem solutions.

One of the great things about Cloud is the flexibility which allows you to set up a service quickly, for a short period of time, and next to no cost. Exactly what you need for a trial or proof of concept.

Contrast this with most organisations’ internal environments where the trial of a new piece of software will take many layers of approval, many weeks of low-priority project weighting and significant costs to set up.

It is this inherent difference that is driving many customers to use Cloud services to demonstrate the capabilities of On-Prem software. In our case, customers wanting to prove the value of FME Server are now routinely using FME Cloud (an Amazon-based version of FME Server) as the demonstration medium:

• The project sponsors love this approach. With minimal fuss, they can demonstrate the value of the solution when it is most obvious, not weeks later.
• The stakeholders love this approach. They can usually have a much broader interaction and can request and receive changes more readily.
• The I.T. team love this approach. They don’t have to build and tear down yet another virtual server environment.
• The procurement team love this approach. The business can get to trial a solution without any prior commercial agreements.

So, next time you are looking to procure an On-Prem solution, my advice would be – Go Cloud!