Hosted vs. Non Hosted software

[tom11011]

Poll Question.

Given the choice and assuming all costs were equal, would you rather host software that runs your business yourself on your own equipment -or- would you rather have a third party/manufacturer cloud host it for you?

Another way to possibly look at this poll question is would you rather pay a one time upfront cost for your software and own it outright -or- would you rather pay a monthly charge to rent the software?

 

[MotzTech]

I prefer hosted solutions (Like mhelpdesk!) for multiple reasons.

I don't have to worry about maintaining the servers and hardware needed for it. I would rather maintain the servers I get paid to maintain.

Ongoing payments always almost mean ongoing improvements.

Support is always available.

The cost is easier to fit into my business model. I have a lot of recurring fee customers myself.

 

[SAG]

Hard to vote, as the situation/software determines what I would chose.
I host plenty of stuff on my own systems, but I also pay for some hosting.
It's not a black-or-white situation.

I do tend to want to "own" my own data though.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Hard to vote, as the situation/software determines what I would chose.
I host plenty of stuff on my own systems, but I also pay for some hosting.
It's not a black-or-white situation.

I do tend to want to "own" my own data though.

Same here. But I lean more towards hosted software as much of it I can resell. GFI Max and MaxMail are my two big examples.

 

[Markverhyden]

As mentioned it depends. For the most part I am someone who likes to be able to put my hands on my "stuff". So that means computers/servers holding my stuff.

A handful of things may go to third party if there is not an immediate viable solution. But I will still try to find one and move it back in house if possible.

 

[tom11011]

Hard to vote, as the situation/software determines what I would chose.
I host plenty of stuff on my own systems, but I also pay for some hosting.
It's not a black-or-white situation.

I do tend to want to "own" my own data though.

All things being equal (the ability to choose and either cost being affordable to you) which is your preference?

 

[callthatgirl]

I voted hosted, love it! Will always support.

 

[SAG]

All things being equal (the ability to choose and either cost being affordable to you) which is your preference?

That's just it, all things will never be equal.

I use GFI hosted because it makes more sense (right now) than trying to manage my own RMM platform in house.

I resell Rackspace (email and exchange) because I don't want to fiddle with mail servers.

I don't use online accounting software because I don't trust any of those sumbitches, and it's no one's business how much money I make besides me and Uncle Sam.

I host my own web site on a local server because I have the resources to do it, and if it goes down temporarily it's not a big hit in the wallet.

My ticketing system and CRM are all in house because, once again, all that info is no one else' damned business and I just don't trust them.

Everything is a tool. I use them as tools. Whichever is more advantageous to me is the one I pick. Should it fail me I'll switch. As I said... there really is no equal.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Resell hosted.
Used to host more of our own...but pain in the arse dealing with the servers, revolving hardware costs, powering a server room no matter what, etc.

 

[Rosco]

def depends on the software but i do like the no hardware hassle of hosted like o365 or google apps and the 99 up time

 

[rsarceno]

For small and some medium business, If everything is equal, I prepare hosted apps . You don't need to deal with the environment, disk requirement, security and backup. And in most cases, it make remote access a lot easier. As far as file sharing, I still prepare local server like NAS. Faster access and in the even the internet is down, employee still have something to do.

For Enterprise and Government, I find local server is still the way to go. There's just to many apps that link together and it's difficult to do it on partial hosted environment. One example is DMV connection or Messaging system. Imagine the connectivity of Voip to your hosted Exchange Server and hosted CMS application. That going to be so much traffic that will eat up all the bandwidth on your internet.