One of the main talking points in the software market in recent years has been the shift towards the cloud. There has indeed been strong momentum in this direction.

SaaS market will top $22 billion through 2015 (up from $14 billion in 2012) - Source: Gartner

SaaS products do have many positive features to benefit certain customers. However, on-premises software continues to be the preferred choice for many organisations because of a specific set of needs that it fulfils. This paper briefly examines each of the top four objectives that it addresses.

1. Internal Control

On-premises software is installed, controlled, and maintained by an organisation’s own internal IT staff. For organisations in industries where data control processes need to be particularly stringent, retaining direct control over data offers a number of advantages. All data in an on-premises solution sits behind that organisation’s own firewall, allowing disaster recovery, troubleshooting, and other protection systems to be put into place.

Having the authority to control data is of particular importance when dealing with sensitive data, such as credit card details or healthcare records. So, if your organisation wants to avoid transferring sensitive data, or hosting it outside of your own environment; or, your customers demand that you retain direct control over their personal data, then an on-premises solution may be the right solution for you.

2. Flexible Integration

Flexibility is a hallmark of on-premises software. A really good on-premises solution doesn’t make any assumptions about an organisation’s needs or dictate its infrastructure. Instead, it fits easily into any environment. On-premises software is available for most major operating systems and offers a wide variety of delivery models, including dedicated servers and virtualized appliances. If you prefer to outsource the hosting, and want to ensure that all data remains locally hosted within the European Union, then that can also be achieved.

3. Lower Total Cost of Ownership

One of the key features of a SaaS system is its low start-up cost, primarily because there is no need to purchase any hardware, and license costs are generally paid as you go. While there are start-up costs involved in on-premises, such as the purchase of the software and hardware, it may be possible to treat these as a capital expense (CAPEX).

It is not uncommon to recover the upfront purchase costs in the first year of ownership through savings in your running costs.

Buyers are often surprised to discover what good value an on-premises system can be. Once you have purchased your perpetual license, you own it, and the only ongoing fees are to cover your technical support needs. There is no incremental cost for the volume of emails that you send, so on-premises software is a highly cost-effective solution for high-volume senders, or organisations that expect their marketing lists to grow over time.

4. Unlimited Scalability

One of the main advantages provided by on-premises software is its adaptability. Senders that wish to increase capacity can simply upgrade their software to support a larger list, or cluster licenses together to increase send speeds. In this way your email environment can scale with your needs.

Unlike a shared environment, all the system’s capacity is dedicated to your organisation, so time-sensitive messages will never be impacted by the activity of other senders.