Comparing Cloud vs. Installed for Workforce Management Software

If you were looking for a good rough 'n' ready side by side comparison of workforce management software compared in its cloud and on-premise, installed varieties, well, this is your lucky day, pilgrim. Monet Software's got one right here, excerpts follow comparing how "the different models would impact the cost, implementation, usage and success of the Workforce Management in your organization."

Set up and implementation. Cloud offers fast set up, vendor creates new account, and users access it through a web browser. The On Premise kind takes time to purchase, install and configure both the hardware and software.

Upfront investment. With Cloud, ther's no upfront investment for software or hardware. Subscription fees typically include support, maintenance and upgrades. On Premise requires a fairly large upfront investment for hardware and software, installation, configuration and implementation.

Operating costs. Cloud offers a shared services infrastructure, which reduces the cost for operating and maintaining servers. With On Premise, you're responsible for running your own server operation, including back ups, maintenance, upgrades and hardware replacement.

You can kind of see where this is heading.?

Scalability and performance. Cloud gives you multi-tenant architecture and an "elastic cloud computing" platform, which allows for maximum scalability of data-intensive scheduling scenarios, Monet officials say, adding that for On Premise, the purchased, installed servers in your environment limit the scalability and performance of installed software.

Software upgrades. Cloud comes with automated upgrade procedures to ensure customers are always on the latest version, without the need for manual upgrade procedures. If you have On Premise, upgrading software is often postponed due to the effort and costs, so new features to improve scheduling won’t get implemented.

Implementation success. Using Cloud, Monet officials say, vendors have a financial incentive to make customers successful, solve issues and maintain them as a long term customer, whereas with On Premise, high upfront license fees might lower motivation for vendors to help make the product work and solve your issues, meaning the software may not get fully used.

David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.

Edited by Chris DiMarco