Your intranet hosted in the cloud – turning the idea into a reality
So, you’re thinking about hosting your intranet software in the cloud but struggling to get buy-in?
Maybe recurring costs look high in comparison to a traditional on-premise offering, which is putting the Senior Management team off and you’re not sure how to get them on board.
For more detail on that debate you can read our article, Cloud Intranet vs On-Premise Platform: Which is Best?
If you’re concentrating on cost saving then this may prove problematic.
The true potential of a cloud solution is to look beyond the cost saving and consider the long term objectives of the company. Let’s examine some of reasons why a cloud-based intranet can benefit your organisation:
Strategic
Every company has a plan and vision for what the future looks like, how they will operate and what they want to achieve. You need to consider how a cloud based intranet would help the company achieve this. For example are there big expansion plans which would require you to have a scalable solution that can be deployed quickly wherever and whenever you need it?
An on premise solution would need significant investment to make it scalable and given that this takes time and forward planning it would not be quick to deploy. You could plan for it in advance but this would mean that your investment would be underutilised costing you money until you need the additional capacity.
In the cloud you can scale up and down in a matter of minutes depending on the vendor and your contract. It is quick and easy to deploy – all you need is internet connectivity and a browser, so you can have new users up and running in an instant.
Financial
As I mentioned earlier cost saving should not be the only driver during this decision making process but this is not the only financial driver to think about. A traditional on premise intranet solution is generally seen as a Capital Expenditure (CapEx) spend because it has a useful life longer than the taxable year, the cost is then depreciated over the life expectancy the company associates with the intranet.
A cloud hosted intranet solution doesn’t need the initial capital investment as it is a monthly, quarterly or yearly expense depending on the agreement you have so it becomes an Operating Expenditure (OpEx). This change in cost model unlocks CapEx investment for other projects as OpEx is absorbed as part of the everyday running costs of the company.
Operational
What operational efficiencies is your company trying to achieve? Is your COO striving towards consistent operational processes and if so, is this being hampered by existing legacy systems? All companies have legacy systems which everybody wants to migrate from but, when it comes to it for some reason or other, the company ends up keeping it, as to replace would cost too much and take up valuable time.
Introducing a cloud hosted intranet or any other cloud application will give the company a push in the right direction to adopt new standards without the pain of a rip and replace that on premise solutions have to suffer, so benefits to users are almost immediate.
Technical
Is your IT department already shouting about being overstretched? New on premise intranet software may just push them over the edge! Implementing new solutions always places pressure on IT – they have to make sure that they have the right infrastructure in place to support it, enough space for another server, sufficient cooling for the additional equipment and then on top of all that they have to think about training and integration with other platforms. Not to mention the multitude of complaints from disgruntled users when the solution is rolled out and suffers teething issues.
Cloud intranets don’t require as much input from IT with your vendor of choice providing the backend servers, database and application – they may only need to ensure that browsers are upgraded to meet the basic requirements, which in comparison to the on premise solution means minimal impact on their time.
And there’s more…
There are lots of benefits a cloud hosted intranet can bring to a company, but in order to make the right decision you really need to understand your long term objectives. Without the knowledge of what your company is trying to achieve you won’t know if this solution is right for you. Interact Intranet software is available as both cloud and on premise options making it easy for you to make the right decision for your company.
