Should you run the service in the cloud or in your own data center?

The comparison between SaaS (Software as a Service) and on-premise services is particularly relevant as many educational institutions are transitioning to cloud-based solutions for the benefits they offer. This change is also driven by the digital transformation of higher education institutions and the growing demands for modernisation of traditional IT infrastructure.

When it comes to a SaaS service designed for multiple customers, such as Sisu, there are specific advantages, such as the pace of software development, which is often considerably faster. In this case, updates can be released at a very fast pace, since there is only one environment that is well known and managed by the vendor itself.

Significant cost savings available

One of the most significant advantages of SaaS services is cost savings, especially in a multi-client solutions. This means that multiple customers share the same software platform and infrastructure, but their data and processes remain isolated. This enables significant savings in terms of maintenance and infrastructure compared to on-premise services, where each educational institution must invest in its own servers, licenses and IT resources. In the on-premise model, IT costs are not always predictable, as hardware upgrades, maintenance costs, emergency preparedness, and changes related to the software lifecycle can all result in unexpected costs.

Advantages:

• Lower start-up costs: No need for expensive hardware purchases.
• Predictable IT costs: Pricing for SaaS services is clear and predictable, making budgeting easier.
• Scalability: Funidata can quickly respond to traffic spikes, ensuring that sufficient resources are always available.

All customers have the latest features at the same time

SaaS services offer a significant advantage in terms of speed of deployment and continuous updates. With on-premise solutions, deployment can be a weeks or months long process that includes server configuration and software installation. With SaaS, deployment is immediate and users access to the platform almost instantly.

From a maintenance and updates perspective, Funidata handles software updates, bug fixes, and new features without the customer organizations needing to intervene.

In the multi-customer model, all clients use the same software version, which means that version management is not an issue. This reduces complexity and ensures that all customers receive the latest features at the same time. The Sisu environment enables an opportunity for higher education institutions to stay at the forefront of development, as Funidata continuously develops new features and improvements. A good example of this is the rapid development of the EMREX interface carried out this year in just a few months. The feedback and needs of all customers can be combined and utilized in the development of the service.

Advantages:

• Agile Product Development: The Sisu is constantly updated, and new features can be implemented quickly.
• Flexibility and continuous customization: Sisu is built to be flexible, allowing different educational institutions to adapt its functionality to their own needs.
• Unified experience: With the SaaS service, all users benefit from a unified user experience and interface, regardless of time and location.

Secure operating environment

One of the most common concerns when discussing SaaS and on-premise solutions relates to security. However, in SaaS services, security is often at a high level because the service provider invests heavily in security and scalable infrastructure, which individual on-premise systems may not be able to achieve.

Sisu has centralized information security and utilizes AWS Public Cloud's world-class security tools. For example, the cloud service is effective against denial-of-service attacks. By utilising the cloud operator's security measures, you can distribute your own services to withstand distributed attacks. If it takes even a thousand attack machines to suppress a single machine, it would take a million bots to suppress the cloud operator's thousand-machine farm.

Advantages:

• Centralized Security: Sisu utilizes world-class information security tools, and security is a critical competitive advantage.
• Backups and Recovery: In the cloud environment, data is automatically replicated to multiple geographic locations, minimizing data loss. At the same time, services can be recovered quickly thanks to the scalable infrastructure.

Why run the service in the cloud?

SaaS services offer significant advantages over on-premise solutions, especially in terms of cost savings, scalability, economy, continuous innovation and data security. These solutions reduce the burden of IT maintenance, enable rapid deployment, and ensure that users have constant access to the latest technologies and updates. This makes SaaS services a very attractive option for educational institutions that want to focus on their core activities without having to manage complex IT systems and be responsible for keeping their services up to date and ensuring data privacy and security.