On-Premise vs. Cloud vs. Hybrid — Choosing the Best Solution for Your Business

In fact, in this new post-pandemic era, many tech providers are starting to encourage broadcasters and media companies to migrate their cloud solutions so that they can work remotely.

When people hear about the concept of telecommuting, telecommuting, or remote workflows, they often associate these terms with cloud environments.

But in reality, remote operation and the cloud are not the same, although they are closely related. At the same time, Hybrid Cloud Adoption is still an ongoing mission for numerous companies worldwide.

In general, there are three ways in which IT and communications services can be deployed at a very high level: in a room, cloud, or a mixture of both (hybrid).

I sincerely believe that the business benefits of the cloud are undeniable; however, sometimes, adopting a complete cloud-based solution is not feasible or practical.

Learn a little more about each type of solution below to determine which one is right for your business.

On-Premise solutions, greater control, and less scalability

Locally or on-premises solutions also offer exciting benefits. On-Premise solutions allow companies to organize their assets, data, servers, equipment, and software internally as they wish. It is a traditional method in which broadcasting and media systems have been installed and operated with their tools for decades.

This type of solution requires servers or physical equipment in the company’s capacity to store and deploy software systems.

Alternatively, they can also be outsourced by renting external data center servers for their exclusive use. In any case, the choice to set up our infrastructure comes with many high additional costs such as electricity, maintenance, and safety or protection of the equipment from potential cyber-attacks.

Also, this type of deployment is likely to require simultaneous hardware and software updates. Simply because as software evolves and updates, more powerful equipment is usually needed for systems to run smoothly.

Pros and cons of on-premise solutions

Pros

Greater control and data privacy: these solutions offer the highest level of control to customers, allowing companies to access their equipment and systems 24/7 if any intervention is necessary.

Uninterrupted use and higher performance: this type of installation can operate without an internet connection, especially for teams and systems that perform crucial tasks within a TV channel, such as continuity automation or playout.

Greater customization: on-premise solutions can be tailored to each company’s specific processes, technical requirements, and legal needs.

Recovery and backup: you need to regularly plan a backup to avoid data loss, information leaks, and other problems that could impact the operation.

Cons

More significant initial investment and extra costs: on-premise requires a higher asset that will be amortized over time to start operating.

Slower time to market: customers have to count on a period for installation and start-up (even more if they have requested custom developments).

Cloud solutions, outsourcing services in exchange for less control

The decision to keep our company data, content, and operations locally or in the cloud always leads to a search for a balance between competing concerns: advance investment in infrastructure versus continuous payments, internal security versus external security systems, physical data storage, and backup or not, etc.

What do we mean by deploying and owning our cloud solutions? Rely on a network of external remote servers (data centers) to access the demand for the software and media files.

Accordingly, this network of servers can host the traditional storage and archiving solutions that usually come to mind when considering cloud deployment and all operations of the entire media lifecycle if we are to do so as:

• content layout to production
• editing
• transcoding
• orchestration of the workflow
• distribution or exchange of media files
• broadcasting and publishing content

In short, all day-to-day tasks of any broadcast and media company can be performed by remote access to cloud-hosted PC systems.

These cloud solutions are typically offered under a subscription-based business model or Software as a Service (SaaS).

Pros and cons of cloud solutions

Pros

Low maintenance costs: The service provider is responsible for all costs of hardware, software, infrastructure, support, maintenance, and system updates.

Scalability: with just a few clicks, data storage and processing capacity can be increased to handle specific workload peaks, for example, during live broadcasts of general elections or relevant sporting events.

Flexibility and collaboration: thanks to the easy access they offer to the systems, they are ideal for an internationally distributed workforce that needs to collaborate and needs shared access to all of the company’s resources, processes, and tasks.

Reliability: by accessing an external service with many unnecessary and accessible servers, the likelihood of failure is greatly minimized.

Cons

Security and privacy: although companies can hire a private cloud service for their exclusive use, the privacy and, above all, the security of data and content will always be more unusual if stored on local servers in the company’s premises.

Less control and adjustment: Adaptation of the work environment, operations, and workflows will always be less in the public cloud deployment than in the private cloud, which in turn offers fewer opportunities compared to on-premises solutions.

Significant impact in the event of a system failure: although the reliability of these services is increasing, in the event of a system failure, customers depend solely on the ability of the service provider to respond quickly to the loss.

Hybrid solutions, the best of both worlds

Many companies mistakenly think this is just a form of transition before switching to a 100% cloud solution for hybrid solutions. However, the reality can not be different.

Hybrid solutions combine company-specific on-premises systems and equipment with other solutions or outsourcing services installed in a public or private cloud. They are the type of integrated solution that is usually much more cost-effective and optimized from a cost control point of view, while they also guarantee:

• better performance
• control
• scalability
• availability of resources
• seamless workflows from the whole cloud or on-premises solutions

Hybrid solutions are usually an exciting option for migrating systems (to minimize their impact on day-to-day channel operations), for dealing with sudden and regular changes in content demand, or for situations where the risk of switching from one supplier to another future needs to be reduced.

Hybrid models offer customers great flexibility and avoid committing to specific systems or services, either because their investment to acquire them was too high or because migrating from one cloud service to another is complex and expensive.

The hybrid format combines the advantages of in-room deployment in terms of security, privacy, and operations control, with the benefits of scalability and easy access provided by cloud services.

Pros and cons of hybrid solutions

Pros

Flexibility: One of the main advantages of a hybrid cloud is its flexibility. It becomes easier to evaluate how best to structure a set of cloud-based IT solutions because this model allows the company to quickly streamline its private and public cloud computing environments.

Scalability and deployment: the hybrid cloud allows you to set up a modular system to suit your needs.

Speed: The hybrid cloud enables organizations to move faster towards DevOps — a set of practices for integrating development, operations, and analytics teams.

Increased mobility: Hybrid cloud can also bring business mobility. As resources become available online to all users, the company can customize its routines without losing competitiveness.

Increased data security: Hybrid cloud improves system security and reliability by storing sensitive information in a private environment. Physical assault protection is enhanced as information is shared across multiple data centers.

Cons

Hard to implement: it cannot be easy to implement and maintain. For example, setting up a private cloud can be a complicated project as it requires high demand for local infrastructures such as servers, storage, and network capabilities.

Internal costs: there is a drawback that is much more expensive than the public cloud. The charge that accompanies the installation and maintenance of servers is high.

Conclusion

The hybrid solution includes a mix of internal resources and cloud services. Alternatively, the hybrid solution can use a combination of public and private cloud services based on the company’s needs.

The hybrid solution is often referred to as the “best of both worlds”, due to the fact that the hybrid solution allows companies to control the hardware on-premises with cloud flexibility and adaptability.