The Attivo Blog

I am the type of person that likes having control over the situation that I am in.  Does that make me a control freak?  I would say no, but it is very possible my friends and family might have  a different answer for that question.  That being said, it stands to reason that if I owned a business I would want to have control over the data, security, confidentiality, and the location of where my business information is stored. Control is what you have with a client server application.  Access, resources, and data security are controlled in your own environment.  Upgrades are done when appropriate and are not forced upon you like they can be with SAAS applications.  Some even make you upgrade every 6 months! (cough Netsuite!) Less control is what you have with a Software As A Service model, also referred to as "cloud computing".  With SAAS you have little to no control when it comes to handling your data and information.  This alone makes it a bad fit for certain businesses out there because you may not have access to the tables in which the data is stored.  You are also depending on a third party to ensure your security and confidentiality.  And as I mentioned above, upgrades are often forced upon you. (cough Netsuite!) Another myth regarding SAAS is its low cost of ownership.  What people don't realize is with its frequent upgrades, which commit time, money and resources, along with reccurring costs, it may end up costing you more money than a client server application and will cause you a huge headache! If you are a person with your head in the clouds, (no pun intended) and don't need to have full control over your business information, then by all means choose a SAAS model for your company.  However, if you are like me and freak out when you have little control over things, then it is not wise to trust the "cloud" or SAAS model!