Many companies are questioning whether to host SharePoint on premise or in the cloud.  There are many factors in determining an answer to this, and indeed hosting in the cloud isn’t even a straightforward decision. You have to decide whose cloud you move to for starters. 

Each company will have to run it’s own investigation, however one thing is certain: The cloud is here and it is here to stay.  Companies are either using the cloud, partly using the cloud (a hybrid solution) or are planning on moving there.  This head to head focuses on the Microsoft Office 365 cloud (which Telstra manages access to in Australia), versus installing SharePoint locally

So here goes..

1. Server management

O365: What servers? Microsoft does all this for you. No installing anti-virus, patching, backups, scheduling upgrades, upgrading RAM etc.

On Prem: You manage the server. This gives you full control over what you are installing, how you configure the server, what anti-virus you install etc. However I’m sure you have better things to do!

Winner: O365

2. Third Party web parts

O365: There are not many third party web parts available for Office 365, but expect this to change when SharePoint 2013 online is released. There will be a marketplace that developers can sell their web parts (or apps as they will be called then).

On Prem: There are an abundance of web parts and solutions available to purchase, or indeed for free. It’s a bit like comparing the Apple app store to the Windows phone app store for number of apps, On Prem wins easily.

Winner: On Prem

3. Performing Upgrades

O365: Microsoft, creating new functionality and fixing bugs, releases Upgrades every 90 days. These days, at the rate technology is changing, 3 years is a long time between releases, 90 days seems so much more palatable. Also, you don’t have to do anything to upgrade, Microsoft does it for you. (Do keep an eye on how it may affect your custom built apps and branding however!). Also if you purchase a subscription now, you are automatically upgraded to SharePoint 2013 for free.

On Prem: SharePoint upgrades happen every 3 years. Patches are released but don’t tend to provide a lot of new functionality. Also, if you install a patch and something goes wrong, you are in trouble. Companies tend to only perform the major upgrades. This means you are years behind the latest and greatest.

Winner: O365 

4. Mobile Friendly

O365: The advantage of Office 365 SharePoint Online is that of the 90-day release cycle, which will surely cater to mobile devices as a priority. This means you will be able to use your smartphone to perform a whole range of functions as soon as they are released.

On Prem: SharePoint 2013 promises to be more mobile friendly, whereas SharePoint 2010 or certainly 2007 are not compatible with mobile devices, which is essential for today’s world.  

So unless you are planning to go to 2013 soon, you are not going to access SharePoint via mobiles. And even then, this mobile area is changing so quickly, by 2015 you will be behind again, waiting for SharePoint 2016 so you can try to catch up.

Winner: O365

5. Accessible from anywhere

O365: Login from anywhere, anytime, from any device.  Access your email from your phone, tablet – easily. No questions asked! It’s all very simple, and surprisingly secure.

On Prem: To login to SharePoint from outside your company, you possibly need to create a vpn connection. How often are you likely to do that? It would be slow and tedious. It’s a whole lot easier to login to O365 via your browser.

Winner: O365

6. Cost

O365: Pay per number of accounts as a monthly fee. You only pay for what you use. Add and remove accounts as you please. The monthly costs vary depending on which package you purchase, but the costs are very reasonable and predictable.

On Prem: Paying for SharePoint Enterprise or SharePoint Standard is not cheap, and you have to also purchase all the hardware and licensing that comes with that e.g. SQL Server Licenses..

Winner: O365

7. Speed

O365: For Australian companies, the Office 365 datacentre is held in Singapore. Therefore speed of connecting to SharePoint online is not super fast. However it is pretty reasonable.

On Prem: If your local network is fast, then your internal access to SharePoint should be quick, and normally faster than your connection to the internet.

Winner: On Prem

8. Scalability

O365: To increase your user base, just add more accounts. To decrease it, reduce the number of accounts. Also you can decide which kind of accounts users should have, all the way from including Office Professional plus to kiosk accounts that only need to read certain information online. There is zero wastage if you manage your accounts well. No need to add more servers, just accounts. 

On Prem: In addition to the number of accounts, you need to increase or decrease your farm servers. You will need more or less web servers and database servers. With that comes licensing changes. It’s more complex and more costly.

Winner: O365

9. Farm and Central Administration

O365: Handled by Microsoft, so you have less control. However you also don’t have to pay for people to look after it for you. And in 99% of cases you don’t really need to change anything on Central Administration as you don’t have servers to worry about in the first place.

On Prem: Central Admin and the farm or single server are handled locally so you have more control. However you then need to manage it and so need resources. There are not typically many cases where small-mid organisations must manage their own farm.

Winner: O365

10. Collaborating with external parties

O365: Many clients ask about inviting external partners or clients into a project site or document library. With O365 this is super easy, just create an account with appropriate permissions and you can collaborate with partners and clients from anywhere in the world. You can create this as a generic account and reuse it for other projects also.

On Prem: Behind the company firewall, assuming the intranet is not exposed to the world, it is not possible to have external parties collaborating with you. Even if you could, creating Active Directory accounts is sometimes not an easy process internally. 

Winner: O365

And the winner is…

Office 365: 8

SharePoint On Premise: 2

And that is not taking into account all the other benefits of moving to Office 365:

Office Online Apps

Email

Lync

Of course we could have looked at a range of other factors in this challenge, but the main ones that people think about were listed here. 

So, if you are not thinking about migrating to Office 365, it’s time to do so!

Marcus Dervin is principal of consulting form WebVine. Email him at: info@webvine.com.au Phone +61 2 9554 6057