Evaluating Cloud vs On-Premises Video Conferencing

When you're considering purchasing video conferencing software for your business, whether you're medium sized or looking to add to your current devices, it's important to look at which deployment model fits. They each have advantages and disadvantages to them and your specific needs directly affect which would be better. The deployment models aren't a fit for everybody so take a minute to see what they can both offer.

Viju delve into cloud and on-premises video conferencing and how they can each help your business.

Cloud

With a cloud deployment model, you're essentially using a third-party service provider for the video conferencing infrastructure, allowing you and your business to utilise the video conferencing tools while not being required to have all the devices onsite to use them.

With a combination of low-cost bandwidth and storage advancements in recent years, it's enabled service providers to offer high-quality video conferencing that's on the same level as on-premises. This is an excellent option for companies that are looking to grow but don't have the funds yet to invest in on-premises video conferencing and the support required to efficiently run it.

With cloud video conferencing, you're able to have 25 to 50 simultaneous users on video calls which may be too small for some businesses. But there's no limit on the number of calls at one time, so you could have them all on separate calls, very useful for companies that need that flexibility.

With security being a major issue in this day and age, it's usually at the top of the checklist when businesses take a look at new deployment models. Hosting calls on a third-party's server could seem like a risky move, with the threat of sensitive information being accessed by unauthorised people at an all time high. It's always important to host your service with a well-respected provider where you know that your information and your client's is fully secure.

In this respect, since both of your information is hosted by a third-party, none of you have access to each other's information, making it more secure in that regard.

On-Premises

If your business has the tools and resources available to maintain on-premises video conferencing then it's usually the choice most people would make. The advantages you gain are just too hard to pass as medium to large companies don't want to give up large processes to third-party companies. As this complicates day-to-day processes that, when they go wrong, require extensive communication between the two companies that'll inevitably slow down recovery.

Control is a huge factor in the draw of on-premises video conferencing as any large company will want constant access to their own devices and servers. Risk-averse organisations such as governments and financial companies would choose on-premises to eliminate any risk of unwanted access to their systems. If you're in a similar situation and have the resources to run your own systems, on-premises is the choice for you. With an extensive support system and an IT team that's trained in video conferencing and server management, it'll provide you with instant video conferencing, world-wide with no middle man getting in the way.

Unlike cloud video conferencing, on-premises often allow around 12 to 120 simultaneous users at any time, allowing it to be broken down into smaller meeting rooms. For medium to large businesses this is a vital requirement that cloud video conferencing just cannot provide currently. With a huge amount of meetings per day, with differing numbers every time, a large business must have the system in place to provide extensive video conferencing with the flexibility to adapt.