Since past few years, we have seen drastic rise in the demand of document management system. As the organizations are getting familiar to the term DMS and come across its benefits, the demand is also rising for it. But, it is quite debatable topic which storage solution to choose and which will suit your demands appropriately. We have seen organizations getting confused in choosing the options between cloud server storage, offsite document storage and on premise document storage. So, let us discuss the facts and figures around it and help you selecting the best suit option for your company.
What to Choose: On-premise or Cloud Document Management System
Let us discuss this debatable topic and have a look what pros and cons these both have. Accordingly, you can select the DMS for your organization that meets your demands and budget-
Data Migration
Data migration is among one of the major factors of concern and key differentiators between the two. Migrating the data of any organization or its data base is very crucial task. It is very time consuming as well as expensive task for any company. But, the matter of the fact is that once the data is moved to the cloud storage server, your task is completed. Data is stored in server itself and stays for longer period of times unless and until your acquire drastic changing again personally. Whereas, the data migrated to on premise storage has further more steps to go. The organizations opting for onsite document management system has to undergo further sub steps like buying or renting property and develop the IT team and infrastructure according to the data.
Cost
This pointer is quite complex to explain as well as differentiate between both. Obviously, cloud being a new technology has some insecurity related to it. Also, cloud storage and data migration to it is quite expensive task initially. But, if you see in the long run then it can be considered as more convenient option as you do not need to move your data again and again. In on-premise dms, initial cost of setting is comparatively low, but, you should see the long race too. Companies opting for this dms will have to pay for human resources also on monthly basis. Also, if require to change the property or location again once a 5-10 years, then again cost of data migration will be added. Costing completely depends on the amount of data and the time you are storing.
Accessibility
I think we have a winner for this differentiator for sure. Cloud based document management software offers great accessibility feature. I mean you have access to your data and can connect with it whenever and where ever you require. More added features to it are related to role authorization. You can differentiate employees on the basis of their role and responsibility and can give the access to read and write the data accordingly.
But, if you consider the on-premise document management, you have a little more worry about it. You cannot have anytime and everywhere access of it. This type of storage and management is quite static in nature. So, I would definitely prefer a cloud document management software if accessibility of data was on priority for my organization.
Read More: Document Management Trends for 2021
IT & Infrastructure
You don’t need to worry about infrastructure and IT availability as much in cloud dms, rather you just need a good online presence and connection accordingly. In on-premise dms you have get the accessibility of both software and hardware requirements. Companies need to buy licensed software and keys to install to their systems. They have to update the hardware accordingly to match the software need. More number of human resources is required to maintain the on-premise document system when compared to cloud dms. Also, implementation of both these type if almost same. Migration of data in both these situation is quite complex, so cannot judge it on basis of implementation.
Summary
Both on-premise document management system and cloud based dms are working great. You just need to figure out the correct one as per your convenience. Like if you want more security, you can go for on-premise and if you want more accessibility, you can go for cloud. Compare the key differentiators and decide as per your organizational needs.
