Modern business leaders now have access to 2 distinct options for moving on-premises ERP to the cloud: Cloud Hosting and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).

Both options are affordable and convenient. Both ensure high availability, speed, and efficiency for the ERP. But only one will be the right choice for your unique business.

Find out which one makes sense for you. Understand the differences between cloud hosting vs. IaaS.

The #1 Difference to Know

Let’s take a Big Picture view first: the main difference between cloud hosting vs. IaaS lies in how much of an impact each makes on your IT setup.

IaaS lets you eliminate your server setup.

Cloud hosting requires you to still have a server room on-premises, but it makes it much easier to manage.

With that basic understanding, we can now talk about the detailed differences.

What Is Cloud Hosting?

Secure Cloud Hosting may be easier to understand if you think of it as “Application Hosting.” Using that term, it becomes clear that cloud hosting handles a single application in the cloud, along with its data. For many businesses, that single application is Sage 100.

As you know, different Sage ERP versions require different hardware specs. With cloud hosting, you gain access to a virtual server that is configured to your specific ERP version’s specs for memory, vCPUs, and disk storage space. Cloud hosting allows you to sidestep a new equipment purchase while still enjoying the capabilities and tech specs you want.

Of course, Sage 100 is only one example of an application you could host in the cloud. We thought of this example first because SCS has years of expertise in standing up virtual servers based on the Sage version, number of users, and storage needs – but you can host any application in the cloud.

• Cloud hosting vs. IaaS: Choose cloud hosting when you are ready for someone else to manage, secure, and provide server space for one single resource-intensive application.
• Pricing: Secure Cloud Hosting from SCS is priced as a monthly fixed fee, per user. No surprise billing – no hidden fees.
• Key point to remember: You do not have to limit yourself to Sage ERPs when considering cloud hosting. SCS hosts 5,000+ customers who also trust us to handle applications from CRM to QuickBooks to Acumatica and their Sage HRMS

What Is IaaS?

IaaS stands for “Infrastructure-as-a-Service.” When you think of it this way, it is easy to understand that IaaS hosts your entire server infrastructure and setup, not just a single application.

By switching to IaaS, you can finally get rid of those messy racks of servers because you can offload multiple apps as well as business control servers like domain controllers, file & print servers, app servers, and database servers. Each of these are moved to virtual servers in SCS’s secure data center and fully configured to meet your precise requirements for software, memory, and data storage.

When you offload all your IT equipment and its maintenance to the cloud, you are taking your first real step to true digital transformation.

• Cloud hosting vs. IaaS: Choose IaaS when you are ready to hand over the bulk of tiresome IT maintenance tasks to an expert and never worry about purchasing new IT equipment again.
• Pricing: The SCS IaaS service, which we call Managed ERP Infrastructure, is priced as a monthly fixed fee based on the amount of system resources configured. It is not charged per user / per month. It has no surprise billing and no hidden fees.
• Key point to remember: You can set up IaaS with AWS and Azure, but they both have varied monthly costs based on usage, like a utility. Our fixed monthly fee makes SCS easier on your budget – plus, only SCS has the expertise to set up and manage your Sage ERP environment on IaaS; AWS and Azure don’t.

Why Cloud Hosting and IaaS Are Both Smart Choices

Whether you want to offload your entire IT infrastructure setup or just relieve yourself of the burden of one resource-intensive application, it is a smart choice to make the decision between cloud hosting vs. IaaS.

Whether you choose cloud hosting or IaaS, you will experience a positive impact on your business’s:

• Costs

Both cloud hosting and IaaS will reduce your overall IT costs because you will be finally able to break free of the endless hardware replacement cycle. Best of all, you will gain access to the most top-of-the-line equipment available and enjoy included upgrades and maintenance.

• Strategic planning capabilities

Both will relieve your IT department from those routine yet time-consuming maintenance tasks that steal so much of your IT experts’ attention. This means both options free you up to be more strategic in your IT planning – finally!

• IT performance

Both options will improve your network performance, speed, and reliability because they free up resources and also focus on load balancing, parallel processing, and job scheduling. This ensures your employees have a faster, better environment that lets them get more work done every day.

• Cybersecurity

Both will significantly improve your cybersecurity because they each are supported by a 24x7x365 team of cybersecurity professionals working in SCS’s intelligent Security Operations Center (SmartSOC) who proactively hunt cyberthreats and destroy them.

• Support and resolution time

Both cloud hosting and IaaS with SCS place the responsibility and support for your systems under a single vendor, so you can enjoy faster resolutions with no finger pointing. If you need help, our friendly and courteous support personnel will solve your issue and brighten your day.

• Expense allocation

Both cloud hosting and IaaS will transform those dreaded CapEx server investment costs to OpEx because they both scale dynamically to meet your evolving tech needs without you having to purchase new IT equipment.

• Business continuity

Both options provide you with comprehensive business continuity and redundancy, with frequent backups that keep your company humming along even if your offices experience a power outage, flood, fire, hurricane, or other disaster.

• Budgeting

Both cloud hosting and IaaS will make your monthly IT budgeting much more predictable because they both feature an affordable, fixed monthly cost that is a lot easier to work with than AWS and Azure’s pricing.

Take the Next Step

Your ERP is critical to the day-to-day functioning of your business. It needs to be available to all of your workers at a moment’s notice, and it needs to be fast and efficient. These requirements are non-negotiable.

In the past, the only way a small-to-midsized company like yours could meet these inflexible requirements was by maintaining expensive IT equipment in a server closet located on your premises. Thank goodness those days are over.

Now that you understand the differences between cloud hosting vs. IaaS, your next step is to talk to the experts and discover whether you would benefit by choosing a cloud option over your current, on-premises setup.

Talk to the Experts at SCS to Learn More

Get Fast Answers

Anytime you have questions about your business technology options, all you have to do is reach out to our team of seasoned experts here at SCS.

Contact SCS today to get your questions answered or fill out the form below.