The False choice-Cloud or Prem

When the SaaS offering is just prem stuff that’s deployed in a central data center, it loses out on the unique benefits that are afforded only when the software is written for cloud. In other words, offerings that are consumed identically between prem and cloud are clearly not built as cloud first. Cloud first matters, because it brings with it a set of capabilities that CIOs should be caring about.

What are those capabilities?

Cloud first means it comes with continuous improvement. Traditional premise software is upgraded in regular releases, often 6-12 months apart. Software written cloud first is engineered to be upgraded constantly, each time without impact to availability. Because of that, it moves fast, and is constantly improving. New features come faster. Security fixes come immediately. Quality improvements are constant. Moving fast and upgrading all of the time is a hallmark of modern consumer software, and that speed of innovation is critical for CIOs in the modern digital era.

Cloud first means it will have better quality. This is a direct consequence of continuous improvement but needs to be called out on its own. Cloud first software gives metrics to the vendor that helps to monitor the quality of product in the hands of end users. How fast is call setup? How many messages are being lost? These can be measured constantly, and when there are problems, the software can be improved, an update pushed, and the quality gets better. Without the ability to update and improve the software constantly, achieving continuous improvement in quality is not possible.

Cloud first means it will have better adoption. Ultimately, when you purchase a collaboration capability, what matters is whether your users are actually using it. Getting users to use it is much more than just sending an email that reminds them the tools are available. Doing this properly actually requires observing the usage patterns of the users, understanding where and why usage is not happening, and adjusting the software itself to compensate. Perhaps that button needs to be somewhere else? Perhaps a new entry point into the feature is needed. Perhaps an in-app tutorial is needed. With cloud first software, the vendor can actually monitor and track adoption and more important constantly improve and evolve the product itself to drive adoption. When combined with adoption services and other IT practices this can ensure you get value out of the product. The key point however is that true adoption only comes from constantly improving the product itself to make adoption part of what it is good at.

Finally, cloud first means that it will have a better user experience, for many of the same reasons. The vendor is monitoring the experience and engagement of the users, and then constantly improving it. The amount of time to move from one menu to the next menu can be monitored and constantly improved; the number of milliseconds to return search results can be monitored and constantly improved; the frequency a feature is invoked can be monitored and constantly improved. Metrics, monitoring, devOps and continuous delivery – all of which are the hallmark of cloud first software –are all required to do this.

Building software uniquely for cloud means that you can take advantage of capabilities that are uniquely cloud. Those, in turn, translate into direct benefits for customers –CIOs worldwide. The promise of identical features between premise and cloud is appealing for its operational flexibility, but the reality is that it leaves much of real value that the cloud has to offer unrealized.

And so –when you are shopping for collaboration services, be wary of vendors that promise identical capabilities in either cloud or premise consumption models. Instead, shop for technologies that are the best they can be in their respective deployment models. If you are going to opt for a cloud service, make sure it’s truly built for cloud.

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