Jared Rose
VP of Sales
At Adventos, one of the most common questions that we see IT departments and law enforcement agencies face time and again comes down to whether to build an on premise infrastructure or go with a cloud-based solution for all of their agency management system needs. While both have their fair share of advantages and disadvantages, the true answer to this question requires you to take a deeper look at the specifics of your own organizational objectives and needs to help guarantee you’ll have the service you need when you need it the most. The good news is that SmartForce runs both on premise and on the cloud
Security and Compliance
One of the major benefits that a cloud-based solution has over an on-premise alternative is one of security and compliance. According to a study recently conducted by IJIS, companies that used cloud-based solutions had 45% fewer incidents of data loss, 45% less security-related downtime and a staggering 93% fewer audit deficiencies – all of which are hugely important qualities for law enforcement agencies in particular.
None of this is to say that there is a “one size fits all” answer to this particular question. For some, an on-premise solution will be the only way to guarantee the level of control over their data and processes that they need on a daily basis. For many others, however, a cloud-based solution is the single best way to control costs, guarantee scalability, security and compliance and deploy as quickly and as efficiently as possible
Time to Deploy
Picking the right solution is one thing – getting that solution up and running across an agency is something else entirely. Setting up your own on-premise infrastructure allows you to maintain complete control over your environment, but it also takes time. If the time to deploy for an in-house solution is a month, you’re looking at a months of salaries for IT employees, two months of overtime when issues arise or when things don’t go as expected, etc. With a cloud-based solution, you have none of these concerns – an agency management system like SmartForce can typically be deployed in a manner of hours, not months, and can then be further customized to fit the precise way you like to work.
Maintenance and Upgrades
Many people don’t realize until it’s far too late that when they decide to set up their own on-premise solution, there is a large amount of responsibility that comes with the control they’re trying to hold onto. This most commonly takes the form of maintenance and upgrades. If something goes wrong, you need to fix it – or find the person who can and schedule their service. If something needs to be upgraded, it isn’t going to happen automatically – you need to find the right person to get the job done, which means labor costs, downtime and more.
With a cloud-based solution, however, regular upgrades are built into the cost of the solution in the first place. You don’t have to worry about updating as much as a single piece of software – as everything is delivered in an on-demand capacity, you always have access to the latest tools at all times. Maintenance and upgrades aren’t just easier – they’re literally things you don’t have to worry about any longer.
Scalability
One of the most important qualities that law enforcement agencies need to consider when deciding between cloud vs. on-premise solutions is one of scalability. Always having access to the resources you need when you need them is key to operational success, but the reverse is also true: paying too much for resources you aren’t effectively utilizing is one of the most efficient ways to waste money today.
Cloud-based solutions like SmartForce are inherently scalable as storage, processing and other requirements are served up in an on-demand manner. Essentially, you’re paying one fixed price for whatever you need, whenever you need it.
Costs
This was purposely listed last. After careful consideration of the first four factors and your particular agency and goals you are in the best place to determine the true cost of deploying the solution on-premise or via the cloud.
Parties interested in the SmartForce™ Agency Management System and how it improves intelligence and community collaboration, click here. After watching the demo video, you are invited to request a free trial of the agency management system to try for yourselves.
