Some of us have been so infatuated with the Cloud that think that we should port every application to it, or that a Cloud application will always be better than an on-premise one.

While the Cloud offers agility, scalability, and real-time shareability, it’s not always the best path in terms of costs or resources. On-premises systems can be more cost-effective and allow for more productivity.

Say, we find an on-line solution for our quotation system, or the CRM, or accounting. Is staff up to the challenge? If, for instance, a specific department needed 5+ years to learn and be comfortable with the existing scheme, whether it’s desktop or cloud-based, will they want to learn another application that might take them the same time? Or more? Would you lose some of them?

There are systems that are better left alone for one-at-time use, others that need to be shared, and others that shine on the Cloud.

A feet-on-the-ground approach will always be better. Just a matter of having external analysts and consultants study, compare, and suggest solutions.

Or, at the very least, create an internal and solid SWOT analysis or intradepartmental meeting to decide.