Cloud, on-prem or hybrid? Panel debates the options
Is cloud or on-prem provision of digital signage systems better? The answer isn’t straightforward, but some of the factors that might affect a client’s choice were discussed in a panel moderated by Sian Rees, founder and owner of Peregrine Vision.
Franck Racapé, Managing Director, Iagona commented that 20% of its licences are on-prem – typically these are companies in sectors that are more traditionally cautious about their data, such as banking and healthcare. These companies, he said, are prepared to trade functionality for the feeling of security.
He commented: “The automatic feeling from IT departments is ‘OK, I want to control everything, it’s my data, I cannot afford my data to leak – even if I do not have access to the latest technology or the latest updates, even if it’s more difficult to deploy – my KPI number one is data protection.’”
Vladimir Buchgalter, VP R&D, Novisign, said that while 80% or more of his company’s solutions run in the cloud, it is important to be able to deliver what the customer asks for, including on-prem and private cloud.
“Some data is critical, some is not,” agreed Racapé. “Hybrid solutions can really help mitigate in the eyes of the customer the risk of exposing your data, while still having cloud services, open APIs – you can have a mixed solution that maximises the benefit on the end-user side.”
Florian Bogeschdrofer, CTO, 99sensors, described some of the advantages of cloud provision – including scalability, availability and elasticity. He added: “I think it’s far safer than using your own systems. In regular companies… their IT department is not as highly skilled as AWS or Alibaba – they’ve got people searching actively for problems and for new exploits, while your IT guy is just fixing patches once a month or so.”
The panel agreed that one factor likely to slow down the move to 100% cloud services is the current geopolitical situation. Franck Racapé said: “It’s not only protecting your own data – if your data goes beyond your network, where does it go? … We have never seen a situation like we have today where the blocs – US, China, India, Europe – are really fighting for the data, and the data is the value.”
