Businesses of all sizes are taking a strategic look at whether to run IT infrastructure on-premises or shift to a hosted model. The answer will depend on your situation and requirements. Some will keep key applications in-house and move the rest to the cloud. Others will decide IT is not a core competency and shift entirely to cloud services. A third option is to move IT infrastructure to the cloud while maintaining control over the application software.
Think of it this way: maintenance costs are like the gasoline, oil and occasional repair for your car. These are part of the cost equation, but in the long run, we also should consider the initial purchase, insurance and replacement at end-of-life. The value you derive from the car – mobility, personal expression, enjoyment – is yet another factor.
In other words, the decision for an on-premises or cloud-hosted application should take into consideration a long-run view of total cost of ownership (TCO) as well as value to the business.