Your server or ours? An honest comparison

One of the first questions every organisation asks us is: “Should the software run on our own server or on yours?” The right answer depends on the size of the organisation, its technical team and how sensitive its data is — not on which option sounds more modern.

One thing first: the version is the same either way. Our on-premise installation is not a separate branch that falls behind on updates; it is the same version we run on our own servers. Either way, each organisation has its own installation and its own database.

On our servers: what you get

• Daily monitoring and backups are ours to handle: service availability and backups are checked every day, not only when something goes wrong.
• Updates without anyone in your organisation having to deal with them.
• Access from anywhere: the web panel, the mobile app and the terminals connect to the same server from every branch and city.
• No server room needed; power, cooling and hardware are not your problem.

What it asks of you: an internet connection. If your organisation loses its link to the outside world, the web panel is out of reach too. For weighbridges we closed that gap separately: the FaraTozin terminal records and prints tickets offline and sends them later. Everything else needs the connection.

On your own server: what you get

• The data never leaves the building. For organisations where that is a requirement, the decision is simple.
• Work inside your network does not depend on the outside internet. Users on your own network keep working when the external connection drops.
• Full control over hardware, update timing and network security policy.

What it asks of you: responsibility. The server, stable power, cooling and, above all, regular backups that are actually tested. A backup that has never been restored is only a hope. Under the contract, backups and updates are handled either by your own team or by us remotely.

A few questions that settle it

1. Is there someone in your organisation responsible for the server? If not, an on-premise install lands on someone who has no time for it.
2. Do you have a legal or contractual duty to keep data in-house? If so, the answer is clear.
3. Where are your users? With branches in several cities, a server reachable from everywhere is simpler.
4. How much does an internet outage hurt you? If most work happens in one building and external outages are frequent, on-premise earns its keep.
5. When did you last test restoring a backup? An honest answer to this one usually makes the decision.

The hidden costs of each

Running your own server costs more than the hardware: backup power, backup storage, people’s time and the risk of the day a disk fails and nobody is ready. Running on ours costs more than the fee: dependence on the internet, and handing some infrastructure decisions to us.

You can move later

Because the version is the same either way, today’s decision is not forever. An organisation that starts on our servers can move to its own later, and the other way round; the data is the same data.

The best server is one that someone is truly responsible for, with backups that have actually been tested.

Three organisations, three answers

• A distributor with branches in several cities and no technical staff: our servers. Every branch connects to one server and nobody in-house has to look after backups.
• A factory on one site with frequent internet outages and a network administrator: on-premise. Work inside the factory no longer depends on the outside internet.
• A centre whose contracts or regulators want data kept in-house: on-premise, with a written backup plan and a restore that is tested every so often.

Security either way

Wherever the server sits, a few things are always the same: each organisation has its own database, so a faulty query cannot show another organisation’s data, and each user sees only what their role allows. On our servers every domain is served over HTTPS only and certificates renew automatically; on-premise, the same needs doing on your own network, and we help set it up.

And one rule that helps in both cases: keep passwords separate and close the accounts of people who leave on the day they go. Most breaches do not start at the server; they start at a forgotten account.

Updates, either way

A report or feature built for you sits on the standard version, so the next update does not wipe it out or split you off from the product — whether the server is yours or ours. The mobile app is one installer for every customer: enter your organisation’s address and it shows the modules your organisation has bought. Buying a new module does not need a new version of the app.

The only difference is timing: on our servers updates are ours to run; on yours, we agree the timing with your team so it never lands in the middle of a working day.

Next step

Infrastructure and deployment details are best gone through face to face, for your own organisation. Book a meeting.