Your Own ERP Without Your Own Server
The old choice was rent a shared system or buy a server and run it yourself. There is a third option, and for organizations that want their own system without becoming an IT department, it is usually the right one.
For twenty years the ERP decision came down to one fork. Rent a shared system in the cloud and accept that your records live alongside other people’s, or buy a server, put it in a cupboard, and accept that you now run a small data centre. Most organizations that want the first kind of convenience and the second kind of ownership have been told they cannot have both.
The two old answers, briefly
Cloud versus on-premise covers the full trade, so only the headline matters here. Shared cloud gives you a working system on day one, updates you never think about and a monthly bill. On-premise gives you a machine you can point at and say “that is ours”, and in exchange you inherit everything that machine needs: patching, backups, power, upgrades, and the person who knows how all of it works.
Organizations rarely choose on-premise because they want to run servers. They choose it because someone needs to hear that the system is theirs alone. That is a reasonable thing to need. Running a server is an expensive way to get it.
The third option
A managed dedicated instance is a complete copy of the system that serves your organization alone, hosted and run by the vendor. It has its own database, its own application, its own encryption key, its own storage and its own backups. Nobody else’s records are on it. And nobody on your side has to keep it alive.
How much is yours, and how much is your work
Shared cloud
Records kept apart by the software
Dedicated
Your own instance, run for you
Dedicated server
The machine is yours as well
On-premise
Yours to patch, back up and upgrade
The dedicated tiers sit left of centre on purpose: you get most of the isolation and almost none of the work.
Who carries what
| Shared cloud | Dedicated instance | On-premise | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Records shared with others | Yes, kept apart | No | No |
| Hardware | Vendor | Vendor | You |
| Security updates | Vendor | Vendor | You |
| Backups | Vendor | Vendor, your own set | You |
| New features | As they ship | As they ship | When you upgrade |
| Your own address | No | Yes | Yes |
The row that decides most cases is the fifth. An on-premise system is only as current as its last upgrade, and upgrades are the work organizations put off. Three years later the system is a version nobody else runs, the people who installed it have moved on, and moving forward is a project. A dedicated instance receives every release on the same schedule as everyone else, because it is the same code.
On-premise buys you ownership and charges you in upgrades. Dedicated buys you the ownership and leaves the upgrades with us.
When on-premise is still the answer
There are honest cases. A site with no reliable connection to the internet. A rule that the system must sit inside your own building, not merely inside your country. A security team that must hold the hardware itself. If any of those is true for you, a vendor-run instance does not meet it, and it is better to know that at the start than in the contract review.
For everyone else, the question worth asking is not “cloud or our own server?” but “who needs to hear that this system is ours, and what do they need to hear?” Usually the answer is a funder, a regulator or a board, and usually what they need is the sentence a dedicated instance lets you say: our own system, nobody else on it.
The verdict
If you were considering on-premise because you need your own system, consider a managed dedicated instance first. You get the isolation and your own address, and you do not take on the patching, the backups or the upgrades. Keep on-premise for the cases that genuinely need hardware inside your walls.
What AWRA OpsHub does today
- A dedicated instance used by your organization alone, with its own database, application, encryption key, storage and backups.
- Hosting, security updates and backups handled by us.
- Every release, on the same schedule as the shared service.
- Your own address, such as yourorg.awraops.com.
- A Dedicated server tier, where the machine runs your instance and nothing else.
More we can add to your workspace
- The AWRA mobile app connected to your dedicated instance, alongside the web app your team uses there today.
- Your own domain in place of the awraops.com address.
- A hosting region of your choosing, set in the contract.
Where we point you to a specialist
- We do not install AWRA on hardware you run, or hand over the source code. A system we cannot update is a system that falls behind, and we would rather say so than sell it.
Each of these can be scoped into a dedicated-instance quote.
Closer to your own walls
For organizations that want more than the standard instance without running it themselves.
The mobile app on your instance
Staff phones connecting straight to your own address.
Region in the contract
Hosting set in a country or region your obligation names.
Your own domain
The system at an address on your organization’s own domain.
How it works: tell us what your organization needs to be able to say, and we return a written scope and cost.
See the dedicated instanceIf you are leaning towards on-premise
Why do we want our own server?
If the honest answer is
So we can say the system is ours.
Then consider
A dedicated instance says it without the server.
Who will apply security updates every month?
If the honest answer is
We are not sure.
Then consider
A vendor-run option.
When did we last upgrade a system we host ourselves?
If the honest answer is
Years ago.
Then consider
An option that upgrades with everyone else.
Must the hardware sit inside our own building?
If the honest answer is
Yes, by rule.
Then consider
On-premise remains the right answer.
Your own system, without the server
A dedicated instance of AWRA, hosted and run by us. Available to set up now.
See how it worksFrequently asked questions
What is a managed dedicated ERP instance?
A complete copy of the system that serves one organization, with its own database, application, encryption key, storage and backups, hosted and run by the vendor rather than by the customer.
How is it different from on-premise?
You get a system used by your organization alone and your own address, but the vendor handles hardware, security updates, backups and upgrades. With on-premise all of that falls to you.
Does a dedicated instance fall behind on features?
No. It runs the same code as the shared service and receives every release on the same schedule.
When is on-premise still the right choice?
When a site has no reliable internet connection, or a rule requires the hardware to sit inside your own building, or your security team must hold the machine itself.
