How do you decide whether to purchase and install onsite or subscribe online?

This is a great question and very current as so many systems are now offering hosted online options. With TimeControl, you fundamentally are able to access all the functionality in our TimeControlOnline subscription as you do with the on premises installation. So the decision on whether to install TimeControl at your premises or subscribe to TimeControlOnline in the cloud should not be based on functionality.

Here are some of the key decision points that you may wish to consider:

Do you already have an infrastructure and personnel to support in-house applications? Do you already have servers, databases, technical staff who can ensure the application's system requirements are maintained and that maintenance of the servers such as backups and security updates are kept up to date? If you don't have such an infrastructure or the people to support it then going to a subscribed service might be better.

Do you have other enterprise applications that are installed at your premises? If you already have other applications that use commercial databases, web services and application servers, then you already have all the building blocks of an on-premises installation of TimeControl and the additional effort and costs to install TimeControl will be negligible.

Are you intending to do deep integration with other systems? If you are thinking of doing extensive integration of TimeControl data with other corporate systems, then an on-premises installation may be more attractive. When installing at your location, you will have direct access to the TimeControl data in its database and can take advantage of advanced reporting techniques such as mash-ups and data-level systems integration.

Finally, if you're really not sure, then ask us. Our implementation experts at HMS can walk you through all the advantages and disadvantages to each of these options allowing you to make an informed decision.