Cloud or Local for Club Servers: Part 1 - Factors

While discussing server upgrades for a club, I am often asked something along the lines of “Should we move our club server to The Cloud?”.  Cloud computing is ubiquitous now with nearly every technology offering some form of cloud service.  The answer to this question, however, is complicated and depends on the specific requirements of each club.  Here I will break down some of the factors and how they could affect your decision to choose a cloud based or local server.

Club Software

What club software are you running?  Jonas, Encore, Northstar, Clubessential?  Each of these applications comes with their own requirements and options.  Northstar, for example, is a web-based application accesses by a browser.  Northstar offers their own in-house cloud hosting, and the app can be easily accessed using just a browser on most platforms.

Jonas, Encore, and Clubessential however, are all Windows applications and can be complicated to move to a cloud server.  These will all need to be run in a Remote Desktop / Citrix environment and accessed with a Remote Desktop client.  These will generally come with higher CPU and memory requirements than a web application like Northstar.  A VPN will also be needed to secure the connection and to allow for printing to kitchen prep and POS receipt printers.

Running these on a local server with Windows workstations and POS, can remove the need for Remote Desktop and lower the hardware requirements for the server, lowering cost.  Remote Desktop may still be required in some cases for thin client terminals and remote access.

Budget

After software considerations, budget will be a major factor in choosing a local or cloud-based server.  In most cases, a local server will be a large upfront cost but lower long term.  Cloud services, on the other hand, will be a minimal upfront cost, but will add up in the long term.  And the total cost difference can be significant with the cost of the cloud services doubling or tripling that of a local server with a lifespan of five to eight years.  However, for many clubs, the large upfront cost of an on-site server is a deal breaker, and in these cases cloud hosting is the ideal option.

Number of back-office users and POS

How many employees need to access your club software?  And how many POS terminals does the club have?  This is an important question to consider.  Smaller clubs may see a benefit in moving to the cloud as fewer users will result in lower computing requirements, leading to lower ongoing costs.  Larger clubs on the other hand may find purchasing an on-site server, while having a large upfront cost, to be a better investment than the ongoing costs of a cloud server due to their increased computing requirements.

Remote Buildings and Multiple Clubs

Clubs with remote buildings (ex; athletic facilities, swim centers, trap ranges), and corporations with multiple clubs, could benefit by moving the servers to the cloud.  Corporate clubs especially can take advantage of a cloud server to merge multiple instances of the club software into a single server, allowing for easier management and improved consistency.  Merging these instances can also reduce the total computing resources needed making cloud hosting more price competitive compared to purchasing and maintaining servers at each location.

Other Considerations

There are also a handful of other considerations that can impact your decision to move your club software to the cloud.  The first, and most important, is internet stability.  If your club has bad internet access, forget about the cloud.  Imagine a dinner rush and your internet connection goes down!  All your POS terminals and printers go down with it, for who knows how long!  While this is not a concern for many clubs, for others this can be a major problem.  For some clubs with inconsistent internet, a dual-internet, redundant configuration may be a possibility.  In this case, the main, highspeed connection is used in most situations.  If, however, it was to go down, a slower, independent, backup connection is available to take over.  This option, while more expensive, can allow for better cloud service for clubs with less-reliable internet connections.  Clubs in rural or remote areas may not have many options to choose from for internet access and the speed and reliability of those options may be poor.  In these cases, a local server is the only option.

It is also important to remember that your server does more than just run your club software.  There are other important services that need to be handled like file and print sharing, DHCP, Active Directory, etc.  So, if you do choose to move to a cloud server, these services need to be accounted for.  Some, like Active Directory and file sharing, can also be moved to the cloud.  DHCP, however, needs to be done on the local network.

Conclusion

The decision of whether to move your club software to a cloud solution or stay with an on-site server is not a simple one.  Many factors need to be considered and balanced.  In very general terms, smaller clubs with limited budgets may benefit from the low cost of entry offered by cloud services.  Medium to larger clubs can often absorb that upfront cost for a local server and enjoy the performance and long-term cost savings.  And finally, multi club corporations can benefit from merging their clubs’ multiple servers into a single cloud-based system.  But all of this is very general and requires careful consideration.  And Buckeye Micro Inc is here to help!  We can offer solutions for local or cloud servers, and we have years of experience with all the leading club software solutions.  Call or email us today and let us help you make this big decision with confidence.