Let me summarize some of the points made by Subraya Mallya in the blog Prudent Cloud as to why a SaaS solution is preferable to an on-premise solution from a cost-benefit perspective:

• Reduced Upfront Investment. A SaaS application does not require the upfront investment in IT infrastructure that is required for an on-premise solution.

• On-Demand Elasticity. With an on-premise deployment, "You buy it - You keep it." A SaaS application is easy to scale up or down and your costs scale up or down accordingly.

• Anytime/Anywhere Access. To access a SaaS solution, you simply need a browser and an Internet connection.

• Frequent Product Updates. One of the key benefits of SaaS is frequent product updates and enhancements.

Many customers and prospects tell me they prefer on-premise over SaaS. Given the reasonable arguments above, one might ask, "Why?" Here are several arguments in favor of an on-premise solution:

• Economies of Scale. A SaaS solution can become costly versus an on-premise solution if you are sending large numbers of messages daily. This is much like buying pizza by the slice rather than simply buying the whole pizza.

• Security and Control. Many clients prefer to have their data and applications maintained and securely accessible onsite.

• Rapid ROI. Some on-premise solutions have an almost immediate Return on Investment (ROI). For example, an InphoniteVoice on-premise edition often has an ROI of 30 days or less. Once the system has paid for itself, additional messages such as follow-up calls, past-due reminders, or a second reminder call per appointment can be made at virtually no additional cost.

Inphonite offers both SaaS and on-premise versions of InphoniteVoice. In this debate, Inphonite is agnostic. Other than some necessary differences such as credit card processing and system administration, InphoniteVoice SaaS offers the same feature set as the on-premise, enterprise edition of InphoniteVoice.

Rather than takes sides in these Cola Wars, let me propose several scenarios where it makes sense for a client to utilize both the SaaS AND an on-premise edition of InphoniteVoice:

• Emergency Notification. Consider a hospital IT Department that is already making appointment reminder calls via an on-premise edition of InphoniteVoice. Let's say they want the ability to send Emergency or Mass Notifications to their 2,500 employees. Assuming the system can place 45 calls per channel per hour, it would require 56 channels (phone lines) to call all employees within sixty minutes. Such bandwidth is very expensive and would remain unused most of the time. Once configured, the incremental cost to deliver 2,500 messages using InphoniteVoice SaaS is only $350.

• Redundancy. As a backup to your InphoniteVoice on-premise solution, InphoniteVoice SaaS, at a cost of pennies per message, can ensure that your messages are delivered every day.

• Purchase Assurance Plan. A customer may prefer to thoroughly test InphoniteVoice and implement the SaaS version before purchasing an on-premise edition. To facilitate this, Inphonite will apply 100% of the InphoniteVoice SaaS implementation fee toward the purchase price of an On-Premise edition for up to 12 months after purchase. We will also implement the migration at no additional charge.

Whether you prefer SaaS, On-Premise, or even a combination of the two, there is an InphoniteVoice solution available to meet your needs.

Mayonnaise vs. Miracle Whip? Twizzlers vs. Red Vines? If you would like to weigh in on the SaaS vs. On-Premise debate, please comment below.