Cloud or on-premises: how do you choose for signage, queue and feedback systems?

What the two models mean

In a cloud deployment, the software runs on servers that the vendor or its hosting provider operates, and your sites reach it over the internet. In an on-premises deployment, the software runs on servers in your own data centre or server room, and your team operates them.

Signage, queue and feedback systems usually have two parts. A management console is where staff set things up and read reports. Devices on site show content, issue tickets or collect responses. The deployment model mainly decides where the console and its data live, and who looks after them.

Where data must live

Check whether your organisation, your sector regulator or a customer contract sets rules on where data may be stored and who may access it. If such a rule exists, it often settles the question before any other factor.

Then list what each system holds. A signage system mostly holds content, schedules and screen details. Queue systems hold visit records, and a booking page may also collect names or contact details. A feedback system holds responses, and free-text comments can contain personal details that customers choose to write. The more personal data a system holds, the earlier your data protection team should see the design.

Weigh your IT operations capacity

On premises, your team takes on the servers. That means installing them, monitoring them, backing them up, applying updates and planning for hardware replacement.

In a typical cloud deployment, the vendor carries most of that work, and your team manages users, sites and settings. The trade is control for effort, so ask who will look after on-premises servers outside office hours, and who covers when that person is away. Count the effort for every system you plan to run, not only the first one.

Check the network and plan for updates

Devices in branches need a route to wherever the software runs. With cloud, that means a dependable internet connection at each site. With on-premises, it means a route from each branch to your data centre across your own network.

Your network team will want to know which connections each device opens, and to which addresses. Ask every vendor what happens at a site when the connection drops: whether screens keep showing content, kiosks keep issuing tickets and responses are kept until the link returns.

Both models need updates, but who applies them differs. On premises, your team schedules, tests and installs them, often within an agreed change window. Ask how updates reach the devices on site as well as the central software, and decide how much control you need over their timing.

Fit the choice into your security review

An internal security review usually follows a set route: a questionnaire, architecture documents, a look at how access is controlled, and sign-off by the risk owner. Start it early, so it runs alongside the product evaluation.

Give the reviewers your preferred deployment model, and ask each vendor to answer against that model. Procurement can then compare offers on the same basis: what the vendor runs, what your team runs, and who is responsible for each part.

How Nexus Cloud handles the deployment choice

Nexus Cloud consists of three products: Nexus Signage, Nexus Queue and Nexus Surveys. The three products share one console and one sign-in. Each product works on its own. You can add the other Nexus products later, in the same console and sign-in.

Your experience platform. Your deployment choice. Cloud or on-premises, according to your requirements. We confirm the deployment design for each product with your IT team.

Before you choose: a short checklist

• Write down any rules on where data must be stored, and who owns them.
• List the data each system holds, including personal data in free text.
• Name who would run servers, backups and updates on premises.
• Check the connection at each site, and ask what happens when it drops.
• Agree how and when updates may be applied.
• Schedule the security review so it runs alongside the evaluation.