Cloud PLM: Cloud-Based vs Cloud-Hosted

Almost everyone touches the cloud applications in this generation such as Gmail, Slack, Salesforce, drives and much more. Most of us never care about the way it is built. There are two major ways that the cloud applications were built. They have advantages and disadvantages when compared to each other. Only a few tech people understand the difference clearly to utilize the benefits. This article is just to understand better about the cloud PLM products and how it is different with the way it’s built.

Is this really important to understand this? Anyway the application is in the cloud. That make sense?  A common question to rise on the mind.

There are certainly differences between cloud-based applications and cloud-hosted applications. By understanding these differences and choosing the appropriate model of cloud platform, industries can achieve business requirements and cost optimization.

A PLM software is the one every industry wants to be in the cloud for making futuristic infrastructure. When it comes to cloud PLMs, Cloud-based PLM and Cloud-hosted PLM are the two different terminologies industries must be clear about. 

Cloud-Hosted PLM

Cloud-hosted PLMs are already existing PLM software that is just hosted on the cloud data center, handled by the vendor on behalf of the clients. In this, PLM has been provided as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) to the client. 

This is a single tenancy architecture. This means that each and every Customer will have their own independent database and instance of the software infrastructure. 

Merits & Demerits of Hosted PLM 

✓ Updates and Maintenance are in the client’s control. 

✓ Highly customizable because of single tenancy 

✓ Performance of the client’s system will not be affected by other tenants activity

✓ Regulatory compliances are easy to achieve as data is secured & encrypted 

✓ Backing up and restoring data is easier as each tenant has separate backup 

✗ Client should manage the updates/upgrades

✗ Customization might consume a lot of time & money without the supports

✗ Since independent maintenance required, this method is costly 

✗ Scaling up or down is highly complex and cost effective 

Cloud-Based PLM

On the other hand, Cloud-based PLMs are directly built on the cloud starting from the scratch. In this, PLM has been delivered to the client as Software as a Service (SaaS). 

In a cloud-based model, each client will share the same database, software infrastructure and servers. But the Data is isolated for each client space so as to ensure the data security. Though everyone shares the same database, each client kept invisible for the other client’s data. 

With these factors, cloud-based applications are called multi tenant architecture.

Merits & Demerits of Cloud-based PLM 

✓ Updates and Maintenance are handled by SaaS provider regularly  

✓ Highly configurable with the support  

✓ Since this is multi tenancy architecture, maintenance cost is very lesser

✓ Scaling up and down is easier based on the business requirements  

✓ In SaaS method, separate additional software and hardware are not required

✗ If anything happens in tenant’s system, that might affect other tenants also

✗ Not all multi-tenancy solution meet the strict compliance of data sharing 

✗ To avoid backing up complexity, SaaS may restrict the storage and access 

Choosing a PLM

While choosing the best suited PLM for the industry, we should ask ourselves some questions as both the single tenant and multi tenant applications are having benefits of their own. Is the cost primary decision making factor? How critical is data security? Do you need more customization? Or Are you happy with the one size fits all method? Do you have any specific regulatory requirements? And some of the basics questions of PLM software. After getting the answers, industries usually get a clear picture about their actual requirements. 

KloudPLM 

KloudPLM is a cloud-based PLM software built on the salesforce platform to maximize the benefits of cloud based PLMs. With the higher grade of data security and highly configurable platform KloudPLM is the futuristic software that benefits the industries in many ways.