Selecting The Right Mobile Device Management Solution: On-Premise, Managed Service Or SaaS

With a premise-based solution, all servers are installed at your location(s) and are maintained as part of your enterprise. The solution (all hardware and software) is owned by your company and is often viewed as a capital expense. You maintain control of the servers and maintain their security. This option might also be referred to as on-premise or in-house and typically requires a higher, one-time license fee and optional annual maintenance.

In a SaaS, or on-demand or hosted model, a provider licenses an application that is hosted at a remote location, Network Operations Center (NOC), to customers through a subscription model, generally a monthly or yearly fee. This approach to application delivery is part of the "cloud computing" model where all of the technology is in the "cloud" and accessed over the Internet as a service.

A managed service, or outsourced management, is the practice of transferring the day-to-day responsibility of managing the software/hardware to an outside organization with expertise in the subject area for more efficient operations. Managed services are generally provided in a subscription model, and an external organization will provide operations and management capabilities that are delivered with a recurring monthly or annual fee for their services. While the customer is more hands-off with a managed services offering, they should still be provided regular status reports that cover areas such as roll-outs, software/hardware updates and asset and inventory tracking.