Cloud Apps

Web Vs Cloud Apps

Web Vs Cloud Apps 700 382 Comidor Low-code Automation Platform

One might think that selling cloud apps is straightforward.  Yes, you have all the Tech media advocating for Cloud IaaS, Paas and SaaS and all the fancy social media apps paving the way for an easy deal. But trying to sell a cloud CRM or even a free project management app to old school CEOs is quite a challenge. These frozen in time old dogs are not interested in new fancy business models…and certainly you cannot teach an old dog new tricks.

You always come to a point when you’re asked: “and why is this different from a web application?” So here it goes again…

Web Apps

Leaving history behind, web applications are those accessed over a network such as the internet or an intranet. That implies that this app is implemented using a browser-based language (e.g. JavaScript), combined with the likes of HTML and offered through a common web browser for application execution. In Web applications the software as well as the database resides on a central server alleviating developers of building clients for a specific systems or operating systems as the client always runs in a web browser.

Cloud Apps

Cloud apps are hosted in cloud providers and are accessed over the Internet. The Cloud app (SaaS) providers own the software while the customers “rent the app” in a pay per use model. Usually cloud apps are distinguished through the following characteristics:

  • Is used through a web browser.
  • Nothing needs to be installed locally.
  • Supports multi-tenancy (allows multiple customers (tenants) to be aggregated into the same application).
  • The pricing is based on actual usage.

At this point you make a pause take a sip of coffee and continue… “So to cut the long story short the differences are”:

  1. A web app is stored on a server and delivered through a browser interface while a cloud app has the data and the computations in a data center somewhere;
  2. A cloud app –as hosted in IaaS infrastructure – enjoys high availability (through mirrored installations in multiple locations), extra security and integration with other systems.
  3. A cloud app is built with scalability in mind. Cloud apps are built in such a way to handle any number of users or workloads. Nowadays cloud developers can easily configure their workload and traffic patterns in order to utilize the exact amount of infrastructure offered. Web applications are usually developed for a given platform and thus, offer limited scalability.
  4. Cloud apps are basically platforms that provide a set of specific services while Web apps are the services per se.
  5. Cloud apps can be installed on a public, private or hybrid cloud while Web apps can be installed on Internet or intranet and accessed there.

Here you make another pause, take another sip and conclude… “Basically, the main difference is the multi-tenancy advantage offered by Cloud apps, as in order to reach the same levels of elasticity and availability with web apps you should invest heavily on your infrastructures…”

Let money talk…

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