E-commerce is the exchange of money for providing or buying any goods or services online, or in layman, the process of online shopping. It applies for both the cases, B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Customer) as well.
The ‘On-premise e-commerce platform’ can be defined as a platform for e-commerce located within the premises of the company which provides the goods and services. Whereas, ‘Cloud-based e-commerce platform’ can be defined as a platform that is rented by the company from a remote host provider who takes care of the associated platform for the company.
Steps to Build an On-Premise Platform
- A team with sufficient and constant updated knowledge on IT and e-commerce matters.
- Basic idea towards how the platform should look, options the company will be offering to its customers, requirements that the company wants to be covered.
- The capital and time that the company is able to invest until the deployment of the platform as well as the capital and time needed for further updates and maintenance.
The performance, appearance and customer satisfaction can be achieved in better terms with a better team, more time and more funds leading to the final product.
Benefits of On-Premise e-commerce Platforms
Despite the market, filled with cloud-based platforms and SaaS platforms, the On-Premise e-commerce platform is still preferred by companies who are willing to invest with the needs it requires. Several plus points of On-Premise e-commerce platform are:
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Customization of Platform
The platform will have full access customization as it is developed in-house. The company will be able to add, remove, or customize any specific part of the platform to better the output of the end product. Whereas, if a company opts for the SaaS or any Cloud-based platform, they resist the freedom of “do whatever you want” for the company and also limit the power of customization.
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Security
Security is the most important aspect when the company chooses an e-commerce platform. The company tries to choose the On-Premise platform because they do not want to get any data security breach that leads the company to lose its reputation in the market. The On-Premise platform is the one that is developed and run on the company premises, which makes the company fully responsible for the security and handling of any associated data of the company. So, the companies try to handle their data by themselves in spite of trusting any third party.
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Performance
The On-Premise platform has a better performance as compared to the cloud-based platform for e-commerce, because of the limited amount of product and services offered on a B2C (Business to Customer) level. The in-house IT team can check for any improvements in the platform and indicate the ability of the platform, which is not available in the cloud-based platforms.
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Control and Privacy
The control of the platform is a benefit that is similar to the benefit of Security. The company’s control on the platform makes the company able to access and control everything of the platform such as the design structure of the platform, data handling, any updates or maintenance, backups, ownership as well as final decisions on the product. In the case of, cloud-based platform all the decisions are in the hand of the cloud company, as well as data handling and privacy, also become a concern for the company.
The On-Premise Platform for e-commerce is the right and best option for any company to handle the data, market their products or services, with full access and control of the platform to deliver the best for customer satisfaction, by investing capital, time, and organizing a well-performing IT team.
