Why choose On-Prem over SaaS for your CMS?

Enterprises now have many software delivery channel options to choose from. With software-as-a-service (SaaS) and cloud-based implementation models on the rise, you might be trying to figure out the best software delivery channel to support your enterprise’s digital strategy. If you don’t have an internal IT department, SaaS can be tempting, but when you also have stringent data compliance needs, an on-premises (or on-prem for short) solution is your best bet.

An on-prem CMS like TYPO3 gives you total control

With on-prem, the data, hardware, and software platforms are all yours. You decide on the configuration, the upgrades, and system changes.

It’s private

Choose an on-prem solution to gain control and insight into your software product. With SaaS solutions, you don’t have visibility into what’s happening at the backend, which can be a deal-breaker for organizations that are restricted by compliance requirements and need total control over their data.

If your security compliance does not allow third-party hosting, then an on-premise solution is the only option for you. At b13, we work with clients’ hardware or our own. Wherever it’s hosted, you’ll have full access to your data in real-time, whenever you need it.

It's secure

Security is essential, and using a CMS that prioritizes security delivers peace of mind. TYPO3 CMS comes with default security protocols and a dedicated security team, mitigating the risk of exposing sensitive proprietary and customer data. TYPO3’s Security Team works diligently to make the CMS as secure as possible so that you don’t have to constantly worry about your potential vulnerability.

At b13, we are your eyes and ears when it comes to security. We patch when necessary and make sure your data is backed-up, protected, and fully recoverable.

It’s performant

Performance is really important because you start to lose website visitors when page-load times are slow. To top it off, Google ranks search results based on performance.

TYPO3 readily integrates with content delivery networks (CDNs), providing lightning-fast performance and taking caching off your to-do list. If you’re going headless, the speed of content delivery is a big consideration, and it’s one less thing to worry about if you’ve got a CMS that can handle it. TYPO3 with a CDN can match SaaS for speed.

It’s headless

Today, many organizations need to evolve their content strategy to be omnichannel, and CMSs have evolved in response. SaaS CMSs like Kentico Kontent and Contentstack are both headless platforms. By decoupling the front and back end, TYPO3 is a hybrid CMS, giving you the best of both worlds: you can build a traditional website and deliver content headlessly via API to any digital channel. 

Some single-tenant SaaS solutions do offer flexibility to customize features, but on-prem lets you customize almost everything. With TYPO3, you can use third-party extensions (or build your own!) to implement features for your unique business needs. This means more control over how your data is processed, stored, and presented—something you wouldn’t get from a SaaS provider.

It’s full-featured

TYPO3 is a full-featured, enterprise CMS. 

Managing content is a complex task, and TYPO3 takes care of the heavy lifting for you. TYPO3 provides an optimized authoring experience that makes it easy for your team to navigate, collaborate, edit, review, and publish. 

TYPO3 integrates with other systems like e-commerce, CRMs, and analytics. You don’t have to worry about adding yet another tool to your marketing workflow because TYPO3 comes with SEO optimization tools out-of-the-box and integrates seamlessly with your marketing tech stack. 

When you need to grow, scaling is not a problem. TYPO3 is multisite and multilingual, helping you reach a global audience. b13 implements TYPO3 so that it can scale rapidly with ease, adding bandwidth and storage space to match any SaaS solution when it comes to scalability. TYPO3 can adapt with you, scaling down when needed to minimize wastage of resources.

You’re not bound to the vendor

SaaS vendors allow you access to your information and use of their software, but you have no control over what happens at the backend. Vendors are responsible for providing a solution, not explaining how it works or helping you tailor it to your needs. Having your own software, like TYPO3, means total freedom to enact your digital strategy and if you need help with the tech, an agency like b13 can help.

With TYPO3, you’re not locked-in to a vendor so you’re free to find a partner that you click with. TYPO3 CMS is a widely-used solution, and there are many development professionals, freelancers and full-service agencies who support it. b13 is proud to be counted among them. You can feel confident that you’ll find a specialist to suit your project, industry and market. Take a look at the TYPO3 Professional Service Listing.

Why Open Source?

Today, open source software is ubiquitous and used in places you probably don't even think of. The popular open source web framework, Bootstrap, is used on over 22% of all websites today. The value of an open source solution like TYPO3 goes beyond the bottom line.

No subscription fees

There are no license fees for open source software, but you can still integrate proprietary services if you need to. And it’s sustainable—TYPO3 has a predictable release schedule and is open about their development roadmap, meaning you can make long-term plans for your organization and your customers.

Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

SaaS models provide SLAs, and TYPO3 is no different. The TYPO3 GmbH offers SLAs with guaranteed response times, priority support and dedicated account managers. 

You can also purchase three years of extended long term support (ELTS), so you can plan your upgrades to suit your own schedule.

Worry-free IT

TYPO3 CMS is a great choice for your digital transformation because it’s entirely open source and built for enterprise. When you choose TYPO3 with b13, you get all the advantages of on-prem (like full ownership and guaranteed uptime) without the drawbacks. SaaS providers are responsible for availability, security and disaster recovery. B13 can take care of that for you, as well as deployment and maintenance. You get complete control over your data and a better sense of ownership.