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Self-hosted Bitrix24
As you probably know, Bitrix24 can be obtained by two ways. First, you can choose cloud version and pay fees on regular basis. Another way is to buy Bitrix24 on premise, also called self-hosted. In this case, you will get a self-hosted with license code and you will need to get a server where your data will be stored.
New geopolitical realities
War in Ukraine that started at 24 February 2022 has changed a lot not only in Russia and Ukraine, but all over the world. Sad to see how easily political decisions can ruin an ordinary life of people and business.
Our company EMCsoft is working globally, we have clients from Europe, Russia, United States, Africa, Middle East and so on. And our clients who is running business in Russia are facing incredible limitations. The most notable example is Salesforce that switched off Slack from all Russian users, even if they have paid in advance.
Other examples are Amocrm, Trello, Canva and other apps that many companies use in their routine. Reality is that users from Russia no longer able to pay and use premium versions for these apps.
Apart from that, business owners located in Russia are worried about data privacy. They used to work in apps provided by cloud technologies with data stored somewhere else, mostly outside of the country. And now, having political pressure, no one is sure whether his data is secure.
Dealing with new risks
All above mentioned brings to the fact that all business owners should think about these new risks, evaluate them and take actions in advance.
One of these actions can be choosing Bitrix24 self-hosted.
Next, we will reveal advantages of self-hosted Bitrix24 in connection with recent situation.
Data privacy and controlled servers
What happens when you buy cloud Bitrix24? Whether it is a CRM program or a game – you instantly get a special code, then you create personal account and then your data will start to be stored at some place. Usually, it’s kept on servers owned by big companies. And usually, they are located in another country.
Storage aside, computing clouds can also process information differently; they have special software that enables workloads to be shared among different machines. Your Facebook photos, for example, don’t have a permanent home on a specific chip, but may move among computers.
When you buy a self-hosted version, you have to obtain a server where you will keep your data. Usually, companies buy their own servers or rent it from company next door, or at least located in the same country.
Therefore, when you know exactly in which machine your data is stored, you can feel safer. And if your country gets banned from global companies, you can be sure that at least your data is safe.
Ability to use local network
Some of our clients are trying to evaluate how they can operate in case of internet being shut down. In this case, you can use self-hosted Bitrix24 using local network only, which means that you will have access to your data 24/7.
More likely scenario is that internet connection will slow down. This can happen even apart from geopolitical situation. For example, number of cloud users of Bitrix24 is growing fast and sometimes speed is slowing.
On premise version speed can be simply fixed by server improvement.
Independency and control over IP addresses
One more substantial advantage is independency from vendors. Whether you buy Bitrix24 from Bitrix partners or Bitrix directly – if you get self-hosted version, you get a code and you can use that code as much as you want. Vendor do not have access to your data, they don’t control your software remotely.
Of course, there are situations when you need to give a temporary access to support team – for example us, EMCsoft – to access Bitrix24 and this can be done under your control.
In case when you have remote workers, you can restrict any IP except dedicated connections, which is known as IP whitelisting. Each employee (or approved user) shares their white IP address with the network administrator, who then enters their IP address on a “whitelist” that grants them network access.
Wide customization and deep reports
As you know, cloud programs usually offer standard functionality that suits majority of users. As soon as you need something irregular, vendors propose you to pay more and get advanced functionality. In cloud Bitrix24 you have to use standard tools, standard business processes, standard integrations.
In self-hosted version you are free to customize as per your requirements. If you have understanding of weak places or bottlenecks of your business, most likely you can solve them customizing your CRM program.
Actually, Bitrix24 can be customized at very high level, so even nobody will know that you are using some third-party software. In other words, it can be like your own CRM, but without all the mess of doing from scratch.
One more thing to point out in self-hosted Bitrix24 is more customizable reports. Frankly speaking, reports in Bitrix24 are not brilliant, but recently they made a BI integration. It is not full, but better than nothing. So, if you are looking for very deep reports, you are very welcome in self-hosted Bitrix24.
Advanced telephony
Cloud version of Bitrix24 offers standard telephony with standard integrations with third party telephony. And if your business needs some special automated telephone technologies such as power dialer and predictive dialer, then you should go for Bitrix24 on premise.
Cloud limitations
Bitrix24 cloud version has its own bottleneck – no more that 2 requests per second can be processed simultaneously. This is likely will be unnoticed by small companies with few business processes, integrations, calls etc.
But if you are relatively big company with, for example, more than 100 workers or you have a lot of business processes or various settings or integrations, then this limitation can be a headache.
If your operations or staff is growing, in self-hosted version you can just improve your server performance.
This is also important when you need to send big files >200 Mb. It can be time consuming to upload and download files back and forth to Bitrix instead of using local server.
Disadvantage of self-hosted Bitrix24
Obviously, the main disadvantage of self-hosted Bitrix24 is price.
In first year, you pay the same amount as in cloud and then 30% of it next year. But additionally, you will need to pay for:
– servers, which can sometimes be more expensive than license;
– admin or support team to take care of firewalls, data, installation and so on.
So, comparing to cloud, self-hosted solution will require higher expenses in the beginning.
What to choose?
We have listed many advantages of using self-hosted Bitrix24 CRM program. However, it is more expensive than paying for cloud, which can be crucial for the most business owners.
Therefore, you need to choose option which is suitable for you and your business.
We tried to highlight importance of such things as data privacy and controlled servers, especially in current geopolitical situation.
For some of you these considerations can be thought of as overreacting. But unfortunately, some of us are living in quite vulnerable territories where almost anything can happen.
Those who are aware of black swan event theory must know that in our modern and globally interconnected world such events can impact you even at thousands of miles away. And real war in Ukraine stands for such event that most of us never expected to happen in 21st century.
Our team of Bitrix24 developers is working globally and helps to configure Bitrix24 as per your company requirements. Our clients point out our expertise, bonding to timeframe and matching their requirements. You can check our cases and feedbacks on our website.
If you are looking for ways of scaling your business using automatized solutions, feel free to contact us and we will propose solution just for you.
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