Below is my analysis from certain internet articles for opting out for Azure vs Office 365.
There are dozens of cloud hosting options for SharePoint, beyond Office 365. Amazon, Rackspace and Fpweb offer compelling alternatives to Microsoft’s public Azure cloud for SharePoint online with a mix of capabilities.
These capabilities fall on the spectrum
- IaaS (Infrastructure as a service) — Cloud hosted VM’s on which we install Windows, SQL, SharePoint. For better or worse, we will have complete control over administration and customization.
- SaaS (Software as a service) — Fully managed solution delivering SharePoint services with full subscribed provider managed availability, backup, performance, installation, etc. For better or worse, we will have limited control of administration and customization.
Though Office 365 itself is a pure SaaS solution – We have to carry a lot of responsibility for managing our own security and content. Let’s suppose that Azure hosted virtual machines represent IaaS and Office 365 represents SaaS.
The following survey with self-points for each answer will see the situation compares:
Answer Key
<40
Comparatively free of the history and capabilities of many on-premises environments. As a result, a strong candidate for Office 365. Will get immediate benefits from the platform services without needing to disrupt existing content patterns or internal processes.
41-80
Have the classic posture of an on-premises environment. If trying to gain some of the advantages of the cloud, an IaaS solution like Azure VMs may be a stronger fit for this organization. Based on use cases, a hybrid between O365 and Azure may also introduce some of the service simplicity of Office 365 with the complete admin control from Azure.
80
On premises forever! We can work on other projects for the year while needs progress and the solutions improve.
Use cases may vary significantly form those mentioned here. This is intended to assess success criteria relative to the business cases and economics. I am also attaching info graphic which can give you more insight on technical aspect as well in terms of SharePoint platform options.
Please be informed that this analysis is just a preface and prepared swiftly to share you the high level glance on hosting options.