5 July, 2018, by Alexia Chalita
With a variety of new research software applications emerging almost every day, data managers must be educated on these systems, EDC in particular, to fully compare their options and determine which products will be optimal for their studies. When shopping around for a new EDC system, it is critical that researchers ask the important question: how and where is this EDC system hosted? High cost, among other factors, has incited the movement away from on-premises hosting towards “the cloud.” Even when a researcher opts for a cloud-based EDC system, several hosting variations within “the cloud” exist. These important cloud-based hosting variations can affect both privacy and performance during the life of the study, thus affecting sponsors, as well as CROs and sites. Choose wisely by learning more about the different hosting variations within “the cloud”!
Let’s take a step back…What’s the “big” difference between public vs. private cloud?
Public Cloud is when an EDC system is hosted on the cloud and you share a software “instance” with other customers. This type of software is generally lower cost (with some exceptions); however, you may need to revalidate and retrain your sites with every release. For example, you may be in the middle of a study when you are forced to stop and update the EDC software. These abrupt updates can be disruptive and make it difficult for staff to familiarize themselves with the new/altered features. Public Cloud software vendors rarely identify themselves as “Public Cloud.” Make sure you ask the question: “Will we be getting 100% private instance of your software or will we be on a shared instance with other customers?” If the vendor cannot guarantee a private instance, then you risk the negative effects of Public Cloud.
EDC systems hosted on a Private Cloud, like ClinCapture’s Captivate, offer the affordable benefits of being “on the cloud” without the disruptive interruptions Public Cloud users experience. By being on your own “instance,” private cloud users do not have to worry about interruptions to the study for revalidation or retraining. Private cloud offers more benefits, such as:
- Increased security
- Optimal performance
- Upgrade control
- Affordability
- Control of server access
- State of art IT
- Data privacy
- Scalable as study grows
- No “neighbors” using high CPU/memory/IO bandwidth
- Individually tuned
- International study deployment
- Flexible study freezing or upgrades
- No unnecessary changes to disrupt a study
So, when faced with the choice of public vs. private cloud, always choose private cloud! Since most EDC system vendors will not consider themselves to be “public cloud,” remember to ask your vendor for 100% private instance. If your vendor cannot guarantee it, you may face the consequences of public cloud! If you are interested in using a private cloud EDC system, consider Captivate 2.0 EDC, featuring a brand-new user-experience (UX). Whether you are ready to buy or would like to learn more, set up a demo today to experience our private cloud EDC system! Ready, set, deploy (on a private cloud, of course)!
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