Despite the rise in cloud-based applications, on-premises software continues to show significant growth and demand from enterprise software customers. Could the cloud be about to lose its crown?

According to a new report from Dimensional Research and sponsored by Replicated, the current customer demand for on-premises software is equal to that of public cloud, and more than 90 percent of companies surveyed said their on-premises sales continue to rise.

In addition, across the more than 400 software vendor engineers, CTOs, CIOs, and other decision-makers surveyed, more than 70% who don’t currently offer an on-premises option are already planning to in the near future.

Bottom line: customer demand for on-prem software delivery isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

“In the past few years, we’ve experienced a steady increase in interest from leading global companies who see that modern on-prem software delivery through containers and Kubernetes can make data protection and security much easier,” said Grant Miller, co-founder and CEO of Replicated.

“Coupled with growing customer demand, it’s a win-win scenario for any industry.”

While the majority of companies cited privacy compliance as the top reason for using on-premises software delivery, others noted that the ability to integrate with established solutions, reliability, and customisation options topped their list of why they added the option to their line-up.

So why isn’t every company already offering on-premises solutions?

Survey respondents noted complexity, time commitments, and the cost of engineering resources to get it done. While many companies were created to be fluent in cloud, building and maintaining new on-premises software deployments can be challenging and slow in comparison.

While most said they already use container-based applications and Kubernetes in their production environments, 85% of companies reported their customers still need help with the container-based installs. Adding to this, only 16% can complete a customer install in less than one week.

“The ability to deliver and manage Kubernetes apps anywhere, without it being a complicated, time-consuming slog is key,” Miller shared.

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