Understanding Cloud & Software Terms

• Software has evolved through clear stages: spreadsheets → on-premise databases → cloud-hosted → cloud-native. Each stage removes the limitations of the one before.
• "Cloud-hosted" and "cloud-native" are not the same. Cloud-hosted is older software made available over the internet; cloud-native is built for the cloud from the ground up. And where software is hosted (e.g. AWS) is a separate question from how it's built.
• True SaaS / cloud-native means one shared platform, used in any browser on any device, updated automatically for everyone at once, scaling effortlessly.
• The ProVal journey: ProVal XL (spreadsheet) → ProVal LS (on-premise SQL database) → ProVal LS on AWS (cloud-hosted, managed for you) → ProVal Vantage (cloud-native, true SaaS).
• ProVal Vantage is the latest step: premium, cloud-native technology, with a clear upgrade path for existing customers.

How Software Has Evolved

ProVal's development mirrors the evolution of software itself, moving up through each tier as the technology matured:

• Spreadsheets — ProVal XL. The starting point. A spreadsheet is fundamentally a file: powerful for figures and formulas, but typically worked on one copy at a time and shared by passing that file around. That can lead to multiple versions in circulation and uncertainty about which is current, and it ties the tool to the device and software it was built for. ProVal XL was our Excel-based generation.
• On-premise database — ProVal LS. A significant step up. ProVal LS was built on a SQL database, storing data centrally and linking it reliably so far larger volumes could be managed by more people. In its original form it ran on a server in your own building, maintained by your own IT team.
• Cloud-hosted — ProVal LS on AWS. ProVal LS was then offered as an AWS-managed service: the same proven SQL software, hosted and managed for you in the cloud rather than on your own servers. This lifted the on-premise maintenance burden — a real step forward — though the software itself remained the LS generation, made available over the internet rather than rebuilt for it.
• Cloud-native — ProVal Vantage. The current standard, built from the ground up to run in the cloud. ProVal Vantage is a genuine cloud-native redesign: reachable through a web browser, kept up to date centrally, secure by design, and able to scale as your needs grow — with its SQL database in the cloud too. This is true SaaS, cloud-native technology.

The Cloud

Cloud

Computers (servers) in a provider's data centre, accessed over the internet rather than sitting in your office.

AWS Hosting

AWS (Amazon Web Services) rents out cloud servers to other companies. "AWS hosting" means the software runs on Amazon's infrastructure. Microsoft (Azure) and Google (Google Cloud) are the main alternatives. Importantly, where software is hosted is a separate question from how it is built — capable software can run on AWS whether it's cloud-hosted or fully cloud-native, so it's worth understanding both.

Software Models

Cloud-based / Cloud-Native / Full Cloud

Software built from the ground up to run in the cloud. It scales as demand grows, updates centrally, is reachable through a web browser, and delivers full functionality to every user. This is the modern standard — and what ProVal Vantage delivers. (These three terms are commonly used to mean the same thing.)

Cloud-hosted

Older software, originally designed for an office server or desktop, later made available over the internet. Because it wasn't built for the cloud, it can be less flexible and harder to evolve than genuinely cloud-native software, even when it's reliable and well-managed.

SaaS (Software as a Service)

Software you subscribe to and use through a browser, rather than buy and install. You pay a regular fee and the provider handles updates, maintenance, and storage. Examples: Salesforce, Microsoft 365.

True SaaS

All customers share one central version of the software ("multi-tenant"). When the provider improves it, every customer benefits from the update at the same time. Some providers describe themselves as SaaS but actually run a separate copy of older software for each customer — slower to update, and not true SaaS.

On-Premise ("On-Prem")

Software installed on your organisation's own servers, where your internal IT team handles updates, maintenance, and security.

Common trade-offs:

• Your IT team carries responsibility for updates, patches, and fixes.
• Upfront hardware cost, plus ongoing power, cooling, and space.
• Updates can be manual and infrequent, so software falls behind.
• Security, backups, and disaster recovery are your responsibility.
• Scaling means buying and installing more hardware.
• If a server fails, downtime and recovery fall to your own team.

Questions to Ask Any Provider

These help you look past marketing language to what a product really is:

• Was the software originally built for the cloud, or is it based on an older format such as a spreadsheet or desktop application?
• Can you use it in a standard web browser, and does it work across operating systems, or only on Windows?
• Can several people work in the same model at once, or does each person work from a separate file?
• When you collaborate, are you sending copies of a file around, or all working from one live version?
• How are updates delivered — centrally to everyone, or as files each user installs?
• Is it multi-tenant (one shared version) or single-tenant (a separate copy per customer)?
• How does it handle growth in your data and team over time?

A genuinely cloud-native product answers these comfortably. File-, desktop-, or single-copy-based tools tend to find them harder — which tells you a lot about how future-proof your investment will be.

ProVal Vantage

Many SDS customers today run ProVal LS as an AWS-managed service — a reliable, proven solution that has served them well. The technology landscape has now moved on to cloud-native software, and ProVal has moved with it.ProVal Vantage is true SaaS, cloud-native, premium technology: one shared, always-current platform delivering full functionality to every user, through the browser. As an existing customer, you'll have a clear path to upgrade — keeping the proven foundations of ProVal while gaining everything cloud-native design makes possible.

The Bigger Picture

The ProVal journey, from oldest to most modern:

• Spreadsheet (ProVal XL) — fundamentally a file; one copy at a time, tied to the device and software it runs on.
• On-premise (ProVal LS) — a SQL database on your own server, maintained by your own IT team.
• Cloud-hosted (ProVal LS on AWS) — the same SQL software, managed for you in the cloud; the maintenance burden lifted, but built on the earlier generation.
• Cloud-native (ProVal Vantage) — genuinely built for the cloud, with the SQL database in the cloud too: full functionality through the browser, central updates, and the ability to scale as you grow. This is where ProVal now sits.