Companies that offer their own on-demand software are often particularly open to widespread use of online beta software among their employees, as long as it supports their job functions -- as opposed to banning the practice. For those considering whether a more relaxed user policy would work for their company, IT Business Edge security blogger Ralph DeFrangesco offers this take on the risk between on-premise vs. “cloud” beta software:

Running beta software from the cloud could be less risky for multiple reasons:

•    You don't store the source or executables on your computer so you don't download any malware that may come with it.
•    Although disk is cheap, it's less to store on your desktop or server.
•    It's one less application to support in-house.
•    Upgrades and patches are done by the provider.

As with everything else in life, there is a dark side:

•    Your data is stored off-site and is only as secure as your provider.
•    If your code is not in escrow, you could be in deep trouble should the vendor go out of business.
•    If you don't back up data to your facility, you are at the mercy of your provider.

At the same time, running beta software in-house allows you to run multiple versions, such as 3.1.1 and 3.1.2. As for whether a company should adopt a cloud strategy, this has to be evaluated on a company-by-company basis.