This guide will help you to use the appropriate amount of brain if you are considering hosted apps in your business and want to be sure that your data is protected, that you can get service and manage your apps effectively, that you’re not going to break any laws, and that the apps will slot neatly into your existing infrastructure.

We shall also touch on hybrid cloud models, as integration with internal systems and with other cloud-based services make a hybrid software architecture inevitable for all but the smallest companies.

The idea behind hybrid models is to take advantage of the benefits of both on-premise applications and cloud solutions by making them work together.

On-site applications can be extended using cloud-based services and extra value can be added to hosted applications by plugging them into on-site systems.

There’s a lot to talk about, and we can only provide guidance to get you started - but it needn’t take 13 years like it did last time.