Does cloud hosting still make sense?

The terms “cloud hosting” and “cloud computing” are often used interchangeably, but they are not really the same thing — though in most cases, both approaches are modeled on a client/server relationship. The question remains whether hosted applications still remain a viable solution in today’s cloud computing environment, or whether it is time to move to an entirely cloud-based environment for your and your clients’ application needs.

Cloud-based solutions have become immensely popular. An application such as QuickBooks Online has been written specifically to operate entirely online on a network of servers dedicated to processing multiple instances of the application for different users. The specific server used for a client at any one time is determined by load balancing…