Managed SaaS: the vendor operates everything
In managed SaaS, the vendor provisions, hosts, scales, patches, and monitors the infrastructure, typically in the vendor’s own cloud environment (or a public cloud account the vendor controls). The customer accesses the software as a service and has no direct operational control over the underlying servers, network, or hosting environment. This is the dominant model across enterprise CCaaS.
Private cloud: customer-controlled infrastructure, vendor-provided software
Private cloud means the software runs on infrastructure the customer controls — the customer’s own cloud account, data center, or colocation environment — rather than the vendor’s. The customer’s team typically takes on some or all of the operational responsibility (provisioning, scaling, patching, monitoring) that a vendor would otherwise absorb in managed SaaS. Critically, "private cloud" still generally means the vendor’s software is deployed and operated according to the vendor’s architecture and (often) with vendor involvement in setup and upgrades — it is not the same as receiving a standalone software package to run entirely independently.
On-premises: a specific, narrower thing many vendors don’t actually offer
On-premises typically refers to a customer receiving a distributable software package or binary that they install, configure, and run entirely independently, on their own hardware, with no ongoing dependency on the vendor’s infrastructure or direct operational involvement. This is a narrower and operationally heavier commitment than private cloud, and many vendors that advertise "private cloud" or "self-hosted" options do not actually offer this — they offer a customer-infrastructure deployment that the vendor still helps operate or upgrade, which is meaningfully different from a fully independent on-premises binary.
Why the distinction matters when evaluating a vendor
A buyer asking "do you offer on-premises deployment?" and a vendor answering "yes, private cloud" may be talking past each other if the buyer specifically needs a fully independent, vendor-uninvolved deployment. Ask a vendor directly: does this deployment require any ongoing connection to, or involvement from, the vendor’s own infrastructure? Is upgrade and patching something we do entirely ourselves, or does the vendor participate? The answers separate genuine on-premises from private cloud dressed up as it.
Where Voz360 fits
Voz360 is available as managed SaaS or private cloud — the same codebase and schema-per-tenant isolation architecture, deployed either in Voz360-operated infrastructure or on infrastructure the customer controls. Voz360 does not offer a customer-run, fully independent on-premises binary distribution; private cloud is the deployment option for customers who need infrastructure control without adopting a fully self-managed, vendor-uninvolved on-premises model.
Can the vendor tell you — in one sentence — which of their AI capabilities are rule-based, which are generative, and which are still roadmap?