If you have an office, and use an onsite server or servers, have you considered the alternatives? Do you really need an onsite server? Does it suit your business model? And has that changed over the past two years? If your employee work model has shifted to a hybrid format, and some new team members are fully remote, it might be time for an audit to see what the offsite server and cloud providers can offer today and in the future.
Capital expenditure savings are just the beginning with the cloud. Think of the purchase of hardware, licences, and ensuring that staff are qualified to manage everything. With the cloud, storage and capacity can be added as needed. Solutions are often on-demand, so you only pay for what you need. In fact, not only does the cloud give you access to world-class resources previously reserved for Fortune 500 companies, but in most cases, it’s also the most long-term economical solution.
By hosting servers in a third-party data centre or public cloud platform, smaller companies are able to access enterprise-grade hardware, cybersecurity, and expertise that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive. Can your server sitting in your closet or cramped, overheated server room really stand up against a best-in-class managed service provider?
For a cloud vendor, security is a core competence. Cloud vendors make significant investments in security and privacy protections and certifications. Your biggest threat to the security of your information is not from someone physically taking it; it’s from a cybercriminal getting access to your information from the comfort of their own home. How secure is the VPN you rushed to roll out during the pandemic? Did you bring your A game when it comes to online security systems?
Keep in mind that your vendor has to be certified to the most comprehensive portfolio of internationally recognized standards and certifications. The top cloud providers offer comprehensive, multi-layered security that includes the following: remote monitoring (suspicious login and activity), access control systems, continual threat monitoring, encryption (data in transit and at rest), physical data centre security, app security, data redundancy, continuous validation, mass file deletion protection, and more.
What are your remote access and mobile access needs? These play a huge role in choosing the right option. Cloud storage can enable a virtual desktop. Your team can access anything they do in the office via a cloud server, as long as they have an internet connection.
Cloud servers are also perfect for running applications that need to be always up and available. In addition, the cloud allows for easy file sharing, real-time collaboration, and better version control. Ask your cloud storage provider if they offer differential sync, which dramatically reduces the upload time and bandwidth used when making changes to huge files.
Data backup is a core offering of any reliable cloud storage provider. Features to protect against data loss include built-in redundancy, failover, backup, automatic logging, monitoring, and allowing for shorter recovery time compared with on-premises servers.
It’s also true that cloud servers are a safety blanket from physical threats via weather and accidents. Have you heard the one about the poor IT worker who left a pizza box sitting on a server rack? For cloud users, that’s just a fun story and not a real concern.
Here’s a question: if your physical office space flooded or your business was targeted by arson, would you be back online in a matter of minutes? If the answer is no, we guess all your servers and information are stored, and backed up, in the same location. By backing up your information to the cloud, you spread your risk and provide your business with a solid disaster recovery plan.
As a leading provider of UCaaS, we believe in the power of cloud access to unleash your business potential. From running your small business with apps to trusting an MSP with your entire network with NaaS, there is a lot to be said about the advantages of leveraging cloud tools. Not only does the cloud allow for flexible (secure) access to your information, the resources, scale, and specialized talent available to reputable cloud platforms will take your IT framework to a whole new level. Start with an audit of what your servers are doing for you today. Are they just being used for storage?
Maybe you got a server onsite because that was the done thing. It might be time to ask whether you really need it.
Would an audit of your onsite IT Network hardware make sense? Ask yourself these questions: what is the server used for? Who is using it? And will it be replaced? The EOL of that server may force the decision faster than you would like. Start to consider the benefits of cloud-based solutions now to alleviate those concerns.
The comments are closed.