So, your server is old and a little rusty from years of use and it now struggles to keep up with daily tasks. If the server is beginning to impact productivity of your team, perhaps you should think of moving to the cloud as a replacement instead of buying a new one at a large expense.
So why should you consider cloud computing rather than buying a new server? There are many things to think about when it is time to upgrade; from cost of purchasing and maintaining the equipment, to the ability and flexibility to support potential future growth of your business.
Cost
On-site servers can be expensive. Should a fault occur there can be more than a financial cost to your business. In-house servers need constant care to keep them updated and backed up which often requires a lot of time or a dedicated person to manage.
Using the Cloud, or a cloud computing service provider, means you don’t need to buy a new server. You simply ‘rent’ space on their servers that they look after. You then log in to the cloud and access all your data just as you would if it was located in your office. Think of the savings on electricity and maintenance!
The cloud is also subscription based on a per user basis which is great for growing companies as you use only as much ‘server’ as you need. So you aren’t paying to maintain your service provider’s server, you are simply paying for what you use.
Scalability
On-site servers are bought at a certain size to cater for a certain sized business. If your company suddenly grows, you will need to adopt new equipment, often rendering your ol’ faithful server retired. On the other hand, should your company quickly scale down, you will be paying for a server potentially too large for your business.
As mentioned above, cloud based services are easily scalable, as the number of user accounts can be increased or decreased at any time, with you only paying for what you are using. If you have a new employee join, how easy would it be to just provide a new laptop with a login already set up and off they go!
On the go..
Using an on-site server is restrictive. Often businesses are tied to working in their offices as that is where files and software is ‘kept’. Employees are often provided with a PC tower linked by cables to a maze of wires and extension leads. If working from home is an option, you’d probably see a number of USB sticks being used to transfer data, or files sent to personal accounts to be worked on from home. How do you keep track of your data?
Moving to a remote desktop on the cloud enables employees to access all files anywhere so no more USB sticks or transferring files via email. This enables employees to work in real-time from any computer, anywhere.
Security
Backing up an on-site server is often a manual task which has to be regularly maintained and whichever back up device is used will need to be securely stored. The other security consideration for having an onsite server is Disaster recovery. What would happen to your business should your server go down?
Using cloud based services also takes care of security and taking regular back-ups of your data (something which small/medium businesses are not normally able to consider) offering peace of mind for you and your clients.
For those of you who are more green minded, there is the additional benefit of a smaller carbon footprint. Local servers consume a fixed (often quite large) amount of energy, whereas cloud based services scale up and down to your required needs. This results in you only using as much energy as is required at that particular time.
If you’re interested in upgrading to a remote desktop, get in touch by filling in our contact form or you can call us on 0117 933 0570 and chat to one of the team!