Could Your Business Find Success in the Cloud?

If you have the money, purchasing your own computing infrastructure isn’t an issue. Unfortunately, these systems cost tens of thousands of dollars and that is before you start compiling workstations. This week, we’d like to discuss the pros and cons of incorporating some cloud computing resources into your network infrastructure and if they can save you money.

Cloud Computing vs. Self-Hosted Infrastructure

Traditionally, a business would purchase their own servers and then hire people to manage them. This requires a considerable capital investment as you have to buy the machines, hire people to install them and then deploy the applications and databases that you need to run your business. 

With cloud computing, you would pick the applications and infrastructure you need and then pay for them as you go. The upfront costs are marginalized and most of the time the costs associated with management are baked right into the solution. 

One of the most noteworthy benefits of cloud computing is the ability to access all the information from anywhere with an Internet connection. The value of this cannot be understated; especially if you, like many other businesses today, are reliant on remote workers. Where you would normally have to consider more technology to disseminate information if you host your own IT, in the cloud, employees have access to information from anywhere at any time. 

Like any service, there are some downsides to cloud computing for mission-critical computing needs. The first is that you depend significantly on the reliability of your Internet connection. If you were to lose connectivity, you wouldn’t be able to access your cloud-hosted systems. You also have to worry about security. Much has been made about the security risks associated with cloud computing, but from a hardware maintenance perspective, most cloud providers understand that in order to keep business, their platforms have to be patched, updated, and available. 

Unpacking the Costs

For the business that is adamant about keeping their IT infrastructure in-house, costs are substantial. They include hardware, software licenses, setup, and more. In fact, it can be over $10,000 for each server. With cloud computing, you avoid these costs completely, but you will definitely pay more in per-user and per-gigabyte costs. All told, with the cloud, you are likely to save some money. 

You won’t have to come up with large swaths of capital upfront, which in itself gives a business a lot of flexibility, but if you decide to operate exclusively in the cloud, you could see your monthly costs rise quickly and substantially. It really depends on your business, and what resources you need to operate your business efficiently and successfully. 

The IT professionals at Computerware can help you get your business where it wants to go with our long list of valuable IT services. If you would like to explore moving forward on a cloud implementation, give our team a call today at (703) 821-8200.