SMBs Can (and Should) Host Their Systems Off-Site

Most small and medium-sized businesses understand the concept of IT. The past 15 years have brought about technology innovations that could only have been dreamed of in the past, and large businesses now rely on complex systems in order to ensure their business operations continue without a hitch.

The problem that these businesses always run into is that they find themselves spending more money than they should due to costly capital expenses of constantly purchasing new technology. They often shell out for great new technology, but without the proper maintenance, this technology is destined to break and become sluggish with time and use. In order to ensure competency with modern best practices, enterprises are adapting to an environment in which computing resources are removed from the physical world and digitized online in the cloud.

That’s not to say that hosting your own IT infrastructure doesn’t have its benefits, especially for a small or medium-sized institution. As a business owner, it’s worth examining your IT management needs to make sure that what you spend on maintaining your in-house IT system isn’t compromising the rest of your budget. Moving your IT infrastructure to a cloud server or a colocated data center has the potential to reduce costs drastically, or at least cause a major change in the way you pay for vital IT services. In particular, the cloud offers a great return on investment by providing a scalable IT infrastructure, hosted in a secure data center, with proactive and preventative maintenance; all billed monthly, with no surprise fees. This basically switches your capital IT expense to an operational expense, making more room in your budget for other important aspects of running a business.

For some businesses, it might not make sense to move your entire IT infrastructure to the cloud. Some organizations actually prefer to have their entire infrastructure hosted in-house, as this allows for maximum control over their data. If your organization has to comply with strict regulations concerning the privacy of data, this means that you’re also taking responsibility for making sure you meet these specific requirements. More often than not, it’s less of a headache to just outsource your company’s IT infrastructure management off-premise. This is easily done by purchasing server space in a colocation facility. Even then, you can set up a private cloud platform that gives your business the ability to take advantage of all of the benefits of cloud computing, without the downside of giving up complete control of your infrastructure.

Computerware has the skills to make your cloud computing dreams a reality. Our technicians can perform a complete assessment of your current IT systems, and help you integrate a quality cloud system that best adheres to your business’s needs. We can even help you take advantage of other great computing solutions, like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications and hosted email, that optimize your office’s productivity.

With so many great advantages that the cloud has to offer, it’s difficult to justify not taking advantage of it. If your organization wants to increase its bottom line, integrating a cloud computing solution is a great first step. Give us a call at (703) 821-8200 to learn more.