Much of the recent hype when it comes to deploying an IT infrastructure has pertained to cloud computing. Advancements in business applications and those geared towards consumers have an element of the service-based infrastructure. It seems like moving to ‘the cloud' is the wave of the future; however, this may not be entirely true for small-to-medium sized businesses.
It is not uncommon for SMEs to use in-house IT infrastructure with servers located within the company for file sharing, email, hosting applications and other essentials. Even though moving 100 percent of business IT resources to the cloud is a rapidly growing trend in the corporate world, many SMEs find that sticking with on-site servers may still be the best choice.
Here are some reasons why:
· When the server is in-house, the business has complete control over it.
· There's no need to reply on the cloud service provider for security.
· Businesses can build an application that's tailed completely to its needs.
· Servers can be upgraded to meet the needs of the business as it grows.
· No need to pay monthly hosting or backup fees.
That said, there are downsides to maintaining in-house servers, such as having sizable business investment to maintain and upgrade equipment & software frequently. You'll also have to pay for backing up the resources and hiring a part-time data and server maintenance professionals responsible for hardware upgrades and cost of software renewal. Lastly, you will take the responsibility of making sure that business data stored on-site is backed-up in separate location (outside or within the corporation).
Upon realization that you are overwhelmed with internal IT expenditures, you would want to take measures that reduce the cost of maintaining an IT-infrastructure in-house, especially when the expenses start to interfere with the core cost-reducing objectives of your company. What follows are some measures that can bring down business cost of maintaining IT servers and resources in-house:
Colocation
Data companies realizes that it's not easy for businesses to maintain on-premise IT resources. Whether it consists of a few basic servers in a company's cubicle or an expansive system closet, it can get unwieldy. And often backups and redundancies can make the IT department of the business look like a cost center. But it doesn't have to be that way as SMEs can leverage a colocation data center like RedIT to reduce their capital-intensive infrastructure costs. Therefore, resources can be freed up and deployed to other areas of the business that help in growing the applications that run the company.
Solar panel
Electricity and cooling costs are some of the factors that determine the cost of hosting in-house IT resources. The cost of supplying power to these resources is often enough to bear an expense on the company's budget. However, SMEs can deploy energy-saving techniques such as powering in-house data center through solar panels. It could also be portray yourself as an environmental friendly company.
Contract-based maintenance staff
Instead of hiring full time IT professionals to maintain on-site servers, businesses can leverage their services on contract. This involves calling in specialists whenever the systems need replacing, upgrading or there is software to be implemented or replaced. However, it is important to make sure that there are no lags in the service, because it could result in a financial & reputation loss for the company (if professionals show up late in case of a down time, for example).
