The cloud offers countless benefits and services to organizations of all kinds, so we want you to think carefully before answering this question: to what extent does your business utilize the cloud? Do you store all of your data and applications on local servers, or do you utilize cloud servers to an extent? You might be surprised by how much you stand to benefit by having a solution in place that allows for seamless access.
The biggest difference between local and cloud hosting stems from where they are hosted from, of course. Depending on your specific needs, you’ll want to either use one (or both) of these types of servers. We’ll help you make that decision.
Do You Have an On-Premise IT Department?
This will be a major driving factor for whether you want to host your own servers locally or host them in the cloud. Having the physical server located in your office or data center means that you’ll need people who are able to manage and maintain it. This can be difficult if you don’t have an in-house IT crew, and for small businesses with limited budgets, hiring this many people isn’t always feasible.
To this end, outsourcing is a viable option. Macatawa Technonolgies can certainly help with this.
Cloud-based servers are a little easier to manage in this sense, as your IT entity doesn’t need to be on-site to access it. These types of devices can be remoted into for important maintenance and management.
Do You Need Flexible Access to Your Servers?
Flexibility plays an important part in the success of a lot of businesses that utilize the cloud. Some employees will take devices out of the office for use while either at home or on the road. Access to data in this case is critical, which makes the cloud a superior choice for your organization’s server needs. This also makes maintenance much easier, as we previously stated, as the technician doesn’t need to be on-site in order to administer maintenance.
Furthermore, cloud servers are easier to run software on, as one can partition the server’s operating system into various virtual “servers,” so to speak. Each virtualized server can run a different instance of an operating system, giving you much more customization in terms of software/OS compatibility.
Does your business want to get started with cloud servers, or do you need some help with maintaining your on-site technology? Macatawa Technologies can help. To learn more, reach out to us at 616-394-4940.
