How Colocation Can Benefit Your Small Business

As any small business owner can tell you, housing your own severs can be a real headache. Not only does running servers inflate your office’s power bills, it can also eat up your workplace’s bandwidth. For these — and many other — reasons, colocation is the ideal option for businesses interested in saving time and money. After experiencing the benefits of colocation, you’ll have no desire to go back to in-house servers.

Convenient Support

The top-notch technical support you’ll receive from a reliable colocation service is one of the key perks of colocating your business’s data. Many of these companies provide clients with expert support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Whenever you encounter a problem, a trained professional will be able to sort things out in a timely manner.

If you’re not a fan of talking on the phone, many colocation services enable customers to chat with tech support professionals on the web. This ensures clients in need of support are able to focus their full attention on their computer screens.

Enhanced Security

Protecting her company’s data should be high atop any responsible business owner’s list of priorities. A reputable colocation service can prove instrumental in giving security-focused clients peace of mind. Servers equipped with the latest data-protection software and an office full of IT professionals will work tirelessly to keep your company’s confidential info out of the hands of hackers, identity thieves and other cybercriminals. As an added bonus, many colocation facilities employ security guards and are equipped with around-the-clock video surveillance.

Most colocation companies provide outstanding security services to clients for no additional cost. So after paying a flat-rate hosting fee, your business’s data will receive the finest protection the Internet has to offer. If your company has had problems with online troublemakers in the past, you can rest easy knowing your information is safe.

Reduced Costs

Not having to purchase in-house servers — or pay the massive power bills these devices accrue each month — will save your company money in both the short term and long run. Hardware alone can cost upwards of $2,500, with software making an additional $1,000 dent in your business’s finances. Furthermore, if your company’s servers are always running, you can expect to pay anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars in energy costs each month.

Business owners with a knack for saving money are sure to appreciate the reasonable hosting costs offered by colocation services. These companies will host your business’s data for a flat annual or monthly fee, regardless of how often it’s accessed. Depending on the colocation service you choose, you’ll be paying $200 to $1,000 annually — or $30 to $100 each month. Couple this with free unlimited technical support and you’ll be looking at a significant net gain for your business.

Plentiful Bandwidth

Abundant bandwidth is one of the cornerstones of a good colocation service. No matter how much data your company stores on their servers, it will be instantly accessible without any lag or slowdown. You’ll be able to pull up any file within seconds. Since the industrial servers found at colocation facilities are kept in cool, climate-controlled environments, you won’t have to worry about hardware overheating and reducing operating speeds. Business owners who have no patience for slow servers or long load times should look into colocation right away.

Data Backup

If one of your employees accidentally deletes an important document or you wish to move your company’s data to a newer server, your business’s colocation service has your back. Utilizing their data backup and recovery teams, they can locate lost documents and back up your company’s data within minutes. According to David M. Smith, Ph.D., data loss negatively impacts over 4.7 million businesses a year. Fortunately, colocation services provide companies with a secure, affordable way to stay out of this statistic.

With the economy still recovering from an unprecedented recession, many businesses need to cut costs wherever possible in order to stay afloat. By kicking your company’s in-house servers to the curb and embracing colocation, your business can save a considerable amount of money — and lift a huge weight off the chest of your IT department.

Photo credits: www.123rf.com