Colocation For Small Businesses: Server hosting is an important aspect of operations for all sizes and types of businesses. However, the needs of small businesses can differ widely from those of large companies.
If you’re a small business, colocation hosting is the best-suited option for your requirements. Here are some of the top advantages of colocation that can benefit small businesses.
Unlike a self-hosted server, colocation hosting allows multiple companies to outsource the storage and maintenance of their servers to third parties. With colocation hosting, the business is only required to buy its servers and equipment and pay a fee to the colocation provider. With self-hosting, the company must also buy the maintenance equipment and build its own data center.
Overall, the difference in total investment is huge. While it’s not an issue for large organizations, small businesses might find it nearly impossible to self-host.
With a colocation provider, they can enjoy all the benefits of self-hosting while only paying a fraction of the cost.
Self-hosted data centers are costly to build and manage in comparison to colocation. But it’s also equally difficult to increase their capacity when your business needs more servers. Scaling data center capacity also takes money, time, and a dedicated team.
With a colocation provider, you can scale your capacity quickly and with ease, all at a much lower cost. What’s more, you can even downsize whenever you want.
Most businesses rely on an uninterrupted supply of power and the internet to keep their servers and operations running. Having your business’s website shut down for even one minute can be costly for any business today since customers can easily switch to competitors.
This raises the importance of having higher uptime for your servers.
Even with a self-hosted server, it can be nearly impossible for a small business to ensure 99% uptime. They may lack the systems or not have a dedicated team to ensure uninterrupted connectivity.
A colocation provider, however, can guarantee 99% or more uptime for clients. They can also resolve downtimes faster, in the odd event that they do occur.
Another benefit of working with colocation providers is that they enable small businesses to access a large variety of network carriers and connectivity technologies at lower prices.
This can be especially beneficial for small businesses that want to set up hybrid hosting solutions for their operations in the future.
Colocation providers are required to deploy this pool of options since they have to ensure uninterrupted connectivity, which also brings down the price. But this also gives businesses more connectivity options at an affordable rate. Not to mention benefits like low latency and private connections.
Data centers require a high level of security to keep them secure against both physical and digital threats. Their security plans often include 24/7/365 monitoring, on-site personnel, a multi-layered access control system, perimeter fencing, and much more.
Deploying even some of these can be a challenge for a company that lacks the infrastructure, budget, and human resources. A colocation provider, on the other hand, can include top-of-the-line security systems while deploying personnel for 24/7 security and monitoring.
Since a colocation provider already works with multiple businesses, they’re more specialized in dealing with IT infrastructure and arising issues. If you’re setting up your data center for the first time and need assistance, your colocation provider might prove helpful.
They can help you with basic setup tasks or assist in selecting the best connectivity options for your requirements.
Small businesses will often have a small team that runs all their operations. So even if their teams consist of skilled engineers, deploying them for data center setup might be impossible.
Most businesses cannot include a full-proof disaster recovery plan in their operations like a colocation provider can. From deploying a series of backup systems to maintaining them and making sure they’re ready for use, there’s a lot to do.
This complex task is also simplified with the help of colocation providers, who can stay prepared for such events and also mitigate risks in time. Some providers will also support regular backups at the frequency your business needs to keep running in the event of data loss.
A dedicated infrastructure, such as one provided with colocation, is designed to make efficient use of resources such as power, cooling, and connectivity. In comparison, on-site self-hosting doesn’t allow for prioritizing efficiency. This makes them much more expensive to run in comparison to colocation centers.
From the best services to cost-effective maintenance, there are many benefits to working with a colocation provider. This holds true, especially for small businesses.
We hope this list of advantages helps clarify your doubts related to opting for a colocation host.
Related Resources:
7 Steps To Secure Your Data Center
8 Advantages of Colocation for Small Businesses
A Comprehensive Guide To Creating An Effective Incident Response Plan
A Comprehensive Guide To Virtual Desktop Technology
A Guide To Creating An Effective Business Continuity And Disaster Recovery Plan
A Guide To Enterprise Backup Solutions: Choosing The Right Option
Overcoming Challenges in Adopting Bare Metal Cloud: Solutions and Workarounds
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