https://www.xperience-group.com/news-item/what-your-server-costs-you/
Is your business server affecting your performance? Are you cautious to spend money on a new server? You may not realise that running a server that is over eight years old puts your business at risk of incurring unnecessary costs. Here we look at how much your old server is really costing you and whether it is worth clinging to it
According to Microsoft, supporting outdated servers can cost SME’s around £200k per year. This includes, energy costs, time spent waiting for applications to load, the downtime experienced during server issues and the staff time taken up resolving those issues. Nonetheless, many businesses don’t recognise the true cost of using a server beyond its recommended operational life, taking the so called ‘it’s not broken don’t fix it’ approach’…
Here we take a look at the potential costs, risks and hidden dangers of using outdated business servers…
According to the Federation of Small Businesses, almost a third of small businesses see the cost of energy as a barrier for growth. Many fail to realise ageing servers are extremely inefficient, consuming at least 20 per cent more energy than a modern equivalent, according to The Chartered Institute for IT. An up-to-date server can bring at least a £500-a-year energy saving, which over 5 years could save you £2500 – a cost saving not to be sniffed at.
The server is usually the engine room of a business, it is where you host all your files and business applications, including your emails. However, when you run modern applications on yesterday’s server you may not realise the benefits, still facing speed issues which impact on employee productivity and satisfaction levels.
When you use an old server that is well past its recommended life, you can expect increased exposure to major vulnerabilities and cyber security attacks on your computer systems, databases and applications. Firewalls and anti-virus are not sufficient protection against modern vulnerabilities, therefore it is important to migrate to a more modern solution to mitigate the risks. According to Microsoft, between 70-80 per cent of the top malware detected by a company could be avoided if their technology was updated correctly.
If your business server is no longer supported, it will become harder to prove compliance with the latest regulations. Consequently, if you are in a regulated industry, you may not be able to protect your data and stay on top of regulatory compliance, subsequently facing fines.
According to Microsoft, 66 per cent of business owners say new technology has reduced their IT costs while increasing competitive advantage, productivity and security. With a plethora of affordable options available, there is no need to put unnecessary risk on your business operations…
Leasing a business server from a hosting provider is an attractive offer many businesses consider because of its scalability and cost efficiency. As your business operations change and demands increase, so can your infrastructure. Moreover, your monthly expenses will be consistent and manageable, giving you flexibility to focus on growing your business.
When deciding to buy a new server, be sure to understand the storage and maintenance requirements your business has. You have to ensure your new server will be powerful enough to protect the investment you are making, both now and in the future.
Recent survey by MYOB found that small businesses that adopt cloud technologies enjoy higher revenues. The cloud offers more flexibility, is scalable and simplifies the management of your applications. By hosting your IT infrastructure in the data centre with a third party provider, you can access your business applications anytime and anywhere, via the internet, on any device. You can also easily scale your cloud resource up and down as you require. Read more about our Cloud Hosting services.
For some companies, taking a hybrid approach is the best solution. You can take advantage of Software-as-a-Service where your software can be hosted by a third party provider, giving you anytime, anywhere access to your business applications and peace of mind when it comes to security. For example, moving your email and data to Office 365 can reduce server workloads, increasing performance and speeding up business processes. Read our case study and see how Office 365 enabled Rutland Lighting to free up space on their in-house server.
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