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Can a server improve your business?
Absolutely. It can reduce delays, increase uptime, enhance collaboration, cut costs, share resources, and boost productivity.
However, you may be wondering if a server makes your company more vulnerable. After all, if you store most of your data in one place, what happens if the server crashes? Won’t you lose all your data? Will it take weeks to get back on your feet?
These common fears are exaggerated. First of all, crashes are rare if you maintain your server. In addition, data loss is unlikely if are regularly backing up your data. Secondly, data recovery services are available from reliable providers. Server data recovery from Secure Data Recovery, for example, can help your company get back to business quickly in the event of a server crash.
Let's take a quick look at some frequently asked questions about servers to help you decide whether your business will benefit from one.
What is a server?
A dedicated host server is a complete solution. It will provide you all the essential services you need to run your business. Servers normally include applications for email, hosting, databases, storage, and safety.
In essence, then, a server is a master computer that can store your files and applications to share with your team.
How big does your company need to be to use a server?
Even if your company has only a few people, it will benefit from a server. You will know when you need a server if your overall level of employee productivity drops.
Here is how you know if your growing company is becoming increasingly inefficient:
Suppose you find that as your business grows, you need to share more files with your employees. Initially, you may simply email files back and forth. If the files are too big for email, then you would have to store them on a zip disk and manually carry them over to the person who needs them.
Besides sharing files, you may also need to share applications. Since these are stored on only one local hard drive, then you need to share computers, too. If, say, your finance application is on someone else’s computer, then you have to ask them to use their computer to look up your financial information.
At a certain point, all this sharing and collaboration can become cumbersome. It’s hard to be efficient if you have to carry zip disks over to share information with other employees. It’s also hard to be efficient if you have to interrupt people’s work to use their computer to access an application that isn’t stored on your own computer.
Getting a server and a network will change everything. You’ll have better workflow, collaboration, resource sharing, and security. Even maintenance can be handled remotely without somebody having to ask you to take a break while they update application on your computer.
How many companies use servers?
Most medium to large businesses consider a server indispensable. Imagine a company with 50 to 100 employees running around with zip disks to share their information. Imagine how things would slow down if employees had to share computers based on the applications installed on them. It would be chaos. Bigger companies take the idea of a server for granted. They can’t imagine functioning efficiently without one.
However, many small businesses don’t use servers. Doctors, lawyers, accountants and their small staff end up doing things the hard way. If they are functioning well, it is only because they are only emailing small files back and forth and have gone to the expense of buying many licenses of the same software to install on all their computers.
What do you need to consider when buying a server?
When buying a server, there are many things things to consider. Here are five of the most important:
1. Functionality. Does the server meet the requirements of your business?
2. Pricing. You can reduce the cost of a server if you don’t go overboard and buy more resources than you will ever use.
3. Hardware. Match the power of the server to the size of your infrastructure. You need a server that has the capacity to support all the users on your network. If your company is growing at a rapid rate, then estimate on the higher side.
4. Software. Will you be using a Linux or Windows software to run your server? Understanding all your software needs upfront will give you a much a better grasp of your total cost.
5. Maintenance. You must understand what maintenance you have to do to keep your server running optimally. If you neglect maintenance, your hard drive can fill up and your email may experience glitches. The worst case scenario if you neglect maintenance is that your server could crash. So be clear on the maintenance you need to do.
Servers Make Work Easier
As an organization grows, a server is a way to centralize resources, share critical files, and become efficient and productive. Servers also provide a far greater level of overall security than scattering the information over different computers. Finally, servers make it easy to back up all your company’s data.
Written by Jane Brown
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