June, 2015

Most business models followed by SMBs have one common target – minimize costs. When handling big data, storage becomes a problem quite often and there’s a substantial flow of capital just for that purpose.

Cloud offers not just IT infrastructure but a business framework. It’s beneficial for SMBs in terms of accessibility, security, disaster management, cost, time and energy savings, flexibility and gaining an edge over competitors. Using the cloud can significantly bring down physical data storage costs. Furthermore, the ease-of-use makes cloud storage a better option for non-technical people as well. The icing on the cake is the automation that cloud computing supports. Instead of having to invest on IT support, cloud applications update themselves.

Let’s have a look on how cloud computing can help SMBs:

Data Backup

A small business owner should be aware of the importance of backups. System failures can be a risky situation in case of an infrastructure that is still in its nascent stages – something that is common in SMBs. The cloud is a great help here as it breaks down the process by allowing your data to automatically update as you work and also create copies of your data off-site where it will be protected from any looming disaster, theft or accident.

Mobile Office

Due to the cloud’s omnipresence, SMBs can have a better foothold in creating mobile offices. The cloud can be accessed and synced from anywhere and allows you to literally take your office on the road. This brings down the costs greatly by building a working model largely around the internet.

Sharing Info

Sharing data is easier with the cloud due to the ease-of-access. SMBs can now share data across an in-house staff and a team onsite through great distances, instantaneously. Emailing cumbersome files can often slow down work and this is where the cloud comes to play. Moreover, the cloud is also a safer option for sharing data compared to physical means.

File Storage

SMBs need all the marketing they can get for timely expansion and brand recognition. Most direct marketing strategies require large amounts of media that include video, audio and images. Due to the rising access of technology, more and more consumers are accepting this part of promotion. However, all this data can take up a large amount of storage space on a physical server. The cloud can easily take this load off by letting your local server or system focus more on the local files.

Strategic Growth

Cloud computing is a scalable practice and hence enables SMBs to create plans for growth that use the advantages of the cloud without any significant investment. You don’t have to buy new equipment or software, you just pay for what you use. And you get access to the most robust hardware and up-to-date software. Many vendors offer cloud applications for SMBs that enable you to control costs and reduce IT budget, further facilitating staff efficiency and improving productivity immensely.

Data Center Efficiency is a flexible term originally used to characterize the efficient use of energy in a Data Center. But over the years, the usage of this term has expanded to other entities such as storage, accessibility, security, networks and IT assets. Every Data Center around the world is focused on increasing its efficiency. And here are the top five things for Data Center efficiency that further enable you to drive costs out of your IT infrastructure.

Improve energy efficiency

Energy is the core of every Data Center. Power and thermal management give you a long-term strategic advantage. Cooling the equipment is indispensable and that requires a lot of power. But if you use a containment system, you may be able to reduce energy usage by 8-10 percent. And if you are yet to decide on a location, consider a place with a moderate climate, which may give you some advantage over operating a full-fledged HVAC system. You can also switch to hardware that are faster and require less power such as SSDs over hard-disk drives.

Focus on storage and capacity

Rapid data growth fuels the increasing demand for capacity storage in Data Center. And while it’s a challenge for Data Center management, it is not feasible to purchase new storage solutions every time, given the ever-increasing data. You will have to take the do-more-with-less approach to avoid the high cost of ownership. At this point, you can benefit from adopting performance analytics software. You must also monitor devices, troubleshoot drives and improve drive management processes to make sure that drives are working optimally and identify potential issues well before they affect processes.

Enhance data security

Data security is the nerve center and with the recent high-profile security breaches, it has become top priority for the management. It is imperative to improve comprehensive security measures. Data security needs vary from one organization to another and you should employ encryption for data as per your organizational needs.

Consider virtualization

With virtualization, you can bundle numerous data and computing processes into a smaller footprint, which leads to reducing life-cycle cost and adding efficiency. Virtualization means your data will require less space and power. You can replace large physical servers with a few machines that run numerous Virtual Machines (VMs), which can also serve your storage needs with virtual disks. Virtualization will ensure a modular infrastructure that incorporates networking, storage and servers on a single computing platform.

Strategies for avoiding disaster

Coming up with strategies to avoid disasters may not seem like much but in the long run, it adds to the efficiency of your Data Center. There is a growing threat of common natural and man-made disasters and planning to overcome possible failures is a priority for organizations. Locations, building designs, power standards and alternative recovery locations are the focus to avoid issues post disaster.