When Should We Replace Our Server – IS that the question?

In other words, do you need a server at all in the Cloud Era?  Everyone is talking about Cloud technologies and moving/migrating to the cloud, but is it right for you?

 

I’ll try to balance this as best I can.  On one hand it can be a cheaper alternative than replacing an aging SBS server as Microsoft no longer sell the “All In One” solution for small businesses, namely the Small Business Server suite of software allowing you to run file and email services from one machine.  Perhaps they did this to try to get you buy to an Exchange Server and licenses (as well as a Domain Controller for your file and print needs).  If I were to be more cynical still, I could suggest that they were trying to force you onto their hosted Office 365 email solution.  In truth, and from my own experience with our clients, the latter has been the choice of the masses and moving their email to the cloud has been a gentle transition to cloud computing.  This will also keep the accountant happy as it avoids the large amounts of “capex” (capital expenditure to those without an interest in accounting) necessary to replace those in-house hardware and licenses.

 

Before you all start Googling Office 365 full migration, stop!  We’re not done yet.  Office 365 is great and dealing with your email, but what about all those Word and Excel documents, and all the other files you are storing?  There is another strong player in the Cloud market, meaning you don’t have to put all your digital eggs in one basket!  Moreover, it also helps you rest easy at night when it comes to thinking about virus and encryption attacks by way of giving you previous versions to play with.  The solution I am talking about here is Dropbox Business.  I am sure you will have heard of Dropbox and I dare say most of you reading this will have a personal Dropbox account too for storing personal data, but what happens when you are talking about an office with 20 or 30 staff? 

 

The office manager in you may think, it won’t work as you currently have a folder structure with permissions so the warehouse staff cannot see client details and the office staff cannot see payroll data etc.  Well, Dropbox for Business takes care of all the folder permissions hierarchies so you can not only mirror the folder structure you have on your current set up but introduce two factor authentication (where users need to enter a special time-sensitive code as well as their password), previous versions, offline files and collaboration too! 

 

To find out how Dropbox Business can help your company and remove your “new fileServer” capex please contact us now for a free no obligation demonstration.  We would be pleased to come and talk to you about how it works, show you the technology in action, and in general go through the security and resilience benefits of the service.