Is the Cloud an Option for a Cash-Strapped Business?

When you’re setting up your business’s infrastructure, one of the hardest decisions you can make is choosing between cloud hosting or managing your own IT in-house. Each option has pros and cons and its own set of expenses. It’s important to be fully educated on the two before committing to either choice for your business. This week, we’ll discuss the cost and benefits of cloud computing vs. in-house IT. We will also discover which option saves you the most money.

Traditional IT

First, it’s important to know what each option has to offer your business. With traditional IT, your business is responsible for purchasing and hosting its own servers. Additionally, having a system set up to maintain and manage them. For smaller businesses, you may get by with a PC or two. However, most businesses choose the central IT setup to grow their infrastructure. Unfortunately, this comes with considerable costs.

The benefits of traditional IT are that all of your data is stored in-house with no third-party interference. Thus, it is often considered to be more secure than cloud hosting. Additionally, there are lower monthly fees associated with traditional IT than cloud computing.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting moves your entire infrastructure onto the cloud so there’s no direct management needed from the user. Solutions are not deployed on a single server, and applications and websites will be accessible to your employees using resources.

Cloud computing has a number of benefits for your business as well. Firstly, and very notably, the provider handles all management of the underlying infrastructure, so you don’t have to worry about setting up a system to maintain your IT. Also, with cloud hosting, resources can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection, which is wonderful for the many businesses that employ remote workers nowadays.

One drawback to cloud computing is that your infrastructure is entirely dependent on a strong internet connection. A broken or weak connection can result in serious delays or even downtime for your business.

Many people get nervous about their data’s security with cloud hosting, but on the hardware side of things, cloud computing resources are typically very reliable. You will have to consider how security works with data in transmission, but this is an issue that the IT professionals at 4 Corner IT can help you with.

Which Saves Me More Money?

So, you’re probably wondering if cloud computing can actually save your business money?

The answer is yes, typically.

With traditional IT, you’ll need to shell out a lot of money upfront for computing hardware, software licenses, and setup. All of this can easily stretch into a five-figure category for each server. However, the kicker is that after all of that upfront cost, traditional IT costs less to maintain per month than cloud computing.

In the long run, though, cloud hosting still results in marginal cost savings over hosting an in-house IT structure. The difference in overall cost is usually minor, so it’s important to go with whichever option makes the most sense for your business, and not where you think you can save easy money.

Luckily, the technicians at 4 Corner IT can provide the specific cost/benefit analysis needed to make the perfect decision for your business’s IT plan. Give us a call at 954.474.2204 to determine if cloud computing is the right choice for your business!