I was reading a white paper about “when is it time for your business to get its first server?”

Now do not get me wrong there are very valid reasons to get a first server for even the smallest of businesses. Microsoft’s Small Business Server (SBS)  and a number of open source alternatives generally setup fairly easily and provide sharing, communication (email, instant messaging), database, etc.

There are some settings especially around the email server that you would want to get an expert in to setup properly. After that it is fairly easy to get a maintenance contract for issues and the server should just run.

However when you buy that first server you are not just going to buy that server if you want to make sure your business can survive. It is not as dramatic as my previous blog post “Forgetting Something” as you do not have to worry about all of those issues. You do need to understand the potential dangers that do come with a single server.

• What happens if it goes down? You just potentially lost ability to email, get customer information, pull up documents, etc.
• What happens if it does not come back up or the hard drives get corrupted?
• Did you have backups?
• Do you have another server to get everything going in a timely fashion?

Now your business may or may not be hurt by these problems. Some business types are more dependent on technology than others. I am also not saying that getting a server is a bad idea as in many cases a single server is worth the risk due to cost.

Cloud / SaaS Alternatives

The onslaught of Cloud / SaaS based alternatives has opened the door for many small businesses. Most if not all features that might drive you to needing your first server are available online. There are many services offered by the giants (Microsoft and Google) as well as upstarts that can cover all of your needs.

Google Apps has been great for small businesses as it gives you the ability to have your own email (you@yourcompany.com), shared calendar for your team, shared documents, online office apps that are similar to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, integrated communication through Google Talk, etc.

You can even start off with the standard version which is free or go for the premium version that cost $50 per user per year, still cheap.

With the premium version you can full sync with Outlook, including calendar and contacts.

Microsoft actually has had a great yet little known service called Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (BPOS). It gives you a very powerful suite of Exchange (email), SharePoint (document sharing), communications, and even Live Meeting which is very powerful to provide training or live meetings with potential customers. I was actually shocked at all you get, especially considering the cost of $10 per user per month. Now granted that is more than double of the Google Apps cost, but if you are familiar with Microsoft applications, it may be worth it.

Keep in mind however you will need to have Microsoft Office to take advantage of BPOS. Google Apps has a built in office suite. However even with the built in suite you may want to use Microsoft Office for better compatibility with clients.

Cloud / SaaS Pros and Cons

There are several advantages to the Cloud.

• Resources are spread across servers, so they are not a single point of failure. One goes down and the service keeps going.
• Easy to manage by non-technical staff.  Allows you to focus on business and not learning technology.
• Request backups or backup data offline for protection.
• Can grow with your company. Add more staff, add another user and you are done.

However nothing is perfect.

• Costs can grow quickly if you grow your business fast or add “premium” features.
• All service providers are not equal! You must research the providers available. Make sure you understand what will happen if there is service disruption. How are the financials of the provider. You do not want to get all of your data and services setup, only for them to go under.
• Internet connection is now much more important. If your internet goes down at your office, you may not be able to connect. You may want to have in place alternative methods of getting online. (Starbucks makes a great secondary office)

In the end either a single on-site server or Cloud/SaaS based systems have their place and fit the needs. The main thing to do is research and understand what will my needs be in 6 months, a year, or 3 years and see if the model you choose can sustain your business growth.

Or call us and we will help ;)

http://vaustek.com