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Is outsourcing the answer for your data hosting woes?
As the recession begins to bite, more and more companies are looking to outsource the non-critical parts of their business. For many, outsourcing offers a chance to pass capital-expenditure (CAPEX) outflow to a third party, helping to drive out unnecessary expenditure and defer it where possible. From small SMEs to Fortune 500 companies, outsourcing server and hosting requirements can provide the flexibility that a business requires, combined with the security, resilience and reduced carbon footprint demanded by today’s commercial environment. However, all of this depends on outsourcing to the right provider with the right skills.
Many businesses will ask themselves ‘why do I need to outsource my IT?’ The main answer is that it provides the ability to adapt to changing regulatory, technical and environmental requirements. If a business builds its own data centre, for example, not only does it have to fund the CAPEX but it is then left with an asset which it has to use, for at least ten years, regardless of changes in environmental legislation and advancements in technology. Taking out a three year contract with a specialised, experienced and state-of-the-art data centre operator spreads the cost to the business and provides it with the ability to adapt to both its own growth and any wider socio-economic developments. This also provides greater financial flexibility, as it means a business can spread the cost over a period of time with an outsourced service, as opposed to the need to dig into its CAPEX fund when building a data centre.
As well as providing your business with more flexibility, outsourcing can also have a positive impact on its carbon footprint. Most businesses now have to include their supplier’s carbon footprint when assessing their own environmental impact; you can’t simply ‘outsource’ your carbon footprint in order to make your company appear more environmentally friendly. There are many ways in which a data centre provider can reduce their own carbon footprint, which in turn will help reduce your company’s carbon footprint. Initiatives such as modern cooling equipment; carbon offsetting programmes; recycling of all office paper based products as well as wattage reductions for lighting are all things to look for when choosing an outsourcing provider which supports and enhances your own carbon reduction programme.
Whilst outsourcing can bring many benefits to a business, there are some key points to look at to make sure that you are getting value for money from your provider. It is important to make sure that your outsourcing provider has the right skills and expertise. This can be assessed by site visits, personal face-to-face meetings with the data centre’s management team to gather information on their career history and ensure that the team has complimentary skill sets. A further aspect to consider is whether the outsourcing provider has engineers on site 24/7/365 with the knowledge and appropriate procedures in place to deal with the rare emergency situation. It is important to also check the last outage the potential site had and how they dealt with it; the true measure of any service provider is how they deal with a problem. If there have been absolutely no instances of downtime, it is likely someone is being economical with the truth.
The main disadvantage of outsourcing your server and hosting requirements is that it can result in a potential loss of control of the server room environment. You can also run into major problems if your chosen data centre partner doesn’t have a great level of financial stability. However, careful vetting of the data centre operator can mitigate these downsides; choosing a modern, high-specification data centre is key, as is the choice of an operator who can provide bespoke solutions.
Outsourcing can be the solution to many problems faced by businesses, both in and out of a recession. It can help businesses to focus on their core activities whilst leaving non-core activities to be carried out by experts. It can also provide much needed financial flexibility, and means that businesses don’t have to make technological investments that they will be tied into long after the technology is out of date. It’s no wonder that during this recession, more businesses are coming round to the idea of outsourcing their server and hosting requirements.
Robin Ellis, Group Commercial Director, |
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