As your business grows and you need to hire more employees, the time comes for more collaboration and the need for better security for housing all your proprietary company information. You will be glad to learn that setting up a server for your small business doesn’t have to be complicated. Everything you need to know about setting up a server, including what it is, deciding between hardware or the cloud, choosing the right operating system, and the best way to set it up.

What is a Server

A server is one of the most critical pieces to your small business IT infrastructure. Even though it is technically a ‘computer’ serving information to another computer, it is the key component and device that can connect your monitor to the internet to run computer programs or processes part of a more extensive network. Basically, whenever a computer shares its resources with client machines, they are considered servers. So it’s highly likely your business already uses a server of some kind, even if you don’t realize it.

Choosing the Type of Server for your Small Business

Once you have two or more computers or even need remote access to the company network, it’s time you invest in a server. The key question is knowing exactly what you need from the server to suit your specific needs perfectly.

What do you need the server to do?

• Secure email hosting
• Website Hosting
• Document storage
• E-commerce hosting
• Hosting line-of-business applications
• Data backup and recovery

Cloud Servers for Small Business

Cloud computing can often provide small businesses access to tools, programs, and applications they need, but that might otherwise not be affordable. The low, upfront costs of moving to the cloud and these other benefits make it a worthwhile consideration for almost any small business. Many small businesses’ adoption of cloud computing is soaring in popularity these past few years, and it’s easy to understand why. Cloud computing has a lower upfront cost and many benefits, making it hard to imagine why any business would not move to the cloud.

Top 5 benefits of cloud computing for small business

1. Increased efficiency
2. Access it anywhere
3. Improved cash flow
4. Reduced risk during a crisis
5. Lower costs

With cloud storage, there’s no need to rack and stack servers. Instead, small businesses can scale workloads as needed in just a few clicks using built-in features. This capability allows you to scale up, down, and out easily. This flexibility dramatically cuts the overhead costs associated with manually monitoring and scaling resources.

On-premise Servers for Small Business

On-premises storage means your company’s server is hosted within your organization’s infrastructure and, in many cases, physically onsite. The server is controlled, administered, maintained, procured, etc., by your company and its in-house IT team or an IT partner. Data and other information are shared between computers through your local network. Some businesses like the idea of on-premises because it does not require an internet connection for onsite employees to access storage, making it fully available without a good connection. However, recognize that having all of your data on the server limits access to only those working in the office—excluding today’s many remote workers. In addition, on-premises will require power and backup power (such as a generator) and a storage backup system, which will add to your costs.

How Much Does a Server Cost for a Small Business?

The average cost to rent a small business dedicated server is $100 to $200/month. You can also set up a cloud server starting at $5/month, but most companies would spend about $40/month to have adequate resources. If you want to purchase a server for your office, it may cost between $1,000-$3,000 for a small business.

How to choose a server for your small business

To determine if you will move to the cloud or keep it in-house, you need to consider the upfront cost, monthly fees, user-friendliness, flexibility, support, and security. Did you know that eighty percent of organizations that use on-premises servers still use the cloud for at least a portion of their data protection strategy?

How to set up a server for businesses

Consider what you will need to set up a server. You will need a CPU, hard disk storage, RAM, and the scalability you expect from your equipment. Many businesses are setting up hybrid server solutions to get the best ROI. The ability for businesses to embrace both the public cloud and local data can improve their IT agility and maximize efficiency. In addition, data and applications can move between on-premise servers and public clouds for greater flexibility and more deployment options in a hybrid solution. In other words, you can keep files that your LOB software uses on-premises and the rest of your files and documents in the cloud. While a hybrid solution seems to offer some companies the best of both worlds, it is temporary. Today, small- and medium-sized businesses are already running almost half of their workloads in the public cloud, which is forecast to rise. With that in mind, it’s hard to ignore the benefits of fully migrating to the cloud with understaffed and overworked IT departments. Contact us today if you need help setting up a server for your small business.