Does my business need in-house servers, or should I migrate to the cloud?

When it comes to where you should keep your business apps and company data, you may use in-house servers, or you may migrate some or all of your apps and data to the cloud instead. Which one would be best for your small business? The answer is: it depends on what your business needs.

Check your business requirements

To arrive at something more definite, let’s take a look at which business requirements each option fulfills best — and where they may come up short.

In-house server

Allows you to set up your IT system the way you need it to be
If you have particular system requirements, a cloud service provider (CSP) might not be able to accommodate you. Owning your own infrastructure grants you total control over it.
Grants greater data privacy
By keeping critical data in an on-premises (on-prem) facility, you get to safeguard it more closely. When it comes to who may access your information, you don’t need to worry about CSPs and their clients. Because of this, firms in industries with strict data regulations deem in-house servers to be a good fit for their needs.
Data access is not reliant on internet connectivity
If your business is located in an area with few to no internet service providers, then in-house servers are your only viable option.
Requires considerable investment in machines, software licenses, and network infrastructure
You’ll also have to factor in power consumption costs, maintenance and repair costs, and the risk of obsolescence, among other concerns.
Requires physical space and in-house IT support
Your data capacity is dependent on the availability of physical space for server racks and closets on site. You may have to rent additional space to set up server rooms, and install the necessary devices for climate control, access, and security monitoring. Additionally, you’ll need to employ full-time IT staff to take care of your machines.
Data is vulnerable to disasters such as fires and flash floods
Whatever emergency situation befalls your office will likely affect the servers you keep there. You’ll need to set up a process for taking backups off site to prevent complete data loss during an adverse event.

Cloud services

Guarantees high levels of uptime
Web-based businesses have less risk of downtime due to 24/7 monitoring and other CSP protocols.
Provides greater scalability
Unlike on-prem solutions that have capacity constraints due to limited office space, the cloud lets clients increase or decrease the amount of IT resources they use as needed.
Data backups are less vulnerable to disasters
Natural calamities and man-made disasters that affect your office are likely not to reach off-site data backups. Additionally, CSPs can help facilitate business continuity and disaster recovery efforts to minimize downtime.
Uptime guarantees and other added-value cloud services increase costs
Firms that don’t need high levels of uptime may end up overpaying for cloud services.
Greater risk of overspending
Cloud resource management mistakes, such as provisioning too many resources when these are not yet needed, can easily lead to overspending on the cloud. Fortunately, managed IT services providers like [company_short] can help you handle your cloud.
Cloud service is reliant on internet connectivity
If you or your CSP lose internet access, then you’ll lose access to your data. However, this risk can be mitigated by having backup internet service providers.

Check what other businesses are doing

Another way to guide your decision-making is by looking at which option other companies are going for. Retail and B2B transaction data provider NPD noted that from January to May 2021, more companies invested in the cloud than in on-premises solutions. NPD determined this by tracking companies’ software purchases: year-over-year growth for B2B software for the cloud was 12%, whereas growth for on-prem was 6%. In 2020, Deloitte observed that while companies will continue to opt for a hybrid cloud model — i.e., one in which a company uses a mix of public and private clouds and also retains some on-prem capabilities — migration to the cloud is accelerating.

This is happening partly because businesses are learning from their past mistakes and are becoming better cloud users. Here are five things that they’re doing when migrating and adopting the cloud:

1. Shifting from public to private clouds

Private clouds may be more expensive than public ones, but data is safer and workloads run faster there. And when seeking technical support, private cloud clients don’t have to wait in line as long as public cloud tenants do.

2. Prioritizing security when developing cloud-based business apps

Oftentimes, moving to the cloud necessitates the creation of bespoke cloud-based apps to replace on-prem software. Initially, in their rush to migrate, developers prioritized functionality and patched vulnerabilities only after releasing their apps. This made for clunky security workarounds that failed to significantly reduce the risk of data breaches.

However, what used to be an afterthought in app development is now becoming a primary consideration. More and more developers are baking in security measures, such as access management and encryption in transit and at rest, from the very beginning of the development process.

3. Refraining from dumping data onto the cloud

In the early days of the cloud, it may have been cheap to store data there. Over time, however, retrieving the data back to on-prem servers has proved to be time-consuming and expensive. Now, companies are reserving cloud data storage for safety measures such as backups.

4. Using storage devices to transfer data to the cloud

The information superhighway is no longer sufficient to facilitate the backing up of vast volumes of data produced by enterprises to the cloud. This is why companies are now using migration appliances such as Google’s Transfer Appliance. The cloud service provider ships the appliance to where the data is. Once the data is saved on the appliance, the data owner then ships the device right back to the CSP, which will upload the data to the cloud.

5. Migrating workloads to the cloud, not non-backup data

Many regulations and privacy laws now limit where companies can store data. This, plus security concerns like man-in-the-middle attacks, makes storing data on premises the easier and less complicated choice.

However, since apps don’t need to be co-located with data, apps can reside in the cloud so that they can leverage its vast processing power.

Our IT experts at NetWize can help you design the IT infrastructure that fits your business best. Leave us a message or call us at 801-747-3200 today to learn more.

10 Ways Cisco Meraki Solves Your Organization’s Growing Pains

Whether you’re managing IT in a startup or fast-paced enterprise environment, your organization can benefit from a centrally managed network of IT solutions. Read a list of the common issues growing organizations face, and get an idea of how Cisco Meraki can help you securely manage your infrastructure 100% from the cloud.

Do any of the following issues sound familiar?

Issue #1 – My organization is in a constant state of flux. At our current rate of growth, it’s difficult for our business solutions to keep pace.

Meraki is a centrally managed solution, meaning you can add and modify components as your infrastructure necessitates. Whether you’re looking to streamline the deployment of a new company communications system, or ensure your security across multiple sites, you can manage all of your deployment and security needs from an online Meraki dashboard.

Issue #2 – We need a better way of targeting potential customers who visit our retail branches.

Meraki’s presence analytics capabilities allow you to measure the number of people who visit each of your locations. Use the data to compare one location to another, or build out a customer profile by piping in data from other sources (such as a CRM or other analytics application) using APIs.

Issue #3 – Dealing with third-party threat management has made it difficult for us to set up all of our sites consistently.

Deploy a Layer 3 firewall to block threats at the network layer, or a Layer 7 firewall for threats at the application layer. Manage all of your different security services, such as Kaspersky and Brightcloud. Ensure your security policies are followed at each of your locations. And make sure your security definitions stay up-to-date. Handle all of this and more within the Meraki dashboard.

Issue #4 – Setting up and connecting new devices to the network is becoming harder to manage the more we scale.

Meraki Systems Manager allows you to manage and control thousands of mobile and desktop devices from the web-based Meraki dashboard. Drive company initiatives by seamlessly onboarding new devices and automating application of security policies.

Issue #5 – Syncing up a new location’s VPN is a headache, takes forever, and can leave us vulnerable.

Take advantage of Meraki’s automatic configuration of site-to-site VPNs. By enabling AutoVPN through the Meraki dashboard, you enable each participating device to:

Automatically advertise its local subnets across the VPN
Advertise its WAN IP addresses on Internet 1 and 2 ports
Download the global VPN route table
Download the preshared key for establishing the VPN tunnel and traffic encryption

Issue #6 – Network downtime could ruin our business, and failover setup is both complicated and time-consuming.

Meraki MX Security Appliances support multiple layers of redundancy, ensuring WAN connectivity, appliance availability, and seamless failover for branch sites.

Issue #7 – Client device troubleshooting takes multiple hours daily and consumes already scarce IT resources.

The Meraki solution gives you complete network visibility. Use the dashboard to identify switches, and track device connections through the network to pinpoint likely issues. Learn more about your device connections with a one-click cable test or ping.

Issue #8 – I need to deploy new switches to remote sites without sending an expensive tech on-site.

Instead of making the trip out to your sites to deploy new switches, simply configure a switch and the switch port settings from your Meraki dashboard. Then ship the switch to the new install site and have anyone plug it in. Streamline the process by cloning switch settings right from the dashboard.

Issue #9 – How can I save electricity and the environment without compromising performance?

Cisco Meraki leverages time-based port scheduling to put switch ports into energy-saving mode after-hours.

Issue #10 – Torrenting on our network is hogging our bandwidth and putting us at risk.

The Meraki dashboard provides insight into clients that drastically slow down WiFi networks, or downloading illegally on your network. Use the Meraki Layer 7 Firewall to block applications by type, and shape traffic by setting application-specific bandwidth limits.

Would you like to learn more about Meraki cloud-based IT solutions? Sign up here for a live demo of the Cisco Meraki platform and receive a free AP! You can also contact NetWize by calling 801-747-3200, option 1.

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