If you are growing a small business, no matter what field you specialize in, you are going to have computers. The days when a business could last on paper are very gone, and in 2022 it’s very important to have internet, fast internet, and a user interface so that people use it with maximum speed. There’s nothing more annoying than an internet outage at a business that really needs the internet to work effectively, and even if it is an ISP issue it’s worth looking into central servers so that you know that’s the problem.
Servers are a gray area of future-proofing for small businesses. If you are doing just fine you may not want one, and that is both legitimate and foolish in equal measure. Many data centers charge fairly reasonable prices for space on their machines, but if you want wired connections or something similar you should consider purchasing one premade. Here is a plethora of signs you may need to purchase a specialized machine, as well as some things to look for during your hunt for the right machine.
Small Problems with a Big Solution
Servers do a very good job at solving a very simple problem. Let’s run through a situation with the example of an animation company. An employee just finished a new model and needs to send it to the rigging department to get it ready for animation. Models can often be ginormous files with strange file extensions and a habit of crashing on loadig. Do you use a flash drive? It may be too big for that, or too slow.
Servers solve this problem very quickly by providing a quick route between computers for files and data to be sent. 100 GB may be a lot for a physical transfer, but to a specialist, it’s just a matter of time. A properly adjusted server can have numerous benefits for employees both in and out of the office. Learn more from this page https://blog.servermania.com/choosing-a-small-business-server/
Choosing Your Server
As with any big purchase for anything, but especially your business, do your research. The first step to deciding what you want is to find out what applications specifically you want your machine to do. Do you need virtual desktops or backups of data stored on devices? How many computers will be connected at any one time? These questions may have clear or ambiguous answers depending on your situation, so weigh options before deciding on them.
Purchasing a machine from a computer to a printer can be up to $2000 and this is no different, so make sure you have space and money for this kind of commitment. Also, weigh the possibility that renting space from a company might be cheaper. If you want the specifics, click here for an in-depth summary of cloud servers and their benefits. Though this is cheaper in the short term and easily more convenient, it doesn’t solve the problem that the costs of renting will add up over time.
Installation Time
Here’s possibly the most annoying part if you don’t have someone with technical expertise or an IT department to help. Servers can be very difficult to grasp at first. When you discuss server prices with a representative, you should receive an estimate for installation. Don’t ignore this or think you can do better, chances are the server is running even an operating system that you don’t recognize since Linux is standard fare for machines like this.
If you are having trouble deciding which servers you specifically need for certain tasks, remember that what you are buying is essentially a highly specialized computer. This should give you a basis for measuring the tasks you need to be done. If you are transferring huge files, you need a server, but you also might need one on the more powerful end of things. It gets expensive quickly, so weigh the strengths and weaknesses of each model before choosing one.
A recent trend is that of small modular servers that you can easily add on to. This is a great investment if you are maybe a bit on the edge of deciding whether you need one of these machines. You can start small, and when you need more power it’s fairly easy to upgrade, which is something I wish they did more commonly for regular computers.
Once you have your machine installed and hooked up, prepare to reap the benefits of progress bars being completed absurdly quickly. Other software opens up, but honestly seeing a snail’s crawl turn into a split-second load is one of the most satisfying things in all of tech. That being said, any proper network is only as strong as its weakest link so make sure the individual machines are equally powerful and ready for the growth of your business.
