Previously we talked about the importance of a reliable data centre, highlighting the difficult balance colocation customers must strike between specification and cost. Whilst it is inevitably smaller organisations who will find it most challenging to secure cost effective colocation, the realisation amongst consumers that colocation can improve cost efficiency and sustain competitive advantage has meant that DIY data centres are in decline across the UK.

With this in mind, it’s worth looking into the specific benefits that the SME sector can enjoy when using data centres.

To all enterprises, large or small, colocation can provide a way of ensuring continued income generation, whilst also providing efficiency and maximum uptime for your business. As we’ve mentioned in previous posts, downtime can cause irreparable damage, and this rings true even more so for smaller organisations whose client base can’t stand to lose customers through damaged reputation as a result of connectivity downtime. However, not only does colocation provide connectivity guarantees that are difficult to achieve through independent provisions, it also offers many other benefits that we feel could prove equally as important to the operations of a small to medium organisation.

In terms of knowledge and expertise, network operations centres manned by trained operatives can provide an unfathomable amount of know-how. Whilst all businesses like to think that a major fault will not happen to them, the provision of an operations centre allows businesses access to expertise as and when they require it, without paying through the roof.

On-site security is another key benefit, as data centres can provide a level of protection largely unfeasible by other means. The extensive costs involved in employing round the clock security mean that many small businesses leave their equipment open to damage and theft, whereas colocation customers are protected by their data centre’s security provisions.

Faster connection speeds at lower costs and affordable bandwidth when purchased through a colocation provider also mean that colocation customers can easily and affordably expand their IT infrastructure alongside their organisation.

We believe that all these arguments point to one conclusion – that businesses within the SME sector have as much, if not more, to gain by using data centres as large corporates, thanks to the assurances and overall costs savings that these solutions provide.

To find out more please visit our Docklands Colocation page.