A third-party hosted data center has its drawbacks, but there’s also value to be found in using third parties for data center work.

If you want a job done right, the old saying goes, do it yourself. There’s certainly truth to this concept, especially when it comes to a data center. Some, however, are finding benefit in handing the reins over to someone else. The reasons behind doing so make surprising bottom-line sense.

The Nature of Expenses

One major benefit of a hosted data center is in the nature of expenses. Setting up a data center internally requires a large amount of cash up front. A hosted data center, meanwhile, converts this capital expense to an ongoing but much smaller bill: operating expense.

The hosted bill can be adjusted up and down depending on needs, whereas purchasing equipment doesn’t have anywhere near that level of flexibility; if a little extra capacity is needed temporarily, the only option is to buy more equipment. And when the need passes, the equipment is still there.

The Value of Mobility

There are a few advantages to having a mobile workforce:

• Tapping a Broader Talent Pool. When you’re in St. Louis, and there’s a great candidate in Los Angeles for an open position, what do you do? Pass up on that candidate? Offer moving expenses? Or let that new employee work from Los Angeles? Hosted data centers can help make that happen.
• Be Ready for Emergencies. An NTT Communications report detailed how 72 percent of businesses considered improving disaster recovery and business continuity a “critical priority”. Hosted data centers mean that, when a business has a disaster, the data is likely somewhere safe.
• Improve Morale. Employees sometimes have a tough time trying to fit in all the “little things” that have to be done. When employees can work remotely and still have easy data access, it’s easier to complete these small tasks, which improves morale.

The Power of Maintenance

Perhaps the greatest advantage of hosted data centers is the “somebody else’s problem” notion of management. When operating a data center on premises, companies take on the expense of initial setup as well as the expense of ongoing maintenance.

Hosted data centers operate much like a power or phone bill would, providing services on a subscription basis. Often, data centers include service level agreements (SLAs) detailing just how much downtime is permitted before penalties to the data center kick in, assuring users that the system will be active, or it will cost the data center.

The Triumph of the Third Party

There are reasons to not use a third party system, of course — control is the biggest such reason — but for most users, a third party system can deliver value through minimal maintenance, predictable bills, and versatility. Letting a third party take the reins of a data center could be your best move yet. To discuss your business’s data center needs in detail, contact us today.