Why SMEs should outsource to datacenters

Gujarat is a haven for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) with over three lakh units in this sector. There is a rising demand for IT infrastructure to meet the requirements of SMEs with IT as a supporting business.

Uninterrupted flow of data and its safety is not guaranteed in an internal datacenter. Loss of data has the potential of inflicting irrecoverable damages to any enterprise, and SMEs are no exception. And for any enterprise, safeguarding data is an expensive affair. However, most enterprises fear hiring professionals to safeguard their data. If the enterprise needs to focus on other important aspects of the business, this fear needs to be overcome. The solution to this problem is to outsource to datacenters that adhere to international standards given for efficiency in data protection.

"A sensible way out of this situation is to outsource to datacenters. First of all, there is no capital investment. On the other hand there is return on investment (ROI) right from day one," says Bishwajit Sikdar, Vice President, Business Development, Neesa Group,Ahmedabad, which provides datacenter facilities under the banner of DATAFIRST, Neesa Technologies (NTPL) and a Disaster Recovery centre in Jaipur.

Data centers run on the concept of cloud computing. Elaborating on the services offered by DATAFIRST, Sikdar explains that the USP of a good cloud computing service is to offer business critical applications such as ERP, business intelligence, document management system, storage on demand, Microsoft Exchange/MS Sharepoint, Unified Communication, disaster recovery and co-location to name a few. Software as a Service (SaaS) is another irresistible feature that datacenters offer through cloud computing. Cloud computing delivers a single application through the browser to thousands of customers using a multi-tenant architecture.

On the customers front, it means no upfront investment in servers or software licensing. Additionally, on the provider's side, costs are low compared to conventional hosting. Most importantly, datacenters confirm to high standards of energy efficiency thereby conserving significant amounts of power. So, there is the 'green advantage' too. "Energy efficiency is a crucial aspect of datacenters. "DATAFIRST is an energy-efficient datacenter. This enables us to offer competitive prices to our clients," says Sikdar. Datacenters help companies reduce overall capital and operating costs, lower the risk of downtime as well as deploy new applications and services quickly. Moreover, space, which comes at a premium, is conserved by clients who outsource to datacenters.

When scouting for data centers, enterprises should look for quality, scalability, security and reliability. "Clients should verify whether the data centers have redundant and diverse paths to avoid single points of failure for achieving the highest level of uptime," says Sikdar. Speaking about the safety and security of his datacenter, Sikdar says that DATAFIRST is secured by guards round-the-clock, CCTV cameras, and state-of-the-art fire protection. Precision environment is maintained with Heating Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system for regulating the air temperature and humidity in the area where the equipment is installed.

"DATAFIRST maintains data with minimum human intervention, that is reinforced by audit logs and restricted authorization, which means that our clients can inspect their investment anytime. They can have as much or as little control as they choose without worrying about the safety of their data. Financially, this translates to a good 40 to 50 per cent saving on IT infrastructure, especially for SMEs that are challenged for high-capital investment, finding multi-skilled manpower and catching up with changing technology trends," concludes Sanjay Gupta Chairman and Managing Director, Neesa Group. Source by SliconIndia