How to Know When Your Small Business is Ready for a Server

May is Small Business Month. Dell is celebrating Small Business month with a 4-part small business series discussing hot trends in small business. Stay tuned for next week’s piece or view last week’s virtual reality piece.

man drinking coffee in design office with dell monitors

I work with businesses that are just getting started or just hitting a period of growth every day and one common frustration among passionate owners is servers: what they are, when they are needed, and how to go about getting one.

It doesn’t need to be overwhelming to know when your small business is ready for a server. If you use two or more computers to share scanners, information or internet access, a small business server will benefit you. Servers not only make things simpler, they boost your business security and productivity.

Before servers became widely available, only large organizations were able to afford servers. Today, servers are easy to implement and affordable. Servers store, process, manage and send data 24/7.

Here are signs that your business is ready for a server:

  • You store important data and files that should be protected from unauthorized access, loss or corruption in two or more computers.
  • Accounting programs and customer relationship management software are needed to communicate with vendors and customers.
  • Managing several versions of a single file is necessary for business operation.
  • More than one computer need to share internet access, fax machines and other office equipment and resources.
  • A central communication system is needed to share information with clients, staff and vendors and organize group meetings.
  • You want to access your computer files from anywhere without any problem, backup important files on several computers or restore previous versions of files or files that were accidentally deleted.
  • Employees need to share software tools.
  • Control access of employees to files and data

If there are times when you cannot access your files or shared resources, you have trouble finding information quickly, you want to protect your files from malware and viruses or there’s not enough storage space, you should consider installing a server.

dell emc poweredge rack server

How a Server Will Change your Business Operations

Improved Performance

A server allows you to share and access information and resources anytime and anywhere with no effect on performance. It can serve as the main storage space for the latest file versions. You can configure it to arrange and manage network resources. Anyone can get the required resources whenever they need it.

Secure

Servers can help you control your staff’s access to data. You can control who has access to what, keeping private information from unauthorized personnel. A server can manage and secure computers on the network from one location, so you can have peace of mind.

It also allows you to create a backup of your files from a central location, allowing you to resume normal business activities if disaster such as storms hits your area.

Centralized Updates

A server can update every computer on the network at the same time. You do not need to open each computer and install the updates one by one. With a server, you save time and money in the long run. You can configure the server to guarantee safe, remote access to software applications and files.  This allows you and your employees to work anytime and from anywhere.

A properly installed and maintained server will improve your productivity and keep your company safe and help you succeed.

About the Author: Erik Day

Erik Day has been at Dell for over 16 years. He first joined the company as a temporary consumer sales agent in 1999 shortly after finishing his Bachelors of Psychology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Erik has held multiple sales, merchandising and marketing leadership roles in his tenure at Dell which has taken him to 25+ countries over 5 continents. Erik spent 2009 to the early part of 2013 leading Retail Merchandising, Retail Marketing and CSB Direct Media Budget and Planning for the Europe, Middle East & Africa region. Most recently, Erik has been responsible for leading an outstanding team of sales leaders covering large format retailers and CSB distribution channel partners across the United States and Canada. Between 2013-14, Erik built a $500M Acquisition business in retail and helped grow Best Buy over 50% YoY between 2014 and today. Erik is an avid tennis player and just got married in August of this year. He loves spending time in Up North Michigan on the Lake with his husband Craig and their 2 Samoyeds, Chester and Chase.