Your company might be paying for an on-premise server that is hindering your business’ performance.
By Stephen Corrigan, MD of Palladium
It’s the absolute last thing a business owner wants to hear. That even as you’re madly seeking out ways to cut costs, you’ve been paying for big-ticket items you don’t need. Ouch.
But, if your company owns a server, then it’s highly likely that’s exactly what’s happening to you. In fact, not only are you paying for an expensive piece of infrastructure you don’t need, but it’s probably also slowing you down and leaving your data less secure.
You might well be thinking you don’t have a choice – your business can’t exactly do without a server when you need it for your accounting software.
But, the truth is you don’t need a server. Not if you’re able to access your accounting software on the cloud.
Be aware of old software
The reason why you may not have realised this, is because you might be using old accounting software that is installed in the form of a drive, requiring your business to maintain a server on your local network.
And if your business has branches, those branches must connect to the old accounting system using terminal services – this means they’re essentially logging on to a server somewhere on premise and working through that server.
Often when accounting software providers do offer their product on the cloud, clients still must access it using a terminal services connection. And because this is a third-party tool, it’s not a clean connection.
Modern software is accessed on the cloud
On the other hand, new software like Palladium allows you to create a secure, encrypted connection to a database on the cloud. Through Acumatica, Palladium uses HTML 5 – a true browser that runs on any device.
Accessing accounting software on the cloud not only saves your business the cost of a server, but also the cost of the person maintaining the server and the building space in which it is housed.
If you maintain a server on premise, it also means you need the appropriate security software and backups to protect your data.
Storing your data in the cloud, on the other hand, keeps it more secure than if you try to maintain it yourself. Palladium, for example, backs up its clients’ hosted data three times a day. And because the cloud enables economies of scale, we can utilise very expensive technology to keep that data secure.
At the end of the day, the only reason a business could possibly have to keep their server on premise would be if their internet connection is unreliable or if the bulk of its users are on premise.
Optimal performance without the cost
Accessing your accounting software on the cloud also optimises your data. If, for example, your software provider forces you to access sophisticated technology like Microsoft Power BI from your own server, it will choke up your bandwidth. However, when you access Power BI from Palladium’s server on the cloud, it doesn’t affect your bandwidth at all.
Similarly, integrations with mobile functionality are also optimised. And the best part is that you’re not paying for the enhanced performance.
The beauty of accessing accounting software like Palladium on the cloud is that your business can afford technology that has, for a long time, only been available to enterprise-level businesses. Because small businesses essentially have access to a server on the cloud, they are provided with the security levels previously restricted to big businesses. They also suddenly have the resources to comply with regulations they would have battled to uphold in the past.
It’s simple really – unless you are in the business of servers, your business shouldn’t own one.
You have enough on your plate without having to worry about your servers as well. And the cloud can provide you with a boost in resources while saving you money at the same time.
So, ditch that redundant server and stop paying for expensive technology your business doesn’t need.