Getting Friendly With Technology: Server Myths Debunked

Introduction
Is your business growing? Do you lose productivity when your employees can't find information or when they are out of the office? Could you serve customers better or work with your suppliers and sub-contractors more efficiently if your employees had instant access to all of their contact and account information? Do you ever worry about viruses, hacker attacks or other mishaps that could damage your data and bring your business to a halt? If the answer to any of these questions is "Yes," maybe it's time for you to consider buying a server for your business. First and foremost, a server is the key to protecting your vital business data. And once you have a server in place, you can use that computing power and reliability to improve the productivity, efficiency and profitability of your business.

Many small businesses have not considered or have avoided buying business servers because of misconceptions about capability, complexity, and cost. The reality is that servers help protect your business in ways that other computers can't, they can give your business a big boost and they can be affordable and easy to own and operate. The first step in gaining these advantages is to overcome the common misconceptions about servers, so let's look at the facts.

Myth 1: Only Large Companies Need Servers
In today's business environment, companies of any size depend on digital data - customer lists, project schedules and product designs, accounts payable and receivable - and companies, large or small, need to compete in their local or global markets. With competitive and budget pressures, it is critical that you protect your operations from interruption or loss and that you get the maximum value and return from the resources that you have. Huge companies may have some slack in their budgets, but for most businesses, there isn't much room for waste or error.

If virtually everything about your business has been digitized, doesn't it make sense to invest in the hardware that manages, connects, and protects it? A business server is a very cost-effective way to protect your business and to achieve greater efficiency and competitive advantage. The first reason for buying a server is the security and safety of your business data. When data is scattered around on various desktop computers that connect directly to each other and/or to the Internet, the data is very vulnerable to Internet viruses, hacker attacks, and system failure. To effectively protect your data, you need to route Internet access through a "firewall" that protects all the computers on your network from unauthorized traffic, and you need to centralize stored data on a server with special security and reliability features that help prevent attacks and data loss. (Figure 1 shows a network of PCs with a server protected by a firewall.)

Figure 1: Protecting Your Business
In this figure, a network of PCs and laptops plus a server are protected behind a firewall running on a network router (a device like a smart phone switchboard). The firewall provides a first line of defense against data piracy and attacks, while the server provides additional data protection and stability.

There are many other reasons to buy a server, and they're all about increasing the efficiency and revenue potential of your business. It's hard to share information from desktop to desktop. When data is centralized on a server, you and your staff are able to share information, and even access it remotely when they are out of the office, helping everyone to be more productive. The computing power of the server also enables you to use more powerful business applications: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to serve customers better, electronic marketing and e-commerce to market to more people at a lower cost, and resource management and business analysis applications to monitor and manage your business more efficiently.

Myth 2: A High-End Desktop Computer is No Different from a Server
A server is much different from a PC. A server is a computer that is designed specifically to store, manage, distribute, and process data. A PC being used as a server is vulnerable in three key areas: data integrity, system reliability, and data bandwidth. Server computers generally have more computing power than desktop PCs, but some are also designed with features that make them more resistant to Internet attacks and data corruption or loss, system or disk failure, power spikes and other problems. In addition to providing better data protection and reliability, servers have the ability to process and distribute more data faster (more data bandwidth), so your business processes are not slowed or limited by people having to wait for information. Also, vendors of server-based business applications make extra efforts to ensure the reliability of their software, because more people will be using it simultaneously, often for more critical business tasks.