Data is one of the most valuable assets a business has. As businesses become more reliant on the generation and use of data for their operations, it’s important to ensure the infrastructure and equipment containing that data is stored in an appropriate place – namely, a data centre.

The benefits of data centres

Data centres:

• increase the physical security of your business data
• prolong the lifespan of your equipment
• are reliable
• meet industry standards
• increase your productivity
• free up space in your office
• are scalable and flexible

Physical security

Data centres are secure environments. Tall fences, CCTV cameras, locked doors and cages, and either on-site or remotely monitored security 24/7 are all commonplace. Every person entering the data centre will have to show photo ID, and will have to be on their company’s pre-approved ‘access list’. Compared to a traditional comms room in an office, the security levels you can expect from a data centre help to make sure your data doesn’t get accessed by anyone unauthorised to do so. This in turn can help with compliance with regulations and legislation.

Increase equipment lifespan

Another benefit of using a data centre is the ability to increase the lifespan of the equipment that’s being hosted. Data centres are specialist environments – the temperature is controlled, and the lack of any dust or dirt particles prevents the airflow of your equipment from being blocked, which typically leads to overheating. These contaminants can damage the physical components of your server, so avoiding this can prolong the life of your equipment.

Reliability and disaster recovery

A key selling point for data centres is their increased uptime in comparison to traditional on-site comms rooms. They are able to achieve this, in part, because of their backup power supplies. A good data centre will have a ‘dual diverse power supply’ – two power supplies that are on completely separate power paths. If one of them were to fail, the backup line would kick in, and keep everything running smoothly. Increasing uptime by even a fraction of a percentage point can save your company from potentially days of lost productivity every year, and the costs associated with that.

Meeting industry standards

The main accreditations that data centres will strive to hold are to do with keeping data secure – such as ISO 27001, which is the standard for information security management systems. Other standards to consider are for infrastructure, efficiency, and environmental impacts.

Having these standards verified by a third party helps to guarantee that your data is being stored in the safest ways possible, ensuring business continuity.

Increasing productivity

The productivity of your team can also be boosted by utilising a data centre. Hardware being kept in optimum conditions, and the use of ‘remote hands’, can free up time your business has to spend fixing issues.

Remote hands are data centre staff who are able to perform services on behalf of customers. They can fix physical issues with equipment, reboot servers, or report system indicators –and issues can be dealt with much faster as the staff are already on-site. Remote hands prevent you from losing a member of staff for a day to travel to the data centre, or your business incurring costly emergency call-out fees.

The increased reliability afforded by data centres also means less downtime for your team, so they can do their jobs without interruption.

Premises cost savings

Following the trend towards hybrid and remote working, freeing up office space from storing bulky hardware can help those wanting to downsize. Additionally, energy costs in data centres are stable –equipment will be operating in optimum conditions, so will use the lowest amount of energy.

Scalability and flexibility

Using a data centre can also enable companies to scale up their operations rapidly, as and when required. Compared to hosting your servers and equipment in your own premises, where it may not be feasible to add in any more equipment due to lack of space, data centres enable businesses to react quickly and increase the amount of space they’re leasing. This model is typically known as ‘pay as you grow’, and allows businesses to benefit from maximum value for money, by only ever paying for what they are using.

Considerations when moving to a data centre

It’s important to note that when using a data centre, they have standards with the equipment they will host – you won’t be allowed to take in any equipment you like. This may be a consideration if your business is operating particularly old servers, or those that aren’t rack-mountable.

Visiting a data centre for the first time? Here’s what to expect.

Interested in seeing how a data centre could help your business? Contact us today to find out more