The real business of costs of onsite vs. cloud based storage

This article was first published by Tarsus Today on 19 September 2018.

Comparing the true cost of onsite servers vs. cloud storage is tricky, as it varies greatly depending on the specifics of the systems being deployed. Cloud based solutions could represent a potential cost savings of 30% in the long run. Here are the factors to take into account when considering the difference in costing.

Set- Up Cost

Having an onsite server requires capital investment in hardware and infrastructure. There are a few unavoidable costs – hardware, electricity, room cooling and physical space – needed to implement on-premise storage.

On the other hand, cloud storage has a far lower initial set-up cost. Cloud solutions have the capability to offer on-demand, flexible storage, so you only pay for what you need. This saves costs if your business storage needs are lower.

Storage and Increasing Capacity

Cloud storage is an efficient solution for your business because it can expand or decrease according to the exact amount of data you need to store. Larger organisations need several terabytes or petabytes worth of data storage; smaller organisations, much less.

If your organisation needs to increase its data storage, cloud storage is the easiest and fastest option. 

On-premise servers need infrastructure to be upgraded, equipment to be ordered, costed for, shipped and installed before the storage can be utilised, which may be costly and time-consuming.

Maintenance

Monthly maintenance costs for onsite storage can be huge. Cloud service maintenance fees exist as fixed monthly retainers for the amount of storage used. On-premise servers’ main expenditure are impacted by electricity and the IT management team, which often outweighs the cost of cloud storage. Beyond this, the risk of operational downtime and loss of data, or security breaches can mean even higher costs.

When using the cloud, server maintenance and upgrade costs are the responsibility of the service provider, and are often included in the storage packages you select, giving you a wide choice of available options.

Cloud storage: a more cost-effective solution

Cloud storage is more affordable in start-up, maintenance costs and support costs, and the financial benefits of moving to cloud storage are immense. With the right professional partner, moving to cloud storage can save your business a lot of money in the long run.