For small and medium businesses (SMB), the cost of IT can be sometimes prohibitive. Budgets are small and resources are thin: virtualization may be an attractive alternative to the server farm as it is easy to set up and less time consuming to maintain. Through virtualization, SMB IT deployments can be much more expansive and comprehensive due to cost savings typically realized as a result.
A recent survey by VMWare validates this. Of the 309 SMB IT managers surveyed using virtualization, nearly 73 percent saw a significant decrease in the amount of time spent on routine IT tasks. Over two-thirds also were better equipped to adapt to the changing needs of their businesses, and nearly the same number were able to significantly reduce their hardware costs.
Hardware costs can be reduced both directly and indirectly. The direct savings comes from the fact that multiple servers are no longer needed: instead one server can play host to several. The indirect savings add up too -- consider the lower maintenance and electricity costs, and even the square footage of the business freed up as a result of the elimination or capping of so-called "server sprawl."
That is not the only reasons why SMBs should consider virtualization. Unlike large Fortune 500 companies that are able to support deployments with multiple redundancies, SMBs often cannot afford extensive backup systems. This puts these companies' data at a higher risk of loss, whether it would be from hardware failure or in the event of a natural disaster.
One third of all small and medium business have likely experienced a significant outage as a result of hardware failure or natural disaster in the past two years, and one in five have lost data as a result of these issues. Of those losing data, three out of five will lose sales, the VMWare survey shows.
Since virtualization can provide redundancy in a simple and cost effective manner, the risk of data loss can be decreased significantly.
There are some steps to take if your small business is considering virtualization:
1. Assess if the IT department has the knowledge in-house to not only execute but maintain the deployment themselves. If this is not the case, it is smart to seek the assistance of a third-party.
2. It is also important to assess the readiness of your current hardware and software. Will the server hardware be able to support the additional computing power necessary to virtualize the number of servers that you may need? Does the software required to operate your business support virtualization? After researching the costs to move to a virtualized platform, does your business have the budget to do this?
If any of these are a no, then you may need to reconsider your virtualization plans. It may also be a good idea to consider the assistance of a third party to advise on your next steps to ensure whatever adjustments necessary are done in a cost-effective manner.
3. There is one other consideration when going virtual -- and that's measuring success. The easiest way to do this is to compare your budget and expenditures for IT both before and after the deployment, keeping in mind the startup costs may artificially inflate your IT costs initially. Since many SMBs are moving to virtualization in order to save money, it's important that you have some measurement of its success.
Some helpful virtualization primers:
- Virtualization Security -- Cisco
- vStart50: Ready to Run Virtualization for SMBs -- Dell
- Small Business Solutions -- Microsoft
- Virtualization for Small and Midsize Business -- VMWare
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