Competitive advantage. Cost reductions. Increased productivity. Expanded services. Higher quality. Greater reliability. Cutting-edge technology.

Data center outsourcing can do it all. In a world where everything seems to be increasingly expensive but not always as effective as you’d like, it’s good to know there is an operations alternative that has what it takes to actually help your company grow and prosper into the future.

Let’s look more closely at some of the benefits you can realize by switching to data center outsourcing.

Scalability.

You can hand off your entire your data center, physically and functionally. Or you can simply pick selected commoditized services, to start smaller and see how it goes. Either way, you’ll have the agility and flexibility to match changing business conditions or seamlessly expand as you grow.

Reliability.

Outsourcing typically provides greater consistency and dependability than internally-managed processes, because it’s your provider’s primary job.

Security.

Highly-developed encryption and other protections can assure confidentiality of even the most sensitive data or applications. If you’re concerned, you can always choose to retain specific functions internally.

Disaster recovery.

Large or small, when problems interrupt your ability to get work done you can’t meet customer expectations. That’s bad for business. Data center outsourcing can assure faster, more reliable and most cost-effective disaster recovery, keeping you up and running and assuring you’re able to meet applicable regulatory requirements.

Control.

The day-to-day work is handled by someone else, but you’re still the boss. You decide how management processes will flow. And you can negotiate detailed SLAs that assure and even incentivize top performance and quality.

Increased efficiency and productivity.

You gain a team of experts who can provide sage ongoing advice and recommendations, not just ensure your data center operations are functioning smoothly. Your internal IT folks can finally devote their efforts to expanded thinking about how IT might more broadly support corporate growth.

Renewed core focus.

Executives and managers can concentrate on core business areas such as product research and development, sales and marketing, personnel development and – mission-critical these days – building stronger, lasting relationships with each customer.

Direct savings.

As data center outsourcing benefits go, this is the perennial favorite. You can save on operations costs typically directed toward IT salaries and benefits, physical space and associated overhead, equipment maintenance and upgrades, software applications and upgrades and time and costs spent on IT support activities.

You may want to retain physical infrastructure but save via leasing the space, or you can go virtual and save by eliminating physical space and overhead costs altogether. Both will lower your total cost of ownership.

Recaptured capital funds.

Ongoing savings through reduced operations costs is a certain benefit. But for many companies avoiding recurring capital expense for equipment, etc. can finance a strategic change of direction. At last, you have funds available to explore and implement new initiatives that can lead to new markets, increased market share, higher profits.

Branding.

In today’s world of lightning-fast technology evolution, people look for companies on the cutting edge of innovation. Is that you? If your brand doesn’t conjure up images of future-thinking and willingness to take the next step, how can prospects or customers view you as a leader? They’re more apt to choose a working partner that shows initiative.

Let’s put it this way: is there anything on this list that would not benefit your company? Probably not. So based on all this evidence, it would appear data center outsourcing is definitely the way to go.

Photo Credit: Bandarji