SYSPRO has a great hybrid solution to fit your needs

There is one thing that seems to keep moving forward, no matter what else is happening in the world: technology.  At times, it feels impossible to keep up with it.  A new update pops up on our phones or computers daily.  Keeping an open mind to the new possibilities is key to keeping up with new technology.

Many clients are wondering about the best way to store their data: on premises, or in the cloud? This would have been an easy question when the cloud was first created—stick with the safety of your on-premises storage.  We now have a third option to think about, a hybrid cloud/on-premises storage solution.

If you are ready to look into a mobile solution with a hybrid storage option, download our free SYSPRO whitepaper.

New Versus Old

It’s always important to do your homework, put on that long-term thinking cap, and do some calculations. On-premises storage can be expensive. The total cost of ownership, includes:

1. Hardware
2. Licensing fees
3. Monthly maintenance
4. On-site backup software
5. Antivirus software
6. Electricity consumption
7. IT personnel-hours
8. 3-5 year hardware replacement

The flip side is, cloud costs are typically pay-as-you-go, and have been going down as the technology advances. In addition, implementation, build-out, and future scale-up are usually faster and less expensive. To make things even easier, cloud service providers take on the tasks of maintenance, security, software updates, and troubleshooting.

Security is always an issue, so there’s comfort in the fact that cloud providers hire top-tier data-storage and security specialists. Nothing is invulnerable, and cloud storage is no exception. In general, however, the cloud is reputedly outperforming on-premises solutions in terms of high availability and downtime.

The Cloud is Not Perfect

Even if you ignore the realities of regulatory compliance (which can stipulate on-premises back-up), there are still reservations to be had about moving completely to the cloud. First, a full migration may be impractical for organizations with legacy on-premises storage solutions, which are often embedded into their IT infrastructures and integrated with mission-critical systems. Companies with legacy systems have no easy route from on-premises to cloud storage.

Latency is another issue to consider. Your network could move at a snail’s pace due to sharing large amounts of data on the cloud, especially for a business in a remote location or with particularly high bandwidth requirements. This may not be a big deal for services such as e-mail; high latency can be a real problem for applications such as virtual desktops and VOIP. You can schedule uploads for slower times (at night, for example) to help, but this system can be impractical as your data requirements grow.

Another thing to think about: the speed of data transfer could affect your recovery time objective (RTO) in the event of a disaster. There is no use specifying an RTO of 60 minutes if it will take two hours to download your data from your cloud provider. It may be faster, and cheaper, to retrieve your data from local off-site storage.

We Bring You the Hybrid Solution

There is a prediction by the International Data Corporation that the global market for hybrid storage solutions will grow to $84 billion by 2019. That kind of growth isn’t surprising. Hybrid storage environments give us the best of both worlds. They allow businesses to leverage the cloud for data protection and disaster recovery while minimizing, or in some cases eliminating, the costs of maintaining and expanding a datacenter.

With hybrid storage you can create tiers of back up that mirror your data requirements. For example, you might use solid state disks for your most frequently accessed data, hard disk drives for less frequently accessed data, and the cloud for archived data and off-site data protection. This allows companies all the advantages of the cloud, with lower latency, and without exposing mission-critical applications or vital data.

It always comes down to what is best for your company. Choosing your storage solution isn’t one to take lightly. Do your research and contact the experts at PositiveVision to answer any further questions you might have. The hybrid data-storage solution seems to be a win-win. It can give you the best of both worlds. Hybrid data-storage solutions can help companies become agile, data-driven entities while lowering IT budgets and bolstering business continuity plans.    

PositiveVision has the tools and expertise to help you find the ERP and data-storage solution to help you business grow. With products like SYSPRO, we can help you find the right balance to keep your data safe and accessible. To learn more contact PositiveVision today.