© Jamison_Judd


There are lots of great guides already out there about how to buy a new server, what to look for, functionality and so on. But how do you know when you really need a server? Let's go through some of the common reasons small businesses buy their first server:

1. Sharing information: If you're spending a lot of time sharing information between different computers, it might be time to invest in a server. Your information volume may be increasing because of more clients or more employees, but centralizing your data could save you time and money.

2. Extra protection: If you work with particularly sensitive information, a server might be a good idea. Nowadays most of our information is digital so you have two options: backing up info with printed hard copies, or backing things up on a private server.

3. Make Your Office Mobile: With a server backing up all your files, you can free up the movement of your people. Data on a server can be accessed from anywhere in the world. That can mean anything from work-at-home employees to business travel to the ability to access files on a laptop in a client's office.

4. Flexibility: With mobile access and information sharing, its easy to make changes. Instead of everyone having to update their individual files, or emailing changes to the whole company you can simply update files in the server and know that everyone will be notified of the change immediately. Its also simple to add, edit or delete files across the board.

5. More power: A server can hold excess or superfluous data leaving your computers the ability to zip around at lightning speed. You can now store huge amounts of information without ever slowing down your surfing velocity.

Do you have your own server? What do you use it for? When did you decide to get one?