In this age of digitization, businesses heavily rely on technological advancements and data. Regardless of your industry, data is the building block for making decisions for day to day business operations. Moreover, data drives financial decisions, identifying customer behavior for marketing strategy or determining root cause analysis for projects.

Suffice it to say; organizations are processing vast amounts of data every day—but where is the data being stored?

The choice of the data storage infrastructure is one of the first decisions a business  needs to make to assemble their IT projects. As such, storing and moving data has become a growing modern enterprise.

With a plethora of available options for infrastructure, software, and hardware, many organizations struggle to build a holistic and well-integrated data storage system that doesn’t take up most of their budget. However, there are two primary data storing options available to businesses—data center and the cloud.

Let’s delve deeper into what each of these systems entails and which one comes out on top!

Understating Cloud and Data Center

The primary difference between the cloud and data center is the location of stored data. A data center stores data on premise of your organization, or on another location that’s owned by your business. In contrast, cloud is entirely off-premises, and allows data access from anywhere through an internet connection.

A data center is a collection of servers you purchase and keep on-site to fulfill your data storage needs. It can vary from a few computers under your desk to a range of blade servers situated in a climate-controlled room managed by your IT team. Similarly, the cloud serves the same purpose as the data center, but in another physical location. Additionally, an off-site third-party service provider maintains it.

How Are They Different?

Let’s take a look at the differing capabilities of the cloud and the data center.

Customization

The cloud model provides flexible access and can be customized according to your organization’s requirements. They’re also easier to operate. Moreover, a simple click provides computing resources, improved networking capabilities, and storage.

However, there are challenges to customizing data centers. Tweaking an on-premise system requires time consuming purchases of additional software or hardware.

Security

No matter your industry or nature of your data, its protection is the utmost priority for any business. Understandably, breaches of proprietary knowledge or records risks jobs, livelihood, clients’ trust in your business, and company reputation.

Despite the growing benefits of cloud storage, some businesses opt for data centers. This is based off the belief that a company maintains more control over on premise data. This is to say that byy managing and administering data themselves, companies exercise more authority and responsibility.

Some businesses prefer this option because they think their information on the cloud isn’t safe. However, both data storage solutions provide similar levels of security. In fact, most cloud service providers do a better job of securing and maintaining the infrastructure.

Scalability

Resources on the cloud are quickly deployable and grant more ease of extension. Additionally, their transparent pricing offers more scalability. The cloud allows for automatic scaling, unlike a date center that involves more planning and overcoming new challenges.

When working with vast volumes of data, placing business operations on hold because of a lack of scalability isn’t exactly desirable. Therefore, the cloud’s unique scalability is well-suited for businesses that want to be prepared for the continuous growth of data at all times.

Cost

Planning and building a data center is a time-consuming and hefty upfront investment. There are several hidden costs such as, HVAC and power bills. Note that this doesn’t take into account time spent documenting or trouble-shooting to set up the system.

In contrast, a cloud typically doesn’t require any initial investment. It is also invariably more straightforward and transparent in terms of its costs. Businesses pay their cloud providers for the services they use, such as additional storage capacity or computational power. In turn, the service provider maintains and administers the storage system and updates or repairs the software accordingly.

Which One’s Better?

Recently several organizations have transitioned to the cloud to fulfill their data storage needs. Thanks to its low cost and improved scalability, the cloud is also being used as a backup data storage center in case of disasters and emergencies.

As your company grows over time, your cloud service provider should be able to adjust your data needs accordingly, without much downtime.

Do you think your business is ready for cloud migration?

Hire Reliable IT Management Services Today!

At Percento Technologies International, we offer various IT support plans to help organizations achieve their business goals. Our custom cloud solutions allow you to run your business at full capacity without any lags or problems with data storage.

We also provide managed IT services, network security, and backup solutions to businesses that want to keep their data safe and stay ahead of their competitors. Our services will help you reduce costs, lower the risk of security breaches, and manage data in case of emergency or disasters.

Get in touch with us to inquire about our IT and cloud services today!