In keeping a business operating at ideal levels, it’s important to keep a keen eye on how we produce, access, and store data. Data is integral in keeping operations running smoothly. It’s impossible to fathom a business that doesn’t require quality data management.
During the first few months of your business, it’s more cost-beneficial to make use of cloud servers. Your storage and accessibility needs should be the basis of picking the right server host.
Your business’s data requires stringent protection and direct control. You’d also want everything to be accessible to you and your team, as necessary. You can’t stick to using Excel sheets to keep everything in check.
What are servers?
Servers are both cloud and physical data houses that store critical business information and applications. They’re commonly referred to as data centers that can be in-house and located within business premises or in the form of public cloud services.
They improve business information by providing a way for businesses to store communication and database data that are accessible based on permissions given.
The thing about servers is that there are thousands of choices out there. Picking the right one to store essential business data can be a difficult task. But what you need to consider are costs, privacy, control, and performance.
You don’t want to add an underperforming server to your operational costs and end up having more times having issues with it than actually making use of it. So, even if you do make the right choice of server, it’s also a good idea to consult a server performance tuner.
What are common server issues?
Server downtime can affect a business even if it only lasts for less than an hour. It can cost a business sales, clients, and important data while their competitors get ahead.
That’s why it’s essential to have a professional on-call to perform routine maintenance—which means there’ll be scheduled downtime—and fix problems as soon as they arise.
An underperforming server can cost you clients, business reputation, and productivity.
You should be aware that no server is perfect. They encounter common problems such as:
1. Bad loading times.
Servers hosting websites typically encounter slow page loading that can be detrimental to business performance. It takes a user a little over three seconds to abandon a web page that doesn’t load within that time frame.
That’s a potential sale going down the drain for you. The common culprits are image rendering, complicated forms, auto-play videos, and high website traffic. The last one isn’t exactly a problem you need to solve. Mainly because it means there are a lot of people browsing your website. It becomes a problem if you don’t try to optimize your page to accommodate more visitors.
The loading time problem can also be on the user side. They may be using a web browser that isn’t compatible with your web page. It can also be their network connection speed.
2. Malware and cyber-attacks.
Cybersecurity has always been a concern. It’s a concern for businesses big and small, and also governments. You’ve probably read about big data breaches in 2020.
Malware and cyber-attacks cause businesses to get their own and their clients’ data exposed and can render a business unable to operate depending on how it’ll take for them to resolve the breach.
Malware and cyber-attackers can replicate and destroy data stored in servers. That’s why businesses must invest in stringent security protocols.
3. Hardware failures.
No hardware is engineered to last forever. This fact alone makes it an important preventive measure for businesses to have backup equipment they can use when the time of their current hardware comes.
Hardware failures can lead to data corruption. It never means anything good for businesses. Surviving a hardware failure entails a business creating consistent backups of their data, as to not lose anything important.
Downtime is expected but shouldn’t take longer than necessary to not impede business operations.
4. Server crash.
An unpredictable effect that comes with cyber-attacks, data theft, a fire, or flooding is a server crash. It’s the bane of businesses operating with servers—both cloud and physical.
If your business uses its servers to host a website, you should also expect website downtime along with the crash.
It can be costly to get back up from a server crash, but the best thing to avoid this problem is to invest in robust monitoring and protection. So, if something causes a crash, your operations should be back running in no time.