It is generally believed that Data center services are meant for large enterprises but a recent survey by Gartner reveals that 42% of the companies with strength lesser than 1000 employees are also availing the services of data centers.

Factors driving small businesses to opt for data center services are:

Data center services are cost effective: Due to economies of scale, small businesses gain cost advantages with the data center providers. The user only needs to pay a monthly fees. Data centers have robust security protocol: Modern-age data centers are designed with advanced security systems which include biometric & coded access, 24x7 video surveillance and trained security staff. Professional Tech-support: Data center providers employ expert professionals and qualified tech-engineers who offer you with excellent tech support. Redundant infrastructure: Data centers have redundant infrastructure for power supply, servers and hardware to manage the fail-over and to ensure business continuity.

Below are few tips for small businesses to select the best data center:

• Choose LOCATION of data center wisely: Choose a data center location which doesn’t fall in the risk zone of earthquake, flood, hurricane or such disaster prone areas. Also, the data center should be situated at a location which provides excellent data connectivity and lies in the close proximity of your business. And of course, you can’t ignore the cost factor, look for the most cost-effective data center.

• Data SECURITY is crucial: Business data are sensitive, so storing your business information in data centers protect them from any damage and theft. A secured data center service will also allow remote access to the user, if and when required. Choose the providers with latest industry standards security infrastructure, design and data backup features.

• Must check SLA guarantee: Don’t miss to check for network uptime SLA guarantee of the data center providers. Never settle with any provider which offers less than 99.95% of network uptime SLA.

• Choose only CARRIER-NEUTRAL providers: Carrier neutral data centers are the ones which offer services from multiple ISPs (internet service providers); this will ensure constant network connectivity. If one of the network, fails, it can be managed through other ISPs in the carrier-neutral data center.

• Consider SCALABILITY for future: Small businesses should always look for the data centers which allow scalability of resources. Businesses are meant to grow and prosper, and once your business grows your IT demands increases. The data center providers should be ready to scale the resources depending upon the business demands.