THE SMART ALTERNATIVE TO DIY INFRASTRUCTURE OR CLOUD SERVICES. IT professionals weigh in on the pros and cons of managed cloud hosting

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1 THE SMART ALTERNATIVE TO DIY INFRASTRUCTURE OR CLOUD SERVICES IT professionals weigh in on the pros and cons of managed cloud hosting

2 INTRO Today s networks are growing increasingly more complex. Thanks to more devices to support, more bandwidth to provide, and more power to boost, they require more manpower and expertise to manage. When it comes to managing your operations infrastructure, the two options that commonly come to mind are either doing-it-yourself (DIY) in-house or outsourcing certain functions to the cloud. The first option, DIY, involves the company owning its own hardware, supplying its own manpower and building its own in-house expertise. And for Internetreliant businesses, it involves essentially being their own Internet plumber should anything go wrong. The second option, outsourcing functions to the cloud Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), etc. also has its shortcomings. Outsourcing just certain parts of your operations still necessitates in-house equipment and expertise, and may not end up saving money or hassle in the long run. What about those with more complex infrastructures who require custom solutions? Those who want to oversee things, maintaining clear visibility and control, but not manage the technical operations? Fortunately, there is a third option: dedicated managed hosting, or Operations-as-a-Service (OaaS). This cloud alternative involves outsourcing basically everything but your proprietary information so that your staff can focus on what s most important to the business: innovation. Which option is the best fit for your organization? This white paper will help answer that question by laying out top challenges and benefits of the different options and presenting data from a recent Spiceworks survey of 122 US IT pros.* 2 The Smart Alternative to DIY Infrastructure or Cloud Services

3 COMPARING DIY WITH CLOUD WILL YOU KEEP YOUR OPERATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE IN-HOUSE Certainly there are benefits to managing your operations infrastructure in-house. For one thing, you have total control over your systems. But with total control comes total responsibility for efficiency, reliability and security. It also means purchasing and maintaining all your own equipment and hiring a technical staff to keep it up and running. Dealing with support issues alone can be a full-time job. This can get pricey, as well as time consuming. Ask yourself this: Is pouring resources into maintaining technical systems worth diverting them away from maintaining a competitive edge for your business? The Smart Alternative to DIY Infrastructure or Cloud Services 3

4 OR OUTSOURCE FUNCTIONS TO THE CLOUD? There s a reason for the buzz surrounding the idea of cloud. Moving certain IT functions to cloud environments can definitely help IT avoid the constant cycle of hardware refreshes, software upgrades and security patches. In fact, almost 70% of IT pros surveyed are currently using or planning to use cloud services, and 64% have been using them for at least two years.* And while there are definite benefits to the cloud such as fewer service-impacting outages, contained spending on infrastructure, and access to more experienced support staff cloud concerns and challenges are not insignificant. 4 The Smart Alternative to DIY Infrastructure or Cloud Services

5 For example, the survey showed that nearly twothirds (62%) of respondents are still concerned they will need to hire their own technical operations team, even with a cloud provider. And this is often true if they re only outsourcing some functions especially the less complex ones, like application management or routine security updates. In fact, many cloud providers don t even offer customized solutions, and don t have experts on staff to ensure that your company is getting the most for your investment. Users have experienced other challenges with cloud providers as well, from network performance issues to slow response times to lack of support and more. In fact, the survey reveals that only about a quarter of respondents report being highly satisfied with their cloud service provider. Top challenges faced with cloud providers* 42 % 39 % 37 % Network performance stability issues Slow response times on tickets Limited transparency into hardware, architecture, etc. The Smart Alternative to DIY Infrastructure or Cloud Services 5

6 CHOOSING THE CLOUD ALTERNATIVE: DEDICATED MANAGED HOSTING There s another option besides maintaining your own operations infrastructure in-house or outsourcing certain functions to the cloud. If your company puts a high priority and focus on innovation, and wants to keep it that way, you can choose to let someone else manage the infrastructure and Internet plumbing upon which your business relies. are critical to your business, rather than spending time maintaining your infrastructure. By outsourcing your technical operations and hosting to Peak Hosting s experienced engineers, solution architects and support staff, your company is free to focus on intellectual property, customers or sales and marketing the most profitable areas of your organization. By using Peak Hosting dedicated managed hosting/ OaaS, the provider becomes your entire technical operations department. More than simply a managed hosting provider, beyond even a partnership, Peak Hosting becomes a key part of your company s technical operations, from concept and design, to build and execution, to maintenance and ongoing support. The Peak Hosting OaaS offering enables you to redirect your staff toward tasks that 6 The Smart Alternative to DIY Infrastructure or Cloud Services

7 FEATURES Peak Hosting services offer all the top cloud benefits cited by IT pros, while countering all of their biggest concerns. For example, Peak Hosting offers customized, dedicated managed hosting using a proprietary, 2N design. Your dedicated equipment comes with dedicated support and maintenance, delivered by a group of experts dedicated to serving you. As far as response time, the Peak Hosting client-to-staff ratio is 1:2, versus the nearly 100:1 ratio common to the industry. Yes, you read that correctly. And as far as support, the Peak Hosting support staff is available 24/7/365, allowing experts to assist you when you need it, not when they can get around to it. Dedicated describes the support staff as well as the services themselves. Peak Hosting services offer all the top cloud benefits cited by IT pros, while countering all of their biggest concerns. COST BENEFITS Compared to in-house infrastructure management or partial IT outsourcing, dedicated managed hosting is more cost effective. It eliminates the need to spend money buying hardware and software and hiring additional infrastructure/internet plumbing experts, and allows your IT staff to concentrate on core business IT functions. Depending on the IT function and size of your company, you can save hundreds of thousands even more in salaries alone by letting Peak Hosting s experts handle it. STAY ABOVE THE CLOUD: CHOOSE THE CLOUD ALTERNATIVE. If your business relies on the Internet and you don t want to hire your own technical operations staff or be your own Internet plumber, there is really only one choice: dedicated managed hosting, or OaaS. This option takes care of every aspect of running a technical operations department, providing better performance, service and uptime than cloud alternatives. The view from above the cloud is clear. Learn more about Peak Hosting today. *Spiceworks Voice of IT survey deployed to 122 US IT pros on behalf of Peak Hosting, July 2014 The Smart Alternative to DIY Infrastructure or Cloud Services 7