How Important Is Location When Choosing a Data Centre?
Digital transformation helps established, and emerging businesses respond to the challenges of a growing workforce and an ever-evolving market. One crucial step in this transition is renting space on cloud servers from a data centre. Data centres allow companies to store, manage, process, secure, access, and share valuable data assets for their everyday operations.
If you’re a business owner doing your initial research on the benefits of a data centre and how to hire one, there are several factors you need to consider.
These factors include reliability, network service capacity, reputation, security, and flexibility. Aside from these, there’s one final component you shouldn’t take for granted: location.
Why Data Centre Location Matters
Location is an essential consideration when choosing a data centre. Paying less for a data centre located a continent away from your business is tempting, but you’ll miss out on some key benefits.
The following sections will tell you why.
Customer Experience
Data centres within the same region and time zone provide fast and lag-free connectivity to improve customer experience dramatically. If the data centre that manages your servers is far from your market’s location, it will take time for the information and data to reach your users. The distance can cause annoying delays and latency issues. Offshore data centres can slow your website down and disrupt your services.
In the digital world, speed matters a lot as modern customers have short attention spans. Businesses compete for this limited attention. A slow system will not only lose you money; it will likely lose you a customer.
Geographical Risks and Hazards
When you hire a data centre, you rely on their expertise and infrastructure to store, secure, and manage your valuable data and operational assets. These assets are the very essence of your business. Lose both, and everything you’ve worked for is gone for good.
That’s why choosing a data centre located in a safe and strategic site, away from natural and geographic hazards, is non-negotiable.
It’s also risky to use data centres in regions constantly at the mercy of typhoons, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other unpredictable natural calamities. Although some data centres have developed a durable infrastructure to counter these hazards, hiring these companies means clients must pay more to account for these fortifications.
Support and Accessibility
A partnership with a data centre close to your headquarters can save you time and money. A server provider close by ensures that regular maintenance, upgrades, and site visits are accessible and easily completed.
Most importantly, this prompt support and accessibility to technical specialists can shorten downtimes and prevent losses.
In summary, choosing the right data centre location provides several benefits. You can improve customer experience, protect valuable data assets, and ensure time and money-saving support, especially when you need it the most.
Before you decide on where to set up your servers, take your time and consider these factors. Your decision today will determine the success of your business in the modern, digitalised future.
