Business today looks a lot different than it did even five years ago for the approximately 33 million US SMBs. The pandemic and the mass shift to remote work have made businesses even more reliant on computer technology than ever before.
Of course, that reliance on computer technology also means that businesses have ever more data that they must store. Of course, new business owners often down know about the various data storage solutions out there.
If you need a good data storage solution, keep reading for some of your top choices.
1. Private Storage
Private storage generally refers to storage solutions that you control in-house. There are three main choices here:
- Local storage
- Network-attached storage
- Storage area network
Local storage refers to things like the onboard drives in computers and servers or detachable USB drives. Network-attached storage refers to an in-house storage device that employees access via the business network.
A storage area network is when you have many storage devices connected. Employees can access that data remotely through the network.
You can head here to see more on SAN storage solutions.
2. Public Storage
Public storage means using third-party services or locations for data storage. There are two main approaches to public storage: cloud storage and co-location storage.
With cloud storage, you quite literally rent space on a third-party’s servers to store your data. This has advantages, as third-party services take up things like maintenance costs and keeping security updated. It also means you can reduce the amount of tech you support on-site.
Cloud data storage is often the best of the big data storage solutions.
With co-location, things are a little different. Instead of renting space on a server, you rent physical space inside a third-party business for your storage hardware. These third-party businesses are usually data centers of some kind.
Once you rent the space, you set up and maintain your own hardware.
3. Hybrid Storage
Hybrid storage is something of a mix between private and public storage solutions. In most cases, it means using on-site data storage devices and cloud data storage.
The exact implementation depends on your needs. For example, you might keep sensitive customer data on your private storage devices. Cloud storage can act as storage for other business data you want but don’t necessarily need access to all the time.
Data Storage Solutions and You
Picking the right data storage solutions isn’t always easy. For example, some businesses prefer cloud storage to manage costs and maintenance needs. Other companies might choose private storage to preserve data security.
You must analyze the nature of your data, your budget, and the level of in-house tech skills available. Cloud storage may make the most sense if you run on a limited budget or have limited tech skills in-house. On the other hand, private storage is often the way to go if you have data you must protect.
