So we have discussed a bit about the challenges facing small businesses with the coming end of server 2003 and Exchange 2003. No more all in one work horses like Small Business Server anymore, larger hardware needs to run and maintain multiple servers, and more complex and expensive licensing requirements. It seems at first take that certain large companies are just trying to make life more difficult and squeeze more money out of the working man. Or are they? Step back a second and maybe, just maybe they are wanting you to ask the question "Do I even really need a server?"
In a lot of cases the answer to that question is going to still be yes, but let's break things down a bit. In the past if you wanted your own Exchange for business email and calendaring you needed a server. Now you have Office 365 to manage that for you. In the past you needed a server to house shared data securely where they could also be safely backed up. Again, now you have Office 365 or other services like Drop Box for that. Want to have a secure internal IM solution? You used to need a separate server for that, now it comes with Office 365.
More and more business functions that used to rely on on-premise equipment have a hosted analog that works just as well if not better and doesn't require the business to maintain it. I expect to see a significant push from software vendors to move their clients to a hosted solution. QuickBooks is a leading example of this with their online offering. If all your business needs to run is email, file storage and QuickBooks, I would give serious thought to hosted solutions when it comes time to upgrade that mysterious black box that just sits in a corner and hums ominously.
It's not a good idea to simply leap without looking into the cloud, but with so many options it's an excellent time to evaluate hosted offerings for your business needs. Unless you have a line of business application that still wants a server or have strict compliance/security requirements, there are probably options that are good fits that don't require purchasing new server hardware. As for the other cases I mentioned, well there is an option for that too. But that's another post.
