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Is Intranet Hosting Right for your Organization?
It seems everything these days is being outsourced. It’s common to hear about intranet design, setup, or technical support being outsourced - but what about the entire intranet altogether? Much like buying a house versus renting it, this interesting twist on intranets is causing quite the stir in the intranet community.
What Outsourced Intranet Hosting Can Offer
Outsourcing an intranet offers a nice range of benefits. The first and foremost benefit of outsourcing an intranet is the sole fact you won’t have to deal with it. Security concerns, physical breakdowns, and upkeep costs can be forgotten - they won’t be of any concern. While this in itself is cause for celebration, it’s only the tip of the iceberg.
The first benefit that is to be seen is the reduced amount of initial investment. To obtain your own in-house intranet, it will either take a hefty sum of money or a creative reuse of already present resources. Instead of buying all the equipment outright, simply paying installation and activation fees is all that is necessary.
Outsourcing an intranet seems like it would be a poor choice in the long run, what with the monthly outsourcing expenses that would otherwise not be present. But if you think of it in terms of saved money from an IT staff, the switch is more than worth it. Most IT jobs are fairly well paid as well - meaning a nice chunk of savings will be present each year as a result.
Since the intranet is for the most part already built, and is under a constant watchful eye, focus can be put on software. An in-house intranet requires that both hardware and software be maintained. With the absence of the hardware aspect, intranet developers are free to focus on creating the next killer intranet application your company needs for success.
Nothing’s Perfect: What Intranet Hosting Fails on Delivering
The above mentioned benefits are something to marvel at. But before you sign the dotted line, there are a few drawbacks to outsourcing you should be made aware of.
The most important factor to consider is security. Technically, security updates and the like are covered by the company you choose to outsource with. But physical access to your intranet is given to the host’s employees - a possible security concern. While it shouldn’t be a problem since most intranet hosts likely deal with big corporations, it is still a valid concern to consider.
Next, we only have one way of entry into the intranet: remote entry. An intranet without internet access or remote entry enabled is essentially the most secured intranet you can get. Putting more emphasis on the remote entry aspect may lead to security breaches. All it takes is one employee to forget to logoff the intranet one time for an accident to happen.
Generally, there will be less choice present when shopping for intranet hosts. Since you are technically renting someone else’s hardware, you won’t be able to make the decision on which hardware you would prefer. Usually this isn’t a problem, since the host’s setup is likely quite compatible and stable.
In the long run it may be a poor decision to stick with an outsourced solution. If all goes well with an organization, they will continue to expand. This will, in turn, expand their upkeep costs with their host. As costs continue to raise it starts to become apparent that having an in-house solution would actually be less expensive.
Lastly, outsourcing means you won’t be able to respond to problems with your own discretion. You pay another company to make these decisions for you - and if a network crashes, you can only wait. This creates a sense of helplessness to the company as it is out of their control completely.
Practical Uses of 3rd Party Intranet Hosting
3rd part intranet hosting has some intriguing uses. First, it is great for a startup business to take a dive into the intranet world. It’s a great way to “test the waters” before the final plunge. It also works well for small businesses who can’t afford to pay an IT salary, but still have need for an intranet.
Lastly, a very useful application of 3rd party hosting concerns temporary storage. If your company is expanding its intranet design and is expected to have a week or two of downtime, contacting a 3rd party host is a great idea to keep the intranet up and running. This will keep efficiency up - and work still bustling.
Closing Comments
As previously stated, the best uses of the 3rd party intranet hosting are temporary. Long term intranet hosting may be applicable if your network isn’t growing and if the price agrees with your budget.
Just like outsourcing employees, for instance, the outsourcing comes at a cost. In the end it simply becomes a balancing act on the pros and cons scale - and of course the checkbook too.
