Windows Server Brings Manageability and Productivity to Businesses

  • Article

For small and mid-sized businesses, the expanded capabilities of Windows Server 2012 provide significant benefits that far outweigh the investment, keeping the focus on growth.

Nick_Parker

By Nick Parker, CVP WW OEM Division

If you’re assessing whether to switch to a Windows Server system or upgrade from an older version, chances are you just want your IT to do more, and do it more efficiently.

Just last week we hosted 30 entrepreneurs on the Microsoft campus at the Dell Small Business Think Tank. In the session on technology they shared their goals for further embracing new devices in the workplace, increasing collaboration and improving security for the cloud. Small businesses want to grow their businesses. They don’t wake up in the morning and think “I need a server” yet it is a server that would ultimately help them with these business challenges and allow them to focus on driving results, not managing IT.

The good news is we’ve been working on the Windows Server family for the past decade and continue to add capabilities that businesses tell us they need. Today the benefits of upgrading to Windows Server 2012 can far outweigh the investment. Here are some of the most impactful ways it will help the technology and the business run smoothly:

  • Consolidate, modernize and standardize an IT infrastructure
  • Reduce operational costs, increase efficiency and improve productivity
  • Get cloud-ready
  • Scale to accommodate growth
  • Implement cost-effective backup and disaster recovery solutions
  • Allow for secure remote access and virtual workspaces, and extend IT to branch officesProto-Tablet

In the OEM Division, we work with hardware partners to bring Windows devices to market, including a range of Windows Servers and solutions for business customers. Several of our top OEM partners have server and systems packages that allow a business to upgrade from the point of customer contact all the way through to the back office and some will even manage it for you:

  • HP offers quite a menu of products and services that can be combined into packages, including outsourced IT support and a comprehensive bring-your-own-device networking package so employees can securely use their own smart phones, tablets and more to do their work.
  • Dell has an array of powerful servers and services, from small rack systems all the way to the cloud. The company also offers management software and services to help automate essential tasks like deploying, updating, monitoring and maintaining systems.
  • IBM can bring the entire spectrum of processing, storage and networking technologies at whatever scale your business requires.
  • Fujitsu produces some of the most cutting-edge servers out there today, including their Primergy line, which offers a range of flexible hardware and services to suit almost any business.

In addition, Microsoft has a network of thousands of partners worldwide who can help almost any business transform their infrastructure with state of the art hardware and implementation services.

The upshot is this: for any small or mid-size business looking to increase its competitiveness, making the move to Windows Server 2012 can increase employee productivity, reduce the time and costs associated with IT management and help keep critical data safe.