The Benefits of Virtual Data Centres for Businesses

With 88% of businesses in the UK utilising cloud services at various levels, more attention is being paid to IT systems and infrastructure than ever before. A Virtual Data Centre, also known as a VDC, is the virtual equivalent of building a real physical data centre. VDCs were created as a way of scaling, to support enterprise workloads, and to deal with the problems introduced when supporting large-scale applications in the public cloud. VDCs are not just the application workloads in the cloud but also the network, management, security and infrastructure. They also usually provide a private connection back to an on-premises network or data centre. The best way to think of a Virtual Data Centre is as an all-encompassing collection of cloud services designed for enterprise users.

Whilst both the public cloud and physical data centres have their uses, with the surge in cloud-based computing as a whole, it is time all organisation looked into the benefits of virtual data centres.

Improve business

Businesses which have a stagnant IT infrastructure, or one that struggles to evolve or grow, often cannot keep up with competitors, respond to market opportunities or adapt to customer demands.

The cloud has been harnessed by many businesses due to its ability for greater business agility and virtual data centres are built on this same capability. Their functionality has allowed organisations worldwide to surpass competitors, get products out more quickly, meet compliance laws and expand appropriately.

Overhead reduction

Traditional data centres need 24/7 management, eating into the time of business IT teams, whose time could be better spent. Furthermore, IT specialists come at a price. Virtual data centres remove the need to spend on extra specialist staff whilst freeing up your internal IT team and putting money back into the organisation’s budget.

Business continuity

Unless you are part of the IT team, the best IT infrastructure is the one nobody talks about. Silence means that the service in place is providing a seamless and uninterrupted experience. Whilst some organisations with physical data centres can struggle when the system goes down, virtual data centres provide higher levels of uptime.

Carbon footprint

With more and more companies taking the green approach to business, many are moving towards virtual data centres. Not only does this mean you will be reducing the carbon footprint left on the planet by your company but also improve relations with customers who will be impressed by such a commitment to caring for the environment.

Disaster recovery

From fires, flooding and robberies to hackers and ransomware attacks, traditional data centres are at risk of it all. Whilst virtual data centres aren’t immune to disasters, they are monitored every hour of every day by expert staff and engineers who are ready to jump in should they be needed. Many issues can be halted in their tracks, preventing a disaster from occurring. Furthermore, the time it takes to get back up and running after an event is much quicker.

Cloud migration

If your business isn’t fully operating in the cloud yet, a move to a virtual data centre is a great first step into migrating your business to full cloud services. Many organisations find that the virtual machines and virtual technology help them form a cloud-based mindset, which is particularly useful for members of staff who are used to dealing with physical IT infrastructure.