The popularity of cloud solutions has made businesses think that hardware is no longer needed. Many services and software products are based on the concept of renting resources rather than owning them, but this does not mean that you can completely avoid investing in hardware. Even if you only use software, you still need hardware to run it. A software-focused business will struggle to gain traction and grow, while a hardware-centric business will struggle to thrive due to the needs of a software-driven world. In essence, it’s all about balance. Let’s see why…
Software is not enough
Before digging into why you must have the right hardware, such as computers and headsets, let’s make sure that you are using software effectively. If you use software but do not have the right hardware, your software will definitely not be enough. You have probably heard about the 80% rule: if you spend 20% of your time on a project, 80% of the result is achieved by the software and only 20% by the people. If you want to get 90% results (and thus maximise employee efficiency), you need to decrease your team’s efforts by 10% – and this comes in the form of effective software which aids the member of staff to complete the task in a shorter time period. If your software is not performing, it’s very likely that you need to upgrade your hardware. The software is doing its job, but the hardware is not powerful enough to serve it. Whenever your team is spending more than 20% of their time on tasks related to the infrastructure, it’s time to look for a hardware upgrade.
Hardware is often needed to run software
Let’s start with the basics: hardware is the stuff you can physically touch and put inside a computer case. Software is a collection of instructions that are executed by a computer’s processor. Hardware and software are two separate entities and must be used together to perform any tasks. The only exception is software that runs in an embedded environment, meaning that it is designed to run on a single device. A simple example would be a website that needs to be hosted. You can install a web server software on a computer (software), but you will also need a powerful computer (hardware) with a large enough hard drive to store your website’s files.
Hardware supports software with its infrastructure
It is common to see hardware and software companies competing for attention and investment, but hardware is actually essential to software companies. Computers and networking hardware manage different tasks in the background that are essential for software to work. Some of these hardware-managed tasks are:
– Security – Hardware is used to protect your data and perform tasks such as monitoring for malicious software and blocking unauthorized access.
– Storage – Hard drives and other types of storage hardware are essential for storing your data and software.
– Bandwidth – Hardware manages the flow of data across the internet and determines how fast your cloud services work.
If you want to run a business and enjoy advantages that software offers, you need hardware that can support software. If your hardware is too old or underpowered, it will not be able to perform the tasks above, which will affect your software cyclically.
Cloud services are only as fast and reliable as their hardware infrastructure
Another reason why you cannot forget about hardware is that, no matter how modern your software is, it can never be as fast and reliable as the hardware it is hosted on. Let’s say that you use a cloud-based service to host your website. A cloud-based service is a service that is hosted on a remote server that you don’t own. You pay for the service by the hour or month, and you have no control over the hardware that the service runs on. Now, let’s say that the service’s hardware is outdated and slow. If your website is hosted on this service, it will not be as fast as it could be, and your users will experience this. You will not be able to fully experience the advantages of your software.
Without the right hardware, your cloud investment is meaningless
Let’s say that you decided to host your website on a cloud-based service that is reliable and offers high performance, but you didn’t consider the hardware it runs on. Your investment in the service is meaningless, because you are not getting what you pay for. Let’s take the same example and add one more piece of information: the service’s hardware is outdated and too slow to support your website’s needs. If you choose this service, it will work, but you will not be able to fully enjoy the advantages of your software. In the best-case scenario, your website will be slower than it should be, which can negatively impact your business. In the worst-case scenario, your website will crash and not work at all, leaving you without a digital business.
Summing up
Hardware is an essential part of any software-centric business, and Business Headsets knows the importance of durable, effective hardware. It is used to run software and host cloud-based services, but it is also used by its infrastructure to protect, store, and manage data. Without the right hardware, your software will not be as fast or reliable as it should be. To fully enjoy the advantages of your software, you need to select hardware that supports it. The popularity of cloud solutions has made businesses think that hardware is no longer needed. Many services and software products are based on the concept of renting resources rather than owning them, but this does not mean that you can completely avoid investing in hardware. Even if you only use software, you still need hardware to run it – which is where we come in.