Virtualization provides a number of benefits to small and medium businesses. These benefits can range from lowering operational costs, increasing IT efficiency and improving security.
Increasing IT Operational Efficiency - In a VMware survey, 73% of SMBs that have implemented virtualization have reported significant productivity gains. This is because virtualization decouples the operating system and business software applications from hardware, allowing workloads to be spread more efficiently among fewer physical servers.
Lowering Costs – Virtualization can help you reduce your energy and hardware costs. It is more efficient to run multiple virtual machines on a single server than a dedicated physical server because the resources are shared, reducing your power and cooling needs.
Increased Flexibility – A virtual machine can be easily configured to match the needs of different users within your business. You can expand or shrink the VM to meet new demands, while still maintaining access to the data files.
Improved Productivity – Virtualization helps companies get more work done with fewer resources by letting staff access their desktops and programs from anywhere. Client virtualization, or desktop virtualization, allows workers to simulate an entire OS on their own laptops or tablets, even if they don’t have a full-blown computer at home or in the office.
Minimizing Downtime – With virtual machines, you can perform backups throughout the day and take snapshots to keep critical data safe. Moreover, you can move your VMs between servers and redeploy them more quickly when a server dies.