As we all know, what a particular business achieves day-to-day, on behalf of its customers and for internal purposes, is not all conducted by the company itself. Using third-party vendors and suppliers is reasonable for tasks with the following characteristics:
- require niche expertise;
- use a sophisticated infrastructure;
- and/or don’t fulfill the needs of a cost-benefit analysis (in other words, that are unnecessarily costly to be performed by the business itself).
One aspect of business that is often entrusted to external companies is web hosting and affiliated technology-related needs. Specifically, many companies choose to lease Windows 2012, using it either within a dedicated architecture (preferred by some businesses) or cloud VPS environment (more affordable and popular).
There’s a tendency among savvy businesspeople to want to accrue as many assets as possible for their business. That gameplan makes sense in some situations, but it’s not the wisest choice in others, financially or strategically. Let’s explore this topic of leasing versus owning broadly, considering why it’s popular in the automotive world (per The Motley Fool) and looking at the cost-effectiveness of hosting a website out of your home (per The Guardian).
When leasing is the right choice
First let’s look at leasing versus buying in general, using the example of the car market, and then relate it back to leasing a Windows 2012 VPS.
A JD Power report released in July 2013 found that more than one in every five US-sold cars – 23% – were being leased rather than purchased outright. Leasing has one particularly strong negative: you don’t develop equity, so you are basically just renting in the same sense you would office space or an apartment. Motley Fool blog contributor Sean Williams suggests three situations in which leasing is the best choice:
1. When money doesn’t matter
Obviously in this case you will be paying into a car without developing an ownership stake, so you won’t be able to collect on it as a trade-in when you get a new car. You could also be responsible for extra-warranty repairs and mileage fees above a certain number designated in the contract. You will, however, be able to drive a new car every year or two, which certainly has its perks.
Your upfront payment is reduced a bit from the typical down payment if you are buying. With a new car, you also won’t have to be inconvenienced with trips to the mechanic. You also don’t need to worry about selling the car or worrying about the generally poor resale values of luxury cars.
2. Access to first-generation features without the investment
Another situation in which leasing can be the right choice is when you want access to the cutting-edge technologies and innovative styles of a first-generation car (an aspect that has particular relevance to Windows VPS hosting – see below). New cars themselves that are the first generations of a model are not great investments, as evidenced by an MSN report. The MSN analysis argues that electric car shoppers should lease rather than buy, so that the car isn’t made obsolete by future versions (a scenario experienced by Chevy Volt owners, due to improvements to charging and price reduction of the new Volt).
3. Need a new car, but can’t afford the payments
Of course the idea of “needing” a new car is slippery – since it’s often conspicuous consumption more than fulfilling a necessity. Nonetheless, if you feel a new car is essential, but you aren’t prepared for the high payments (down or monthly), leasing could be your best choice. Auto pricing company Edmunds.com released a study last year revealing that the average monthly payment for cars purchased with loans was $464, while the payment on a leased vehicle was $418 (a different payment model from Windows VPS hosting – see below).
Relationship to Windows 2012 leasing
As you can see, leasing is not always unwise. In fact, the above information makes it clear that it’s generally the best tactic with first-generation cars. Additionally, it gives you access to strong features. That’s really what leasing Windows 2012 through a cloud VPS is about: giving your business access to cutting-edge hardware, security, and platforms without a high upfront investment or ongoing maintenance concerns.
Like leasing a car, you are also less tied to a particular system. You can change your mind and switch to a different version of Microsoft, or even transition to a Linux server.
One way in which Windows cloud VPS hosting is different from leasing a car, as established above, is that you only pay for what you use with the former. Unlike a fixed monthly payment when leasing a car, you only pay for the max resources used each hour (or each second, for lower rates, as with our Windows VPS environments).
What about buying your own server?
It’s reasonable for an entrepreneur or startup to consider getting their own dedicated server and setting up a hosting environment internally for their website and applications. However, typically it’s not the best choice, says IT expert and journalist Jack Schofield of The Guardian, due to the following traits of professional web hosting companies:
- they can host a website more affordably than an individual can;
- their speed will likely be better than a self-hosted environment; and
- their uptime and general reliability will also typically be superior.
Essentially that means your leased version of Windows 2012, the operating system for your cloud VPS, can be expected to be faster, operate with better consistency, and the more affordable than buying the operating system and installing it on your own server.
Windows VPS hosting you can trust
Beyond the decision to lease or own your operating system, if you do use a web hosting company for some of your needs, you will want one that’s both affordable and reputable. Atlantic.Net has been in business since 1994, winning awards throughout our 20 years in business from media outlets including Entrepreneur and Inc.. Sign up for Windows 2012 VPS hosting today.
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