This is not a simple answer
Every IT company wants to push you towards cloud because it is easier for them to manage and the recurring revenue is predictable. But the honest truth is that cloud is not always the right answer, especially in parts of Somerset where broadband is still unreliable. Let us go through when each option makes sense.
When cloud is the obvious choice
For many Somerset businesses, cloud services are clearly the better option. This is especially true if:
- Your team works from multiple locations or has remote workers. Cloud services are accessible from anywhere with an internet connection.
- You have good broadband. If your office is in Taunton, Bridgwater, Yeovil, or another town with reliable fibre connectivity, cloud works well.
- You want to avoid large upfront costs. Cloud services are operational expenditure (monthly bills) rather than capital expenditure (buying a server for several thousand pounds).
- You do not have the space or environment for a server. Servers need a cool, secure room. Many smaller offices simply do not have one.
- You want automatic updates and maintenance handled by someone else.
For email, Microsoft 365 is hard to argue against at this point. The reliability, spam filtering, and integration with Teams and SharePoint make it a sensible choice for almost everyone.
When on-site still makes sense
Despite the push towards cloud, there are legitimate reasons to keep some infrastructure on-site.
Poor broadband. This is the big one for Somerset. If your office is out on the Levels, up on Exmoor, or in any of the rural areas between the main towns, your broadband might be 10 Mbps on a good day. Running your entire business through the cloud on a slow or unreliable connection is miserable. Files take ages to open, video calls drop out, and productivity suffers.
Specific compliance requirements. Some regulated industries require data to be stored in specific ways or locations. While cloud providers can meet most compliance requirements, some businesses feel more comfortable knowing exactly where their data sits.
Large file handling. If your business works with large files (architectural drawings, video production, CAD files, large datasets), transferring these to and from the cloud constantly is slow and frustrating. Local storage with cloud backup is often a better approach.
Line-of-business applications. Some older business applications were not designed to run in the cloud. If your accounting software, stock management system, or industry-specific application needs a local server, you might not have a choice until the vendor offers a cloud version.
The hybrid approach
Most businesses in Somerset end up with a hybrid setup, and that is perfectly fine. A typical arrangement might look like this:
- Microsoft 365 for email, Teams, and basic document collaboration in the cloud.
- A local server or NAS device for fast access to large files and line-of-business applications.
- Cloud backup of your local server so you have an offsite copy of everything.
- Cloud-based security tools (email filtering, endpoint protection) that work regardless of where your staff are.
This gives you the flexibility of cloud where it works well and the performance of local storage where you need it. It is not as clean as a pure cloud setup, but it reflects reality for a lot of businesses.
The connectivity factor
Somerset has a real split when it comes to broadband. The towns along the M5 corridor generally have good fibre coverage. Taunton, Bridgwater, and the business parks around junction 24 and 25 typically get decent speeds. Yeovil and the A303 corridor are reasonable too.
But step outside those areas and it is a different story. Parts of Exmoor still struggle to get above 5 Mbps. The Somerset Levels have patchy coverage. Villages between the main towns can be hit or miss. If your business is in one of these areas, a pure cloud strategy is not practical right now.
Before making any decision, check what broadband speeds you can actually get, not what the provider advertises. Run speed tests at different times of day. Talk to neighbouring businesses about their experience. And have a plan for what happens when the internet goes down, because it will.
Cost comparison
Let us look at rough costs for a 20-person business.
On-site server: A decent small business server costs between 3,000 and 8,000 pounds, plus installation and configuration (another 1,000 to 2,000 pounds). It will last four to five years before you need to replace it. Add ongoing maintenance and monitoring at maybe 200 to 400 pounds per month. Over five years, you are looking at roughly 16,000 to 34,000 pounds.
Cloud equivalent: Hosting your files and applications in the cloud might cost 500 to 1,500 pounds per month depending on what you need. Over five years, that is 30,000 to 90,000 pounds. Cloud can be more expensive in the long run, but you avoid the big upfront cost and you get redundancy, disaster recovery, and scalability built in.
Neither option is universally cheaper. It depends on what you need, how fast you are growing, and how important uptime and disaster recovery are to your business.
Making the decision
Start with your broadband. If it is poor and unlikely to improve soon, lean towards keeping critical systems local with cloud backup. If it is solid, lean towards cloud with local devices for anything that needs fast performance.
Talk to your IT provider about what actually makes sense for your situation rather than what their margin is best on. A good provider will give you an honest recommendation even if it means less recurring revenue for them.