Using Proxies for Business: Is It Worth It?
When you identify and subsequently connect your company to a reputable proxy server provider, you’ll get to appreciate the value that it will bring to you, your employees, and your business in general.
As a matter of fact, you’ll even enjoy unfathomable peace of mind because, for one, your existing company servers will no longer strain – if you’ve observed them struggling before – under the normal internet traffic load. Why? Because your proxy server provider will distribute the internet traffic among several servers, subsequently increasing connection speed due to added bandwidth.
This is just one possible outcome of using a proxy server. And there are numerous others. But before imparting to you why proxies are worth it for your business, why not first tell you what a proxy is, because by now you must be curious?
What is a Proxy?
A proxy server is an intermediary; it’s a computer (server) located elsewhere, but whose communication with your computer is dependent on installing the proxy server software on your end. Upon going through the foundational processes and subsequently using the proxy server ecosystem, the proxy server routes your web requests through its computer(s), assigns the web requests a new IP address, and ultimately directs them to the target website/web host.
Advantages of Proxy Servers
Security
The security arises from the fact that all proxy servers assign your web requests a new IP address. As such, with proxy servers – from reputable providers – you need not worry about hackers who may cause a data breach that would cost your company a lot of money and a damaged reputation.
Proxies act as a buffer or firewall that delays any malicious attacks since attackers don’t have direct access to your real IP address. Without the actual IP address, they can’t access your company’s network. The experts at Smartproxy can explain how this is especially useful for businesses that handle sensitive data, such as financial information or personal information of clients. Further, since the proxy server assigns a new IP address for every request, tracking your company’s web usage patterns is next to impossible. And this is useful if you’re trying to avoid prying eyes.
Furthermore, some providers have instituted security measures that scan threats, subsequently enhancing your security.
Anonymity and Privacy
The new (assigned) IP addresses anonymize your company’s computing infrastructure. As such, when using a proxy, you are assured of anonymity, particularly when conducting sensitive tasks. In the same vein, you need not worry about your real IP address getting banned or blacklisted, especially when you’re scraping websites.
Protect against server crashes
A website’s server crashes when it receives too many web requests. And there is nothing a customer loathes more than a situation where a website goes down when they’re using it. Though it might be unprecedented, some customers may not be so understanding. This may influence them to look for services elsewhere.
Fortunately, proxy servers mitigate against such problems by distributing traffic among multiple servers. They work on the principle of redundancy, in that various servers around the world store your website’s content. As a result, a user visiting your site from a particular location will be connected to the nearest server. The existence of servers in different parts of the world ensures that the traffic is well-distributed and won’t choke the single server you have at your business premises.
Faster Connection
The use of the provider’s servers, which in most cases are pretty fast – as is the case with data center proxies – implies that your customers will enjoy these fast loading speeds. Notably, the servers achieve high speeds because they give every user more bandwidth than would have been the case sans the proxy servers.
Control Website Access
The corporate world is always all about productivity, which partly depends on the websites that the employees can access. Also, some websites may have malicious content, which may expose your company’s network to malware. With proxy servers, you can control the websites that can be accessed.
Why Should Businesses Consider Proxy Servers?
The advantages detailed above are quite broad and can even apply to individual users. This necessitates the focus on businesses and why proxy servers are a worthy investment for businesses.
Securing email Communications
Email communication is ubiquitous among companies. It’s the go-to mode for official and even sensitive communications. It follows that emails are a hub of information that could be targeted by malicious individuals through phishing attacks and eavesdropping.
Residential and data center proxies, which are the best for securing email communication, offer this protection by:
- Helping to filter malicious emails
- Helping to check for harmful links.
Protective Buffer
Proxy servers are a protective buffer between your company’s computing infrastructure and the internet. By using them, you’re essentially limiting your traceability online. As a result, it becomes harder for attackers to get a hold of your real IP address in order to gain access to your network.
Improved Speeds
Proxy servers significantly improve speeds because the servers avail more bandwidth per IP address. Even in cases where multiple visitors are using the same server (IP address), the speeds won’t throttle down.
Final word
The benefits of proxy servers for businesses are quite a number. They make paying for the service somewhat of a necessity. As such, don’t be left behind.