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Seville, Spain
Seville, Spain
+(34) 624 816 969
by ForgeNEX Just yesterday, I came across a classic case. A client, an engineering consultancy here in La Cartuja, called us in desperation. 'The marketing team can't find anything in Teams, the engineers complain that the VPN to access the server is extremely slow from home, and management doesn't understand why we're paying for two things that do the same thing.'
This is the technological civil war that SMEs are experiencing today. It's not a battle of 'good' vs. 'bad,' but one of operational philosophies.
On one side, we have the Microsoft Ecosystem (OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams). It's the 'all-inclusive' package. By subscribing to Microsoft 365 for email and Office, the company gives you 'free' (included in the price) one terabyte per user in OneDrive and massive storage in SharePoint, all stitched together by the Teams interface. It's the realm of collaboration and universal accessibility.
On the other side, we have NAS (Network Attached Storage), with Synology and QNAP as the undisputed kings. It's the 'castle.' A physical box, yours, in your office. With hard drives that you buy, manage, and control. It's the realm of local speed, ownership, and absolute control.
For years, NAS was the logical solution for centralizing files. But, does it still hold up in a world defined by remote work and real-time collaboration? Let's break it down.
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Let's start with the basics: how fast do I access my files?
If you're in the office, there's no debate. A NAS connected to a 1 Gigabit (or even 10 Gigabit, if you've modernized) local network is unbeatable. Opening a 500 MB AutoCAD drawing, a Premiere Pro project, or a massive Access database is instantaneous. The speed of the local network is simply brutal. NAS is the king of bulk data.
Now, what about the Microsoft Ecosystem? OneDrive and SharePoint run on 'the cloud' (i.e., Microsoft's servers, which are somewhere in Europe, probably Ireland or the Netherlands). Your access speed depends on two factors: the fiber you have contracted and the status of Microsoft's servers.
Even with a symmetric 1 Gbps fiber, latency and the service's own management make moving that same 500 MB file... slower. Let's be honest, the OneDrive sync client has improved tremendously (thanks to 'Files On-Demand,' which only downloads what you use), but we've all suffered that 'syncing...' icon that won't go away.
And from home? Here, the tables turn.
To access the office NAS from your home in Tomares, you need a VPN. And VPNs, by definition, are often a bottleneck. They depend on the office router, the office's upload bandwidth (which is usually the forgotten one), and security settings. Accessing that 500 MB drawing via VPN can be death by despair.
In contrast, accessing that same file in SharePoint or OneDrive from home is... as fast (or slow) as from the office. Because you're accessing the cloud directly. You don't go through the office. The system is designed to be remote.
Operational Verdict (Speed):
For local work with very heavy files (video, CAD, design): NAS wins by a landslide... as long as you're in the office.
For hybrid/remote work with office documents: The cloud (M365) is infinitely smoother.
This is where the scale tips dramatically.
The Microsoft Ecosystem isn't about storing files; it's about working with them. The keyword is co-authoring. The possibility of three people simultaneously modifying the same Excel, seeing each other's changes in real time, while commenting in Teams in a chat pinned to that same file, is black magic for any company.
This has finally killed the infamous 'Excel_vFinal_v2_Definitive_Juan.xlsx.' With SharePoint and OneDrive, the file is unique. Version control is automatic and robust. You can 'rewind' a document to how it was last Tuesday at 10:03.
And NAS? Synology has made a titanic effort to replicate this with Synology Drive and Synology Office. And, hey, for a private solution, it's not bad at all. It allows Dropbox-like synchronization (a folder on your PC that syncs with the NAS) and has a basic document editor.
But let's be honest: it's not the same. Synology Office's co-authoring is slower, less integrated, and doesn't have the power of Excel or Word. And Synology Drive's synchronization, while functional, doesn't have the operating system-level integration that OneDrive has.
The operational problem with NAS is file locking. If you work directly on the network drive (the mythical 'Z:'), the first one to open the Excel 'locks' the file for others. The rest can only open it in 'Read-Only.' This, in 2025, is an anachronism that hinders productivity.
Operational Verdict (Collaboration):
Microsoft 365 wins by technical knockout. It's designed for this. The integration of Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive is, today, the standard for business collaboration.
Okay, the cloud is cool for collaboration, but... who owns my data?
This is where NAS advocates puff out their chests, and rightly so. With a Synology, the data is yours. Physically. It's in your office, on hard drives you've bought. No one can cut off your access (unless they cut your power, of course).
You manage the permissions. You decide who enters and who doesn't. If you decide to stop paying tomorrow... nothing happens, the NAS keeps working. Your data is still there. This is called data sovereignty. For sectors like legal, healthcare, or strategic consulting, knowing exactly where sensitive information resides (and that it's not on a server in the U.S., subject to the Cloud Act) is vital.
Now, let's go to the cloud. With Microsoft 365, you're renting a service. Your data is on Microsoft's servers. If you stop paying the subscription, after a grace period, Microsoft will delete your data. Forever.
And then there's security. Is the cloud secure? Yes, incredibly secure. Microsoft spends billions a year on security that you could never afford (MFA, threat detection, geographic redundancy...). But, at the same time, your data is exposed to the internet by definition. A successful phishing attack, stolen credentials, and an attacker can have access to your entire SharePoint.
NAS, on the other hand, is 'safe' on your local network... or is it? If you don't update it, if you have weak passwords, if you open ports to the outside carelessly (never do that!), it's candy for ransomware.
Operational Verdict (Control and Security):
NAS (Synology): Wins in ownership and data sovereignty. You're the owner of the castle. But you're also solely responsible for maintaining the walls.
M365: Wins in passive security and resilience (it's almost impossible for Microsoft to lose data). But you lose control and ownership. You're a tenant in a hyper-secure palace.
Let's talk money.
A decent Synology NAS for an SME (a 4 or 5-bay model) plus hard drives (always NAS/Enterprise grade, please) and a UPS, can mean an initial outlay (CAPEX) of between €1,000 and €2,500. From there, the 'cost per gigabyte' is very low and the software is 'free.' Note the quotes: it's not free. It uses electricity (little, but 24/7), requires maintenance (updates), and the drives will die in 3-5 years and need replacing.
The Microsoft Ecosystem works on a subscription model (OPEX). A Business Standard plan can cost about €11.60 per user/month. If you have 20 employees, that's €232 per month. Every month. Forever.
The trap is that many companies are already paying for this. If you use Exchange Online email and have the desktop Office, you most likely already have 1TB of OneDrive and access to SharePoint in your license. Many companies have an expensive NAS and, at the same time, are paying for cloud storage they don't use!
Operational Verdict (Cost):
In the short term, if you already pay for M365, using its cloud is 'free.'
In the long term, NAS seems cheaper because it's a one-time payment, but the total cost of ownership (TCO), adding maintenance and renewal, is closer than it seems. The cloud is predictable; NAS is an initial investment.
At this point, you might be thinking: 'Forgenex, so... what do I do?'
Well, the answer we're implementing in most SMEs, and which is proving to be the most robust, isn't 'one or the other.' It's both.
The mistake is thinking they're competitors. In 2025, NAS has found its true calling: being the security and performance partner of the cloud.
Here are two winning operational scenarios:
Use the Cloud (SharePoint/Teams) for everything alive: All office documents, shared Excels, marketing department PowerPoints, proposals... everything that requires collaboration and remote access, goes to the cloud.
Use NAS for everything heavy or 'dead': Does the design department work with 80GB video files? Let them work on the NAS for speed. The billing history from 2005 to 2015? To NAS, as an archive. Local server backups? To NAS.
This is the best. Did you know Microsoft doesn't back up your M365 data?
Wait, what?
As you hear it. Microsoft gives you redundancy (if a disk breaks in their data center, your data is on another) but not backup. If an employee deletes a SharePoint folder by mistake (or maliciously) and you don't notice until after 90 days (the recycle bin limit), that data is lost forever. If ransomware encrypts your OneDrive, Microsoft can't 'restore you to yesterday.'
This is where modern NAS comes in. Synology has a free application called 'Active Backup for Microsoft 365'.
What this marvel does is connect to your Microsoft account and make a complete and local backup, on your NAS, of EVERYTHING: Exchange emails, calendars, contacts, all OneDrive files from all users, and all SharePoint libraries.
Suddenly, the 'NAS vs. Cloud' discussion disappears.
Your daily operations (collaboration, remote) are handled by Microsoft's Cloud, which is the best at that.
Your security and ownership (backup, the 'offline' copy) are handled by the Synology NAS, which gives you physical control of your data.
You have the best of both worlds. You have the agility of the cloud and the data sovereignty of the local castle.
So next time you find yourself looking at that 'box' in the rack and thinking about retiring it, or looking at the Microsoft bill and thinking if it's too expensive, take a breath.
The debate is no longer about where you store the file, but how you work with it. For agile collaboration and remote work, the M365 ecosystem is unbeatable. But for local speed, heavy file management, and, above all, for having a real and tangible backup of your cloud, that Synology NAS remains your best ally.
The future wasn't 100% cloud. The future, like life itself, is hybrid.