Across just about every industry, companies are spending billions on tech and trying to outdo the competition.
Year after year, the amount of data that both customers and companies store is ballooning. If you’re looking to get an edge, you need a reliable service company for your web hosting needs.
Here are four things to look for when you’re trying to find the right hosting company for your services and products.
When you’re looking into web hosting services, you might think that what’s in the box is the most important thing for you to think about.
However, if you’re working on a project with a variety of stakeholders from different backgrounds, you need some help. Not everyone is going to have the same tech background even if they’re using the same tools, so you need people on hand to help.
Even the most skilled and well-trained staff members are going to face a learning curve when dealing with a new piece of software. It’s vital for them to have access to support no matter where they are on the planet, 24 hours a day.
When you have a team of talented people dispersed across the planet, you shouldn’t be punished because your software’s producer is located somewhere else.
You want to get more than just a digital chat window when you have a question about how your system interacts with their software. You never know how your tools are going to interact with the tools they the hosting company has put together. When your products and services are on the line, you don’t want to take any chances.
It’s also important that you know your customer and client data is safe and secure. If there’s an outage or you’re having trouble seeing data that should be there, someone should be able to hop on the line to help you immediately.
Every company wants the opportunity to grow and to change over time. Some companies grow and double their size. Other companies grow and the size of their staff shrinks as they automate and optimize their way of doing business.
When you need more comprehensive tools for hosting your data, you need to be able to add things at the click of a button or with a phone call. If your company has more space or more tools that you need, you likewise need to be able to scale down as soon as possible.
You also want to know that the hosting provider that you work with has a lot to offer beyond your initial setup. Some hosts have multiple data centres and energy-saving practices that help boost the ethics of your business while keeping your information moving fast.
With regular backups and staff who checks in with you to see that you’re getting the most out of your services, you’ll be able to get more out of them over time.
Look at all the features that every hosting service offers and compare it with your list of “must-haves” for any service provider. Look for an overlap that includes features beyond what you need at the bare minimum to be happy.
Whether you’re a tech-head or not, the hardware that a hosting service matters a lot. If they’re using outdated software or tools that aren’t compatible with what you rely on, then you’re going to be challenged working with them.
If you don’t know a lot about data centre technology, do some cursory searching online or ask a professional to help you.
The more information you go into your first meeting with, the better of a decision you’ll be able to make about your hosting provider. Just remember, when you get top-of-the-line hardware, you’re going to pay extra for that upkeep and maintenance.
Some companies won’t tell you up front what kind of servers they use. This should be something of a red flag. It’s vital for you to be able to find out what kind of tools your service provider is using, especially if you’re in the middle of an expansion.
You want to be able to buy tools that are compatible with what they’re using.
The hardware that any hosting provider uses should be something beyond what you could afford but that you would buy if you could afford it. Since you’re just renting out space on their system, it’ll be cheaper than buying but you’ll have all the stability of having state of the art server tech.
If you really want to get into the nitty-gritty details of what a company is about, you should read the reviews about them online.
Where once we only had the power of the yellow pages and our intuition, the internet tells us everything we need to know about a company and more. Thanks to tools like Yelp and Google My Business, we get the chance to learn everything we can about a business before we work with them.
Reviews pop up automatically now when you search for most businesses and service providers. When you look up the hosting provider you’re thinking of working with, look at what people are saying about them. Are current and former customers happy about what they’ve done?
You’ll find some insight into how quickly they respond to issues. You’ll see how they work when a customer encounters a problem and how the issue gets resolved.
When you find a reliable service company for your hosting needs, you ensure that you’re always ready for your customers. You never know when your customers are going to try to reach out for assistance, to order new products, or see what’s new with you. With the right service provider, you’re always there when they need you.
If you’re considering a free hosting service, check out our guide for why you should steer clear.
