Every business likes to save money, and technology expenses can eat up significant capital each year. If you have dedicated servers, one way to keep costs low is to store your server(s) in-house rather than using a hosting provider. Many businesses wisely use colocation through a data center (which often also acts as a hosting service for other companies), though, to take advantage of higher-grade security, climate control, and disaster prevention capabilities.
A third and final option is to use managed hosting services. Though this solution is costlier than the above two options, it allows companies to focus on core business and let a team of tech professionals handle all the major aspects of server management. This option is popular with many IT managers who use our service Atlantic.net because of the various benefits detailed below.
What IT managers like about managed server packages
Boney Pandya compares managed servers to getting a warranty that includes regular servicing http://www.sitepoint.com/the-benefits-of-managed-hosting-for-small-business/ when you purchase a new vehicle. Here are a number of specific advantages:
Control – Using a managed service for a dedicated server is not in the same realm as shared hosting. A company that has strong server management capabilities gives you a great degree of control to customize the services you need. You should be able to pick and choose what aspects of server management you specifically need regarding security, storage, OS monitoring and upgrades, and the network.
Security – Security is a primary reason that IT managers choose managed server hosting. The reason hosting companies are often tasked to maintain security is the level of experience and amount of software at the fingertips of the engineers in a reputable hosting environment.
Getting hacked is not an option for hosting companies because of the damage it does to their reputations: a 2012 survey found that the opinions of 2 out of every 5 customers are negatively affected http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/survey-finds-40-percent-of-site-owners-change-opinion-of-web-host-after-hack (stunningly, 49% of those people became aware of the incident not through their hosting providers but from a browser warning that the site was infected). To avoid hacking, extensive resources are poured into protection.
Examples of security oversight and activity performed by a competent hosting service include the following:
- Audits on the security of your system
- Regular checks for malware
- Blocking email spam
- Configuration of firewalls (general and WAFs)
- OS patching.
Expertise – The expertise at a hosting company is not limited to security. Dirik Hameed notes that with a high-quality hosting provider, you should receive excellent support http://www.hostreview.com/blog/120229-the-pros-and-cons-of-managed-hosting-versus-self-managed-servers; and that really is fundamental to the relationship.
Just because you are entrusting the hosting service to manage the servers for you does not mean that you shouldn’t have your questions answered promptly and to your satisfaction. Because support in the tech industry can be terrible and cause great frustration, our company and others that really focus on support and have a significant advantage over the competition.
Affordable – Managed servers can be a great reduction in price for three main reasons:
- you have the option to lease the server;
- you no longer have to pay for additional in-house employees or contractors – or overload yourself or your current staff – as system and database administration become increasingly complex;
- less mistakes and tech problems lead to greater revenue and time spent focusing on your own service, solutions, and competition rather than the servers;
- having a third-party handle the expertise specific to the management of servers allows you to generally focus on your core business (see above); and
- no training is needed for your staff on aspects of the business now being handled by a managed server hosting company.
Storage – Managed server hosting allows you to take advantage of broader storage capacities and minimize your storage costs. Your storage needs as a company will fluctuate over time; as your business grows, reasonably, they should be expected to increase. The storage room you need for your network is probably not the same today as it will be in a year.
If you are currently overloaded with data, getting back on track is not easy. A capable managed hosting provider will be able to tweak the parameters of your infrastructure and resources, continually checking it over time so that the problem is definitively solved.
The bottom line
Each of these various elements strongly weighs in favor of managed server hosting to meet your company’s IT needs. However, Hameed mentions that cost is an issue with managed server hosting. Clearly, money is going to the hosting company that would not be if you handle server-related issues yourself. You pay for services above and beyond that which you would experience if you used colocation. In some cases, you can also lose control of the server as the hosting company takes the reins on various aspects; although, that’s not the case at customer-friendly hosting companies.
If you use a great managed server hosting company, though, your security will improve and your expenses will go down in real long-term costs. This service is something that anyone with a dedicated server must handle in one way or another, so using an established and structured team of experts through managed hosting is a popular choice.
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This guest blog was written by Brett Haines https://plus.google.com/u/0/100137311390909550920?rel=author of cloud, VPS, and dedicated hosting provider Atlantic.Net