How Managed Hosting Services Simplify Business Operations

Let’s face it, it’s hard enough to run a business without also worrying about servers crashing at 3 AM.

Every business owner wants their website to work and work well. After all, a website with a solid and reliable foundation allows for:

• Improved customer experience
• More sales and conversions
• Better brand reputation

The problem is, web hosting services can be an admin’s worst nightmare if managed on your own. You really need to be your own IT department or know someone who is to manage this properly.

And that’s where managed hosting comes into play, taking the tech stuff off your plate and allowing you to focus on what truly matters in business…growth.

What You’ll Learn:

• What Is Managed Hosting?
• Why Managed Hosting Matters For Your Business
• The Key Benefits Of Managed Hosting Services
• How To Choose The Right Provider

What Is Managed Hosting?

In a nutshell, managed hosting is simply a hosting service that covers all of the IT groundwork. Managed hosting services are the hands-off way of running a web business, without having to be constantly on the back foot.

Imagine it this way, managed hosting is like having a full-time in-house IT team, minus the full-time commitment or costs. A provider that deals with managed hosting will cover:

• Server set up
• Security patches/updates
• Performance monitoring
• Backups

There’s less to do on your side and you can simply focus on running your business and operations. This is very different from traditional hosting where everything is a DIY project on your end. The set up and work is done for you with managed hosting.

A business that is serious about its website must be serious about the infrastructure it is built on, using secure web hosting services and one that has good website management services and digital marketing support, for example. This will give your website the legs to actually perform well.

Simple right?

Why Managed Hosting Matters For Your Business

Alright, let’s really hammer home why this is so critical for businesses…

Website uptime is critical to your success online. If your site goes down or experiences downtime, you lose customers, sales, trust, and credibility. And downtime costs small businesses between $137 and $427 per minute according to statistics in the industry.

We’re talking serious money here.

That is why the managed hosting market is expected to grow at a 19.7% rate through the year 2032. Businesses are finally wising up to the fact that they need professionals to manage their websites. They have been taking the steps to make that happen.

The fact of the matter is most business owners aren’t server geeks. And they don’t have to be. Managed hosting lets you hand that aspect of business ownership off to other people who want to do it.

The reality is that, if your business model is to sell your product or services through your website or it’s a highly ecommerce-based model, that means every minute of your website being down is a minute of lost revenue and dissatisfied customers.

The Key Benefits Of Managed Hosting Services

Ok, time to break it down. What does managed hosting offer exactly? Here are the benefits that will have you convinced your business needs it, too.

Expert Technical Support

One of the best things about a managed hosting provider is having 24/7 access to experts in the field. If something is not working on your website, you need someone on hand to fix it. Having a team of technical people who can jump on and sort out issues before they turn into major problems is essential.

This means no more searching for what an error code means at 3 am or hoping your site will magically fix itself. Managed hosting will have real humans on your side.

Enhanced Security

Website security is a growing concern. Cybercrime is real and targets all sizes of business. With managed hosting, you get enterprise-level security that your business would not otherwise be able to afford, without the overhead. Managed providers will take care of:

• Regular security updates and patches
• Firewall protection
• Malware scanning and removal
• SSL Certificate Management

The end result is that your own data and that of your customers are safe and sound.

Automatic Backups

Accidental loss of data is a business-destroying event.

Managed hosting providers take care of the backups, so all of your data is regularly copied and saved elsewhere. If an issue occurs, you have the means to quickly and easily restore your website. A backup is one of those things, where you never know it works until you need it and it doesn’t. The peace of mind is worth its weight in gold.

Just think of how long and costly it would be to have to rebuild your website from the ground up. That is eliminated with automatic backups.

Improved Performance

Site speed has a direct impact on your sales.

Slow load times irritate your customers, who are less likely to return to your site. Slow speed also negatively impacts your search rankings. Managed providers optimize their servers for fast page loads with such things as caching and content delivery networks.

Server-side improvements can result in a snappier site. The faster your website, the more visitors will stick around.

Time Savings

This is the motherload…

Every minute a business owner spends on technical server management is a minute they do not have to invest back into growing their business. Managed hosting, on the other hand, returns that time back.

Owners can instead redirect those energies to such things as marketing, product development, building customer relationships, etc. While the tech stuff is handled.

How To Choose The Right Provider

So, you know you want managed hosting, but not all managed hosting providers are created equal. Here are some things to look for.

Uptime Guarantees

The basic cutoff is looking for a company that offers 99.9% uptime or better. Below this and you’re risking too much potential downtime for your website.

Remember, 91% of organizations report that one hour of downtime costs over $300,000 in lost business and productivity. Uptime matters.

Scalability

As your business grows, so too will your hosting requirements. You will need a hosting company that can scale with you. You don’t want to be changing providers when your traffic goes up because you outgrew the last one.

Look for a service that can scale with your growth. And that you won’t have to change every time there is an increase in visitors and sales.

Support Quality

Call and see how quickly they respond to an inquiry. Ask if they provide 24/7 support and, if so, through what channels. Support can make or break your experience.

Security Features

Security must be a priority for the company you are looking at. Inquire about their security protocols, their back up procedure and how they recover if disaster ever strikes. If they are a good managed hosting provider, security is a big deal and they will walk you through how they protect your data.

Pricing Transparency

Stay away from companies that have hidden fees and clauses in their contracts. Transparent pricing is the best. You want to know what you’re paying for and exactly what your plan includes.

Bringing It All Together

Managed hosting services are one of the smartest investments you can make as a business owner.

Managed hosting services take the admin technical headache out of your life, improves your website performance and returns valuable time back to your business. In a world where so much of business is online, it only makes sense to have hosting experts manage that aspect of your business.

Quick recap:

• Managed hosting is the one that takes care of all of the technical server management for you
• Provides expert support, increased security and automatic backups
• Increases performance of your site
• Saves business owners valuable time and resources
• Uptime guarantees, scalability and support quality are a must when looking for a provider

The businesses that are killing it online are the ones that invest in their website’s infrastructure. Managed hosting gives the business owner the enterprise-level technology without all of the enterprise-level bureaucracy.

Worry less about the servers and more about growth. That is what managed hosting makes possible.