9 Questions to Ask Your Hosting Provider

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1 Where every interation matters. 9 Questions to Ask Your Hosting Provider White Paper April 2014 By: Peer 1 Hosting

2 Contents 1. Can I scale it? 3 2. Is it always on? 3 3. Is it fast? 3 4. Can it integrate easily? 3 5. Can it offer better SLAs than a self-hosted solution? 4 6. Is it global? 4 7. Is it secure? 4 8. Does it get my industry? 5 9. Does it have outstanding support? 5 WHITE PAPER: 9 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR HOSTING PROVIDER 2

Can it offer better SLAs than a self-hosted solution? 4 6. Is it global? 4 7.

3 White Paper Selecting a vendor for managed hosting services can be hard. As an administrator, you must consider several factors to ensure that you re making an informed decision that will foster success for your business. To help you make your decision, here are nine important questions you should ask potential hosting vendors: 1. Can I scale it? Scalability is one of the first things you should investigate as part of selecting a managed hosting service. Cloud computing expert Michael Sheehan notes that this is one of the most important aspects of cloud hosting services, as the ability to shrink or grow can be very beneficial in supporting businesses needs. Whether you are seeking resources for a small startup or large enterprise, scalability is essential to ensure that your company has what it needs to address current requirements and to adjust to future demands. Without thinking about the future at the time of purchase, your business may struggle within the constraints of fixed, less-than-flexible services. Sheehan points out that without taking the scalability of a solution under advisement, an organization of any size is setting itself up for failure. 2. Is it always on? Service uptime is another vital aspect to investigate while examining managed hosting service providers. A recent survey found that the most important feature of a hosting solution was reliability and uptime, with percent of participants in agreement, according to CloudTweaks. Because the cloud system or website hinges on the service provider s abilities, potential visitors can t access your site or cloud resources if your vendor experiences continual downtime. This can cause considerable damage to your brand because clients may seek answers elsewhere if they cannot connect with your company s website or find that page loads are frustratingly slow, thesitewizard notes. For this reason, you should consider hosting vendors who include an uptime guarantee in the service level agreement, hosting expert Angela Nielsen tells Inc. Your site can t be seen if the host constantly has server outages, Nielsen says. Look for an uptime guarantee of 99 percent or more. Also make sure the server has multiple backup locations (mirrored servers) so that if one goes down, they have another online and ready to go. 3. Is it fast? Just as a downed site can harm your business s reputation and disable connections with customers, slow services can also cause clients to seek help elsewhere. Speed is another biggie when it comes to vetting service providers, as a slow website or cloud system can leave users running to the next best solution. You should ask about the vendor s fiber optic network resources, bandwidth and other components related to speed of service. 4. Can it integrate easily? You should also speak to hosting providers about integrating services into your current business systems and processes. There s nothing worse than paying for a top-notch solution and losing potential production time due to slow rollout of the technology. A vendor can assist you by providing tips and tricks for the best ways to integrate the hosted platform and link it to other mission-critical resources. WHITE PAPER: 9 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR HOSTING PROVIDER 3

To help you make your decision, here are nine important questions you should ask potential hosting vendors: 1. Can I scale it?

4 Hosting customers should first look into what aspects of the company applications, archives, databases, etc. need to be integrated with the hosted solution, Jitterbit suggests. Once these aspects are determined, the service provider can help interconnect them for overall success. 5. Can it offer better SLAs than a self-hosted site? When making your decision, it s always beneficial to compare potential services with other available aspects. In this spirit, it s important to examine the service level agreement offered by the vendor and put it to the test by contrasting it with a self-hosted solution. Many times, clients find that self-hosted arrangements require more maintenance on the part of the business, and present an increased security risk, notes SpyreStudios. When examining vendors SLAs, focus on information in the service summary, details about the hardware and software used, as well as policies on service requests, Computerworld advised. 6. Is it global? This is especially important for larger organizations with more extensive service footprints. Because many corporations operate in a number of global regions, it s vital to understand how this practice will affect a hosting service. For example, from a disaster recovery standpoint, it s critical for your business to be able to leverage services from locations outside the office when necessary. A service provider with global solutions can ensure that business continuance is possible no matter if the company is affected by a local utility outage, natural disaster or other downtime-causing event. Many administrators are also concerned about where their sensitive enterprise data resides, and having a full scope as to where the vendor operates can help ease these worries, TITUS stated. ComputerWeekly also points out that some areas have specific laws and jurisdictions in place pertaining to computing data that could impact the organization depending upon where their service provider s facilities are located. For these reasons, it is imperative that you look into the global reach of the hosting system. 7. Is it secure? Another key aspect to consider is security. An unsecured platform can be incredibly damaging for an organization if a hacker is able to infect and infiltrate a website or managed cloud solution. As many of these systems contain sensitive company-owned information and content, your business could potentially collapse if these materials were to fall into the wrong hands. Therefore, it s critical to fully understand the security implications put in place by the vendor, and what safeguarding measures should be deployed on your side. CloudTweaks advises seeking details in the physical data protections being used by the service provider, as well as security for network transmissions. You should also look into how data is protected in the cloud, including what, if any, encryption technology is utilized. Some hosting merchants also provide data access management, where clients can set up profiles for employees that allow for different levels of access to website processes or cloud-stored content. Additionally, security inquiries should include questions about data breaches, disaster recovery and other failsafe protections. Many providers offer monitoring services to constantly oversee activity on the system. As previously touched on, the solution must also be accessible in the event of a natural disaster or other event. WHITE PAPER: 9 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR HOSTING PROVIDER 4

When making your decision, it s always beneficial to compare potential services with other available aspects.

5 8. Does it get my industry? In the current business landscape, organizations within certain industries must adhere to specific laws for compliance. These can affect their needs when it comes to managed hosting, so they must be considered. For instance, the healthcare sector must follow standards put in place within the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which affects the way organizations treat digital files and other documents containing patients personal information. Similarly, retail companies are beholden to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), which has security implications related to consumer payment cards. Additionally, financial organizations must maintain compliance with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act for information-sharing practices. Firms within these industries should ensure that their service provider has the proper security measures and protocols to support the compliance laws that impact the company. 9. Does it have outstanding support? Finally, you should ask about customer support offered by the hosting provider to guarantee that you will be able to connect with the vendor if you have a question regarding your managed solution or need problems resolved. Nielsen recommends selecting a merchant with around-the-clock free phone support from customer service agents. Nobody can prevent glitches 100 percent, so if and when you find yourself in the middle of one, it s best to have someone you can call on to get immediate resolution, Nielsen notes. Contact Peer 1 Hosting Consulting with Peer 1 Hosting can help you make your decision by helping you find the answers to these questions and others. Through a deep understanding of your business, Peer 1 can help you with your immediate needs and your long-term goals. Call us to get started now / peer1.com WHITE PAPER: 9 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR HOSTING PROVIDER 5

For instance, the healthcare sector must follow standards put in place within the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which affects the way organizations treat digital files

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