A lot of people don’t know how to choose a good hosting service for their business. Luckily, there are a few tips that you can use to find the perfect host for your needs. These include choosing a host with a high uptime, security policy, and customer service.
Uptime
If your business is heavily dependent on website availability, you should find a host that offers a good uptime guarantee, preferably VPS hosting. Unreliable hosts can cause you to lose customers and even impact your brand image.
An uptime guarantee is a commitment from your web host that if you experience downtime, they will credit you for that downtime. The amount of downtime may vary from provider to provider, but the basic formula is five nines. A provider that promises five nines uptime is usually going to be expensive.
Many providers offer an uptime guarantee as part of their service level agreement. These agreements commit the hosting company to refund you if your downtime exceeds a certain percentage.
However, not all uptime guarantees cover planned downtime, such as scheduled maintenance. Instead, they might only cover the time that you notice the outage. You’ll want to read through the fine print before making a purchase.
While an uptime guarantee does not guarantee you won’t have downtime, it is a way to see how reliable a provider’s services are. It will also help you decide whether or not you want to use that particular web host.
Security policy
A business hosting a state agency needs a comprehensive security policy. It will need to be implemented in conjunction with a number of technical and operational controls. This will include the installation of firewalls, software, and telecommunications facilities. These policies will also require the services of a security function to monitor usage and implement access privileges.
The best cyber security policy is one that is easy to implement and read by staff. It should also be a good example of the old adage – “Do what you say and don’t do what you don’t say.”
To make your policy as effective as possible, it’s a good idea to incorporate user feedback. For instance, a remote data security policy could include requirements for remote access, VPN, disk encryption, and email. In addition, the policy should be directed at all employees and contain the right stipulations for intranet resources.
Other measures of a successful security policy might include the use of password protected RSA keys to authenticate user logins. As well, a solid backup and recovery plan should be in place to handle all data elements.
Customer service
When you’re hosting a business, you’ll want to provide top-notch customer service. Whether your company is an eCommerce site or a traditional brick-and-mortar store, you’ll want to create a team of rockstar support professionals to ensure you’re providing the best possible customer experience. And in doing so, you’ll also help grow your business!
For example, if your company sells an online product that is a little complicated, you’ll want to make sure you set up a style forum. This will require a commitment to actively participate in the forums, as well as a bit of effort to build momentum. Once you have a community of active users, you’ll be able to offer support in a way that can increase your engagement and sales.
Another option is knowledge-based customer service. Knowledge-based customer service allows customers to troubleshoot their own issues. If they can’t find an answer in the knowledge base, they can contact live support. Live support is a great solution for issues that can’t be handled through self-serve, such as issues related to refunds.