William Toll

Survey: SMBs Look to Hosting Providers for Support

After listening to a few hours of sales and support calls for NaviSite Dedicated Server prospects and customers it became clear to me that SMB’s are looking for technical support as much as they were looking for hardware, software  and networking equipment!  Information technology technical support /server support/application support/networking support are all problems around which that Web hosting providers receive calls and tickets.  A combination of a difficult economy and an increasing reliance on employee’s access to applications, servers, email and more, SMBs are now no longer satisfied with the level of support full-time employees can provide.

We recently ran a survey on our landing pages and social media sites to understand the current satisfaction level that SMBs have with IT support providers.  The survey was titled “24/7/365 – Myth or Reality”. Interestingly while 68% of respondents said they expect their Website and application servers will run without an issue this holiday season, over 73% said that their IT personnel would not be available at midnight on New Year’s Eve.  The survey indicated that CEO’s seem to know that downtime costs money with 53% of respondents indicating that the first person to know about downtime is the CEO/owner.  The survey results also showed that 43% of the time in-house IT support personnel do not answer their phone when at 3am an issue with the IT infrastructure is reported.

This survey indicates that outsourcing of managed dedicated servers, application servers, Exchange email and more to a hosting provider promises to provide SMBs with 24/7/365 support for IT infrastructure. 

The support that hosting providers give is more than a bullet in the list of features – it is a defining benefit that we provide to the customers.  While the level of support and managed services differs between hosting providers, it’s clear that many SMBs can get more responsive support than in-house from hosting providers.

Dedicated Hosting Prospects and Their Clues

NaviSite recently launched an expanded line of Dedicated Servers and Virtual Dedicated Servers - the design of which was largely shaped by conversations with sales and potential buyers. Listening to sales calls, reviewing sales chats, and interviewing prospects is the most valuable time that can be spent by management and marketing teams.

The dedicated hosting space is crowded, and potential customers shop around. In fifteen minutes they have dissected both your competitor's and your website while rapidly forming impressions of your offering and its place in the market.

Increasingly we are hearing prospects seek quality and affordability. The dedicated hosting market is populated with hosting providers with varying levels of capability and infrastructure. Many prospects talk about horror stories and previous experiences at some providers that put price first, reliability, performance, service and security second.

With the current economic situation there seems to be a flight to quality. Your prospect knows that every sale counts and/or having applications offline for any amount of time is a drain on the bottom line. Downtime is measured in dollars lost not seconds offline.

The message we are hearing is clear, managed dedicated servers from a provider that includes a baseline of features will more rapidly build trust and provide them with Internet infrastructure that protects their revenue and reputation. All of us as hosting providers have a reputation that we share, as a community we do a disservice to offer hosting services that are not built on a foundation of reliability, security and service.

Ecommerce Hosting Success

Ecommerce is the heart of what hosting providers enable for their customers. The definition of Ecommerce can vary from a simple phone number on a Web page or a simple Web lead form, to a complex Ecommerce system with millions of dollars in yearly revenue. Ecommerce is the engine driving everything we and our customers are trying to achieve on the Web.

Recently I spoke with PJ Taei, Director of Operations, from WebNet Hosting, LLC , a leading Ecommerce provider and Miva Merchant Premier hosting partner. PJ has been reselling hosting services on the Alabanza instant reseller system for years and is experiencing considerable success by focusing on Ecommerce. He said his customers are selling products in all the top niche categories that make the Web a great place to do business, including jewelry, car parts, vintage clothing and more.

While selling a hosting package with Ecommerce software installed is the norm, WebNet Hosting’s success comes from their all-out approach to Ecommerce specifically Miva Merchant Hosting solutions. The services and support that WebNet layers on top of their hosting plans give their customers a sense that they are in business together. Their customer’s relationship is much deeper then Host+Client, it is more Business Partner + Business Partner. PJ said that he was surprised just how often new clients come to them in a panic – their existing Miva host or Web designer abandons them and they need a host that can migrate their Miva store and help them continue to increase sales on the Web.

WebNet Hosting is growing, because their customer is experiencing uninterrupted and ever increasing Ecommerce revenues thru the Miva Merchant shopping cart. All hosting companies can learn from this success, by changing the dynamic of the relationship from technology provider to business partner.

If Ecommerce is of interest to you or your customers, you might want to attend the session at HostingCon 2008 titled Ecommerce - Future Success or Potential Downfall of Hosting Companies? Date/Time: MONDAY, JULY 28, 2008 3:00-3:45p Session #404, Room #325

Customer Feedback Drives Product Offerings

New product ideas come from everywhere—customers, vendors, sales teams, competitive pressures, government regulations…you get the idea. Your product dreams are often bigger than your ability to productize and bring them to market. There is a proven way to see through the clutter and prioritize the winners: Listen to your customers.

At Intermedia, we help Web hosts, MSPs and other IT service providers bring their customers’ demands for better email, Web mail, wireless email and lightweight business applications to market. We prioritize new features and products based on real customer problems articulated to us. It sounds obvious, but too many companies launch new products and features that are not solving even a single problem for their customers. The product, and in some cases the company, are doomed to slow growth and failure since the market messaging never strikes a tone with a customer.

What drives Intermedia? Customer feedback about their business challenges. Two business problems we are asked to repeatedly assist with are productivity and security—primary issues that all businesses struggle with today. Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo and AIM are great tools for communicating with others. We all use them, but using them at the office is becoming an issue for many businesses. From productivity problems to security problems to intellectual property leaks, public IM access at work is a problem.

After listening to our customers’ frequent requests, we recently launched a secure instant messaging solution based on Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. This product idea was driven directly from our customers and is driving rapid adoption of this new service. In the end, this product will be successful because we are solving fundamental business problems with secure, business centric, instant messaging.

The Ubiquity of Email

In 2007, the masses spoke and demanded access to their email from anywhere. No longer could email access be limited to the desk at the office, the computer at home or an executive with a BlackBerry/Treo. In 2007, 24x7x365 email access from any device became the norm.

In early 2007 in the US, we saw the success of the AT&T Blackjack, T-Mobile Wing and BlackBerry's Pearl become available in fashionable colors. In June, we had the blockbuster success of Apple's iPhone launch. Clearly, the masses had decided that access to their email and the Internet on the go was mandatory.

Our role as service providers should be to foster access to email in any way possible. 2007 might go down in US technology history as the last year that the wireless carriers dictated not only the device, but also the accessibility and affordability of email on the device.

2008 brings many changes to the mobile device world – from Apple's promise of an SDK for the iPhone, to further enhancements and more device permeations in the Windows Mobile world, to the excitement around the Google Android devices.  In January 2008 the iPod touch was given the ability to send and receive email via WiFi.

While some argue that the iPhone is not a "business device," momentum seems to be moving that way as AT&T has recently created "business plans" for the iPhone. With a secure IMAP connection, business owners and IT administrators should rest assured that their users' email is being transmitted securely to an iPhone. While push email is always preferable and always part of the BlackBerry/Windows Mobile/Good Mobile – Microsoft Exchange combination, a business that has their employees connected to their corporate email 24x7x365 sees a giant productivity boost.

All of this is disruptive to Web hosts, IT Administrators and wireless carriers. It is important that we all strategize to create an unhindered email-connected world and making hosted Exchange available to your customers is the easiest way to get started.