By Justin Lee, theWHIR.com
August 4, 2005 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Web hosting has certainly grown as a business, but some of its most remarkable growth has been in the power of the services themselves. Just a few years ago, it was difficult to find a basic hosting package that offered anything beyond a few Megs of Web space, email capabilities and a domain name.
These days, even basic Web hosting packages include a whole range of bells and whistles. From antivirus security protection and e-commerce abilities to Web mail and easily updated databases, Web hosts have made the shift from limited hosting services to one-stop e-commerce solutions.
Toronto-based Web site building software firm IRUN (irun.com), is one company that hopes to take hosting to the next level, providing small to medium businesses with everything they need to create a comprehensive Web site.
IRUN’s solution can be used to create functional and flexible Web sites. By partnering with both small and large resellers for the long run, IRUN CEO and president Paul Carrington says the company creates Web sites that will inevitably help the business to become more successful.
“Our technology takes its focus from the end user,” says Carrington. “Our business is not about getting more resellers on board, but helping our resellers get more customers. End users aren’t just looking for Web sites, they’re looking for a solution that’s really going to help their business.”
IRUN’s Web building tool includes a user-friendly Web interface that enables users to update their sites easily. There are hundreds of templates to choose from, created by its award-winning design team.
But IRUN’s solution is more than just a Web site builder, incorporating a range of features such as full e-commerce capabilities with PayPal and shipping and payment calculators, integrated Web mail, multiple email accounts, a free domain name, photo album galleries and password protection.
IRUN’s Web building solution comes in two different packages – a license version for larger businesses and a hosted version for smaller businesses. Larger hosting providers deploy IRUN’s technology on their own servers while smaller hosting providers run the solution on IRUN’s servers, seamlessly delivering it to end users as their own.
“In order for a small business to compete in a larger playing field, they don’t just need a Web site; they need a Web site that is going to inspire confidence,” says Carrington.
Through IRUN’s solution, smaller hosting providers are in the position to compete with a saturated field with the ability to provide a high-end service. Conversely, larger hosting providers can expand upon their already considerable customer base, adding residual revenue to their business.
And while IRUN’s solution arguably delivers one of the most comprehensive hosting packages in the market, Carrington says the company has numerous plans in the works to improve its service.
One initiative is the integration of IRUN’s solution into a full customer relationship management solution by providing its customers and end users with the ability to perform appointment scheduling and invoicing.
IRUN also hopes to take advantage of a relatively unsaturated UK market by launching an office in London, England on September 1, 2005. Carrington says the hosting packages in the UK that include Web site builders are few and far between.
Carrington hopes that adding extra value will make it more unlikely that customers leave IRUN. And he hopes to entice existing customers of other hosting companies to sign with the company.
“We’re trying to get away from being just a price-driven market, even in the Web builder sphere,” says Carrington. “We’re trying to be an added value service that’s not solely based on dollars and cents, but rather how much value are you adding to that user or small business.”
