subject: The Advantages Of Managed Hosting [print this page] There are different ways in which you can host sites. They are customisable depending on the need of the customer. However, one of the most common types is the managed hosting type and this is a form of dedicated hosting of sites. This means that as a client, you would get unhindered access to your own dedicated server that is on lease to you for which you pay a monthly charge.
This service is mainly demanded by online or ecommerce business entities who have to ensure that their site is always up and running and is easily accessible to visitors without any down time. They know that visitors today do not have the patience to wait for too long for sites to load or refresh and thus would require somebody to ensure that their site is not only accessible at all times but is also updated with latest news, can be easily navigated and transactions are hassle free for the visitors.
But why do companies outsource this activity in the first place?
Well, some companies do not want to get into the hassle and administrative bother of managing the IT requirements. Either they do not understand the activity well enough and thus do not wish to hire somebody to manage it or they feel that they are better off outsourcing this due to the savings of cost.
Moreover, as long as they are able to extract performance of their site from the outsourced agency who hosts their site, they do not mind doing so and feel that they would be better off concentrating on their own core business. They are aware that poor server administration can lead to a poor site performance and that can adversely affect the image of the company as well as any online business activity they are already involved in. The other reason is the time that is required to properly manage a web server. Companies outsourcing this activity do not wish to spend their time on this and prefer to leave this to professionals for a fee.
They recognise that by doing so they would still be able to save on time, effort as well as cost. Typically, if they had to hire IT specialists, they would have to pay by the hour and that becomes a fixed cost. Managed hosting on the other hand works out economical with the added assurance of service levels being maintained and accountable for by the agency. Recruiting personnel for server management is useful only when you have gone for an unmanaged hosting kind of arrangement.
As mentioned above, you can have managed hosting such that you get a dedicated server. The advantage of a dedicated server is that you will have total control over the performance of your site and can modify software or introduce new software as per your business requirements. The performance of the site is thus optimised to its full potential and with regular reports that explain the working of the site; you would be able to determine the efficiency and efficacy of the hosting agency.
