Hosting is fast becoming the favoured approach over outsourcing or managing your own IT in-house by SME Businesses
Hosting is the smarter way of managing your computing needs. It is the alternative to managing it all yourself or outsourcing your computing needs, both of which are time consuming and expensive options respectively for a business. Hosting is an attractive alternative because it has lower costs and doesn't involve the high capital investment required by doing it in-house, whilst still leaving you in control and providing greater flexibility than completely outsourcing operations.
The alternative methods of managing your IT systems and computing
In-House:
In-House is an approach to managing IT systems where a business retains complete ownership and responsibility for maintenance and support. Companies choose to house their IT systems in their own facilities. The company and their own IT staff is responsible for managing their solution 24/7.
Outsourcing:
Businesses may also choose to outsource their IT systems, support and computing operations. Outsourcers typically provide an end-to-end, custom solution for their customers. The outsourcer also assumes responsibility for management of a customer's IT systems, computing operations, and employees.
Hosting:
Hosting providers offer services to support IT systems and computing ranging from simple to very complex. The equipment required (servers, routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, cabinets, software, wiring, etc.) to deliver their services is typically purchased and managed by the hosting providers, therefore they take the upfront risk and capital outlay. The Hosting provider is set up for and experienced in, the delivery of hosting solutions with expert support staff available to resolve issues as quickly as possible. Customers also benefit from the often large network capabilities of hosting providers, as well as the economies of scale of their infrastructure, with the costs spread across their client base e.g. back up and storage infrastructures, making it a more affordable option.
Hosting saves a company upfront investment and the risk associated of tying up capital into infrastructure. It also offers a flexible and scalable solution to 'pay as you grow' and as such, companies can preserve their cash for more revenue generating activities. Hosting enables a company to tap into a source of experts 24/7, something which is difficult to replicate in-house without significant investment.
