What exactly is “Managed Hosting”?
Sometimes, as industries evolve, they spawn new jargon that only means something if you’re inside the industry. To outsiders — even potential customers — these turns of phrase can seem confusing at best, and downright mysterious at worst.
So it is with the term “managed hosting.” Search the web for a definition, and you’ll get 10 different answers from 10 different companies. As ServInt’s Director of Managed Services, I want to take a minute to explain what managed hosting means to us. You may find that our definition is more expansive than those offered by our competitors.
Let me start with a pet peeve of mine. It really bugs me when web hosting companies use the terms “support” and “management” as though they were the same thing. They are not.
Support is reactive. It’s what you provide when things go wrong. It’s important, but if your goal is to achieve maximum uptime, support alone doesn’t help much — because it doesn’t avert catastrophe; it simply restores order when things go wrong.
Management — and, by extension, managed hosting — is proactive. It avoids problems. Here are some specifics from our to-do list at ServInt: we provide compatibility checks; custom requirement analyses and one-on-one product and platform consultations; custom software installations; port, service and system monitoring; OS system patches and upgrades; and personalized technical advice and assistance. In other words, we don’t just support our customers when things go wrong; we manage the hosting of their sites to try and prevent things from going wrong in the first place.
Web hosting is a service industry. There may be lots of technology behind the solutions hosting companies offer, but the service they provide is what really differentiates their solutions. That’s why you see company after company touting their level of customer service as “heroic,” “fanatical,” “stupendous,” and so forth. Service sells! All I can say is: ask questions. Make sure that when they say “service,” they mean proactive management — not just support — of your online business.
One last thing: to get the most out of your relationship with your managed hosting service provider, stay close to them. Let them know when you’re expecting spikes or surges in traffic, or when you plan to launch a new app on your site. Inform them when you roll out a killer marketing plan, or when your site’s “high season” is about to begin. That kind of information will help them help you.
Photo by Karen Eliot
Explaining ServInt’s New KickStart Team
When I started at ServInt more than six years ago, one of the first lessons I learned was just how critical first impressions were to the customer experience. ServInt’s new Kickstart Team, a division of our Managed Services Team, is committed to making hosting a website as painless a process as possible. Here’s a little background on who we are and why we do what we do.
Part 5. Be Open
This is the final entry in a 5 part series: Big Picture Ideas for Small Businesses.
Transparency Is Important
My previous post was on buzzwords, those groan-inducing terms that often do little more than spread hype without actually describing substance. The argument I tried to make was that buzzwords were, in some limited cases and when taken with extreme grains of salt, could actually be utilized as thermometers for how to craft a marketing message.
However, I know that doesn’t make them any less annoying. The irony of ending this series with a post on “openness” is not lost on me because as far as technology goes the concept is almost as cliché as the term “multimedia” was in the 90′s.
With that being said, being open truly is an incredible asset to any organization, and while it may not make sense in the literal concept for every business out there, it’s principles are universal and should be installed where possible.
Part 1: Obsess About Your Reputation
This is part 1 in a 5 part series: Big Picture Ideas for Small Businesses.
He Said, She Said
Your reputation is one of the most critical aspects of your business. It’s what lends credibility to your marketing, weight and value to your product, and it provides status in competitive industries.
Maintaining a good reputation sounds really easy. After all, shouldn’t providing good service, good support, and having a lively presence in your industry be enough to keep your company in the good graces of consumers? Perhaps it should, but as always, reality is a bit more complicated. Here are a few tips designed to make managing your company’s identity online more efficient.
1. You Need to Try
Having a presence on Twitter and Googling your company’s name twice a day will not do much in the long term to keep you afloat. You have to look at the experiences of your clients and customers in order to get a better idea. Elicit feedback wherever possible (more on that in an upcoming post) and make sure all of your promises, whether they be features in a product or a verbal agreement to a client or colleague, are actionable. Nothing ruins a relationship more than a broken promise.
2. Turn Repeat Customers into Something More
Having a repeat customer is great, but it’s not special. Remember, that’s what is supposed to happen. Celebrating small victories is ok, but focusing your energy on turning repeat customers into mavens or promoters is far more valuable. Having a great product is fantastic, but having a great customer who helps you sell your great product is even better.
Affiliate programs can help by offering a financial incentive while healthy referral rates can entice customers into bringing in friends and colleagues. However, the most important part of utilizing loyal customers is simply having a robust product line at a good price.
3. Don’t Feed the Trolls, But…
A few years ago, a negative blogpost could, in most cases, be easily ignored. But today, in a world of real time news, where people make money on the aggregation of information, less-honest folks could easily turn negative stories about your business into their business model.
It’s up to you to pick your battles. You have to be able to distinguish between situations that deserve the time needed to make things right from classic internet trolling. As a rule of thumb, never embroil yourself or your company into a flame war online. You will never win that fight as your opponent does not need to be fair or civil.
However, you can’t ignore published negativity either. If there is truth to a particular situation, you now have a public way to turn a bad experience into a good one, to repair the relationship between this customer and your company. This can be very useful feedback.
If a negative situation is posted in an area where your company has a consistent presence, say an influential forum or blog, you may want to consider clarifying your company’s stance publicly if the charges are particularly egregious.
This kind of situation, as with any communication online, should be carefully considered. Remember that these stories are indexed by search engines, posted to high traffic link farm blogs, and are repeatedly regurgitated by traffic machines all over the web…it’s very easy to lose control of your image this way. You can’t always ignore these charges, but you don’t want to validate trolls either.
4. Get Involved
Better Business Bureau, Chambers of Commerce, Boards of Trade, and even larger industry trade organizations can all be valuable assets to your company. Being seen, and understood, as a local information resource is just as important as getting new business. If you’re the guy or gal your neighbors can count on, then they might be more willing to drop your company’s name the next time they shuffle through their rolodex.
What do you think? How do you manage the reputation of you and your business? Let us know in the comments, on Facebook, or on Twitter/Friendfeed!
Stay tuned to The ServInt Source for our next tip, Don’t Cheapen Your Product, soon!
Photo by Plug 1.
