Has your business turned to a cloud hosting solution yet? You are missing out on a lot because you must rely on physical servers, which limits your scalability. Traditional on-premises infrastructure also means that you are spending a lot of money investing in the hardware and software to run it. Additionally, your business is also at high risk of major downtime.
Thankfully, you can still salvage the situation by seeking the services of experts who provide dedicated solutions like IBM i Cloud hosting. Caution is necessary in your selection because the providers differ in various aspects. It’d be best to check the following features:
1. High Availability and Uptime Guarantee
Start by checking if the provider guarantees high availability and uptime guarantee. This is important if your business solely relies on critical applications for its operations. The feature will ensure that your business enjoys uninterrupted operations.
With this, you will reduce the risk of losing revenue and decreased productivity. Consistency is important in increasing your customer’s satisfaction. The reliability of your services can be a game changer in a competitive market.
You can identify an expert Cloud hosting provider with high availability and uptime guarantee through the following:
- Service Agreement with detailed uptime guarantee.
- Round-the-clock monitoring.
- Backup infrastructure that ensures no downtime.
- Proactive maintenance.
2. Customizability and Integration Capabilities
Business needs differ depending on the industry and related factors. For that reason, a one-size-fits-all strategy can’t work well. An efficient expert offers customizable solutions that allow you to tailor the hosting environment to your applications’ specific requirements.
This includes but is not limited to the ability to choose security settings. And if your business relies on multiple cloud services, the hosting provider should support seamless integration. It’d be best to check if the hosting provider you intend to use mentions customizability and integration capabilities in their service description.
3. Scalability and Flexibility
Your business will want to scale up or down, depending on demand. For this reason, you need a provider that offers scalability and flexibility. A hosting provider that can scale allows you to add more resources as the need arises. Additionally, a flexible hosting solution allows you to temporarily scale up resources to handle an increase in traffic during special occasions like sales events.
Furthermore, with the always-changing technology, a flexible provider can significantly help. They will ensure that your applications can adapt to the changes as fast as possible without the need for a complete overhaul. You can identify such experts through the following:
- Elastic resource allocation
- Wide range of plans and services
- Support for hybrid and multi-cloud environment
4. Robust Security Measures
Applications critical to your business require robust security to protect their sensitive data. Therefore, the expert hosting provider should have measures to protect customer information and intellectual property. It should also protect your financial records from data breaches, which can result in legal liabilities.
Security measures are also necessary to comply with the laws governing your industry. This is important if strict data protection regulations govern your area of operation. With robust security, customers will trust your business more, making them more likely to buy your goods and services.
You can identify providers with this feature through transparent security policies and certifications like ISO/IEC 27001 and SOC 2.
5. Disaster Recovery and Backup Plan
You can avoid huge losses in the event of a disaster by checking if disaster recovery and backup solutions are in place. This is important as it prevents customer trust and money loss that your business will experience in the event of downtime. Additionally, data is a valuable asset in your business, and in the event of a cyberattack, the backup solution will ensure that the data isn’t lost permanently.
Determining if a solution provider has a disaster recovery and backup plan entails checking for the steps the provider will take in case of such a misfortune. Automated backups can also help determine if a company is ready for such an event. Alternatively, mentions of fail-over mechanisms in place can help you assess preparedness.
6. Optimized Performance and Speed
Speed is important in today’s fast-paced digital environment. Users expect your applications to load fast and respond instantly. Additionally, employees often use most business-critical applications to manage operations and communicate with clients. Therefore, speed is necessary for better productivity. The speed of your hosted applications also determines your competitiveness.
For this reason, you should check if the provider offers optimized performance. This calls for checking elements like content delivery network integration, and load balancing capabilities. Testing the services during the trial period would be the best to determine efficiency.
7. Transparent Pricing
For budget management and cost predictability, consider and check transparency in pricing. The predictability will help you know precisely what you will be paying for and avoid unexpected costs. With transparent pricing, you can trust the hosting provider to serve you as agreed. You can identify such service providers based on clear and detailed pricing information.
Flexibility in the pricing model can also help you in this process. An efficient expert has options like pay-as-you-go or subscription-based plans. This allows you to choose a model that works well for you.
8. Compliance Support
If your industry is subjected to strict regulations that govern data handling, having compliance support will go a long way in helping you. Therefore, you should check if the company you intend to work with provides ongoing compliance support. Efficient ones that provide robust compliance support will help you remain compliant in the way your company handles and stores sensitive data.
They do so through regular audits, which make it easier for your business to prove adherence. With the stakes so high, engaging such hosting providers would be best. This is because they help you avoid the hefty fines that non-compliance attracts.
9. Proven Track Record
Lastly, you should check if the company has a proven track record of providing the service. An efficient company that specializes in providing dedicated solutions like IBM i Cloud hosting will have served for a long period of time. Additionally, you will find evidence of good hosting services through reviews and testimonials. Ensure that you check for this when choosing where to get your hosting services.
Your business can’t afford to lag in the fast-paced modern business world. Thankfully, there are cloud hosting companies that can host the applications critical to your business with better efficiency. However, the service providers differ. Therefore, check the features you have read here to the best services.
Related Articles:
- What to Consider when Choosing a Cloud Server Provider
- From On-Premises to the Cloud: Overcoming the Obstacles of Cloud Migration
- Salesforce Data Management: Securing Your Business in the Cloud
- Next Generation of Cloud Hosting: An Insight into Holo’s Decentralized Approach
- Securing On-Premises Cloud Infrastructure: Essential Measures for Robust Protection
