Leveraging Capex-Free Managed Hosting

Leveraging Capex-Free
www.yankeegroup.comManaged Hosting
by Gary Chen | June 2008
Executive SummaryOver the years, small and medium businesses (SMBs) For SMBs to determine if managed hosting is the right choiceincreasingly have adopted various IT technologies to satisfy for them, they must first assess the importance of webcustomer demands, and to compete against large enterprises infrastructure to the business, as well as the depth of capitaland savvy smaller competitors that all have leveraged and IT staff available. They must realistically examine the pasttechnology and the web to gain a business edge. The performance of IT in supporting the business. How many projectsphenomenal growth of the internet and the World Wide Web were left undone due to lack of budget? How much downtimehas presented a wealth of new opportunities, as well as has occurred as a result of disasters or security breaches?challenges, for businesses that desire to leverage this new SMBs should consider managed hosting providers as extensionsmedium. Although the web provides unprecedented reach and of their IT staff. They should look for a provider that will workefficiencies for conducting commerce and marketing, it also with them to effectively plan, implement, manage and scalerequires robust infrastructure and experienced staff to provide their infrastructure to meet their unique needs. Service andthe rich and responsive experience that customers demand. support must be highly responsive and follow an agreed-uponAs SMBs adopt more technology, they also struggle more playbook. Customers should look for signs of proactive supportwith managing it. The high capital costs and expertise required as well. Does the provider implement robust protection andfor many solutions are formidable barriers for a medium-sized redundancy, and follow best practices to prevent problems andbusiness. Far too many SMBs are forced to make do with maintain service levels? Don't be afraid to make the hostingoutdated IT infrastructure, which limits their use of company prove in detail that it has a well-established methodology.technology to support their fast-changing business needs. By leveraging the economies of scale, expertise and technologiesSMBs are also generally lacking robust business protection of managed hosting providers such as Planet Northstar, webagainst disasters and security threats, which increases their businesses can eliminate their IT capital cost requirements,risk. A do-it-all-yourself approach to managing IT has simply increase efficiency while reducing labor costs, focus on theirbecome unmanageable for many businesses. core competencies, reduce risks and level the playing field toThe advent of IT hosting provides an effective alternative compete more effectively with much larger organizations.whereby hardware, software and support are provided as aservice. IT hosting providers can offer enterprise-class webinfrastructure to SMBs, preserving valuable capital that asmall business can use instead for customer acquisition andinnovation. A hosted IT service also allows a company tofocus on its core business and strengths, and allows IT tobecome more strategic rather than tactical.
This custom publication has been sponsored by The Planet.© Copyright 2008. Yankee Group Research, Inc. All rights reserved.This Yankee Group Report is published for the sole use of Yankee Group clients. It may not be duplicated, reproduced or transmitted in whole or in part without the express permission ofYankee Group, Prudential Tower, 800 Boylston Street, 27th Floor, Boston, MA 02199. For more information, contact Yankee Group: info@yankeegroup.com; phone: 617-598-7200.All rights reserved. All opinions and estimates herein constitute our judgment as of this date and are subject to change without notice.June 2008
Table of ContentsI. Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2IT Struggles to Keep Up with Business Demands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Business Protection Is the Top Concern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Driving Toward the Capex-Free SMB. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3II. Managed Hosting . . . . . . . . .... [download for more]