The growing competition among web hosts means you can get good quality services at low rates. However, price isn’t indicative of the level of quality and reliability you …
The growing competition among web hosts means you can get good quality services at low rates. However, price isn’t indicative of the level of quality and reliability you can expect from a service provider. At the same time, there is no dearth of ‘free’ services you can utilize. They offer limited features but you can still get by. These ‘free’ services are referred to as un-managed services, where you get the basic features you need along with a few bells & whistles.
However, the hosting needs of a business far exceed the level of service provided by an un-managed service. In simple words, you need to get a professional service on board to maximize your up-time and get the bandwidth you desire, and hence, managed services are the best option. Here’s a look at a few differences between managed and un-managed hosting:
Customer Support
You are unlikely to get any level of customer support when using un-managed services. On the other hand, the best managed web hosts in the market prioritize customer support. They are available on call 24/7 and are willing to help out with any problems you might face with your internet activities. This way, you can rest assured that you will be able to reach out to a professional should you face any problems. The means of communication are also numerous, ranging from phone to live chat to email.
Customization
With un-managed services, you have to make do with what you get. There is little, if any, room for customization. There is a good chance that the service will fail to meet your requirements. On the other hand, with managed services, the entire package will be customized to suit your needs. All your requirements will be addressed promptly. In fact, professional web hosting service providers offer flexibility, which means you can scale the service as your needs evolve and change over time, for instance if you require more bandwidth.
Monitoring
With managed services, since you are paying for reliability, they monitor your usage and ensure you don’t face any issues. They take a proactive approach and nip any potential problems in the bud. This is why they are able to guarantee up to 99.9% up-time, which is a must for any business. You don’t want your internet going down when you need it the most as it can cause your operations to come to a halt. Un-managed services can be unreliable and you are unlikely to have technician on call, waiting to help you if anything goes wrong.
Backup
Backup and recovery management are crucial for businesses today. You never know if there is a problem and the servers go down or your system breaks down. Even a slight disruption can lead to huge losses and therefore efficient backing up is a must. Managed web hosts constantly back up your website, emails, and other data on a daily basis to ensure you can resume where you left off in case of an emergency. Again, this feature is not available with un-managed services. After all, their services are cheap for a reason.
Bandwidth
With un-managed hosting, you are actually sharing server space with other websites. If this number increases beyond a certain level, your bandwidth and speed might be compromised. With managed services, you get a dedicated server and this means you don’t have to compromise on speed or efficiency when accessing your data or using the internet. This means you won’t have to wait for the server to respond or deal with lengthy loading times, which is a major plus.
So, as you can see, for businesses, managed web hosting is the way to go to ensure productivity and efficiency.