Should You Be Taking Advantage Of Managed Cloud Hosting?

Five years ago, asking someone whether they wanted their cloud hosting to be managed would have elicited little more than a confused expression. However, in the age of cloud computing this is one of the key decisions that companies have to make on a daily basis, regarding the way their websites and data are maintained.
For those who are new here, cloud hosting involves storing content for (and providing access to) a company’s website via a third party organisation’s networks. Rather than physically hosting the site on the marketing manager’s PC or a server machine in the IT room, the various web pages are hosted within a dedicated data centre which can be located anywhere around the world (VPS.NET has data centres in 19 different worldwide locations!). The third-party host is responsible for bandwidth and access, ensuring that the site is constantly accessible regardless of how much traffic it receives at any given time.
However, it’s possible to ask your web hosting company to do far more than this. Managed cloud hosting provides a package of tools alongside expert support for almost any problem that may arise, from routine maintenance to Denial of Service attacks. While larger companies may require dedicated servers for huge resource-intensive etail or multimedia platforms, most sites can adopt shared hosting to save costs. These funds can then be redirected towards offsite technical support and round-the-clock assistance – the IT department your company never had.
By contrast, unmanaged cloud hosting sees the provider hosting the site and managing bandwidth demand from customers and visitors. And that’s usually all there is to it. You’ll be responsible for changes and updates to issues like security patches and software programs; you’ll take the reins. There’s no automatic assistance if data storage approaches capacity, but hosts such as us at VPS.NET do have an on-demand support team who are available around the clock.
From the preceding two paragraphs, you’d be forgiven for presuming that managed cloud hosting represents an obvious choice. However, many companies prefer the alternative. An existing in-house IT professional may be perfectly capable of handling website building and server repairs as well as being responsible for software updates and potential security breaches. Unmanaged hosting can provide greater flexibility over issues like software and customisation, effectively presenting the same blank canvas as if the website were being hosted in the IT room after all.
Conversely, if the prospect of patching a security hole has you reaching for the stapler, managed hosting represents a safe and worry-free option. Our team of experts will be manning our data centres at all times, ready to resolve any technical issues that arise, even at 3am on a Sunday. Placing your site’s maintenance and management in the hands of an offsite provider represents no security risk either as managed cloud hosting has been specifically designed to ensure total data privacy, plus the highest possible levels of protection against malicious access.
As one of the leading global web hosting companies, VPS.NET can assist with the decision between managed and unmanaged cloud hosting. Our servers regularly host multiple websites and unlimited email simultaneously, and our services are provided in a jargon-free manner that even the most bewildered of marketing managers can understand. We have data centres around the world from San Jose to Singapore, and we can even provide free analytics tools to identify where website traffic is coming from. Whichever hosting solution you decide upon, we’re here to help.