You might be completely sold on the benefits of using managed hosting. But, as usual, your boss isn’t convinced. So how do you sell your boss on the benefits of letting somebody else manage company servers?
We wrote this guide specifically for those working in web development, IT, and marketing. We want you to be equipped to persuade bosses to make a wise decision.
7-step approach to persuade your boss that managed hosting will help the business
1. Help them overcome fear
Winston Churchill once said:
“ To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often. ”
But unfortunately, it’s all too common for people in management positions to be reluctant to embrace change. Most people fear the unknown, and many fear making mistakes. They’re afraid of everything and everybody, whether or not they admit it to others or even themselves. It includes investors, their bosses, their industry peers, even their own employees.
As an employee, it’s your job to help them overcome this fear. After all, you’re part of their team, and coaches aren’t perfect. Every company needs team leaders — like yourself — to make sure the business constantly improves and becomes more efficient.
Focus less on “management” of the server, and focus more on the topics discussed below: ROI, productivity, guarantees, better quality, etc.
As discussed in a recent SSL article, sometimes hosting is more psychology than tech!
2. Reduce costs, save time
Managed hosting helps businesses save time, and time = money.
Being efficient means investing resources where they’ll give maximum return on investment (ROI). And managing hosting issues is probably not maximising the value of time spent.
Remind the boss how much you’re paid per hour. Tell him that you spend (on average) about 1 hour per day on non-revenue-generating hosting maintenance.
Now go one step further. Calculate how much time you spent weekly, then monthly, on hosting-related chores. Do the same for everyone in your team, and add it up. In total, you probably spend weeks of time fiddling with servers. Now multiply that by your hourly wage. Big number, isn’t it?
Show your boss that number. Now tell him that managed hosting (1) costs less, and (2) free you up for more-important revenue-generating activities.
With most bosses, money talks. For large companies, the savings can be massive.
3. Predictable costs
Managed hosting fees are billed as a monthly flat fee, so you can easily predict costs, making budgeting for IT expenses simple. Management, hosting and backups are all bundled together. Best of all, there’s no capital expenditure and no salaries for hires.
4. Single point of contact
Modern business often means more contract workers and vendors – aka, too many cooks in the kitchen. Trying to manage them all can be like herding cats.
When you run your own server, you have several software vendors, several hardware vendors, programmers, and IT personnel. Many progressive modern businesses also work in “the cloud”, so these people are geographically spread as well. It can make for a not-fun experience when troubleshooting issues, or even simply upgrading.
Managed hosting makes life easier. The IT department gets a single point of contact for hardware, software, security, and management. One conversation, or one support ticket, and that’s all it takes.
And unlike employees, a managed hosting provider like EuroVPS doesn’t take vacation or sick days. We’re here 24/7/365. Your boss will like that!
5. Proactive, superior support
Hosting controls your company’s presence on the internet. Quality service matters – and it should matter to your boss too.
A quality managed host like EuroVPS provides high-touch support. And that differentiates us from the hordes of generic “managed” hosts. Like in any business, better communication means less confusion, hassle and overall aggravation.
If you’re the unfortunate “IT guy” responsible for managing your company’s self-managed servers, you can never guarantee that something won’t go wrong while you’re sleeping. Hardware fails, code breaks, mistakes happen. And hiring 24/7 or on-call IT staff just to monitor your servers can be cost prohibitive.
A managed hosting provider has 24/7 support staff who monitor client servers and web infrastructure. They’ll monitor your server, even if you’re asleep, ensuring that any issues are dealt with immediately and resolutely.
6. Security
Server security is a huge priority for any business. Server security covers various aspects of security under its umbrella such as:
- Running security audits
- Spam filtering
- Virus scanning
- Software firewall configuration
- OS updates
Hosting providers are equipped with the tools needed, and are experienced in using them. They constantly scan the operating system and core application to find security vulnerabilities, which they can fix in order to prevent the server from being attacked.
7. Intelligent scalability based on the right metrics
The ability to scale later means that you don’t make mistakes in selecting hardware. Your boss will love that because it means less wasted money. Boss-man wont mind being able to handle much-desired spikes in traffic either!
There’s no need to rely on gut feelings or spend excess time projecting your future needs. Seasoned engineers at a managed hosting provider can usually help guide you to the ideal product, as they have experience at this.
At EuroVPS, we audit your critical server metrics and provide a better assessment of how you should scale. For example, scaling vertically (ie. adding more RAM, CPU cores, or disks), might not be the best for you. We frequently find that scaling horizontally (ie. spreading server roles across multiple servers, or using a load balancer) is a better solution for specific cases.
Let EuroVPS help!
As an enterprise hosting provider, we’re experienced at talking to bosses, be they middle management or a C-level executive. We can provide detailed .PDFs for RFPs (Request for Proposals) outlining exactly what we can offer up request!
