Are Hosted Solutions & Applications Reliable?

This is one of the most common questions we incur and one of the most common fears of business owners becoming interested in utilizing SaaS (software-as-a-service) applications. To refresh your memory, SaaS applications, just like our collaboration software, are hosted on the Internet by companies, known as the providers. Instead of purchasing software and running it on your own private servers, you can utilize these SaaS application to avoid server and infrastructure costs, as well as deploy instantly.

Back to the topic at hand. Are hosted solutions and applications reliable? You might as well ask yourself, "Is the Internet Reliable?"

If you've made it 2010, especially as a business-owner, and you still don't think the Internet is reliable enough to be embraced by businesses, you're going to have a problem. Enough trash talk - let's get into some detail.

Yes, the Internet has seen some issues in the past. Some major services and software providers have gone down or had data issues. It's what happens with technology, computer systems, and applications. It occasionally happens - everywhere. But we're comparing hosting software with self-hosted software. So for now, both sides are even (unless you're crazy enough to think that your self-hosted system isn't going to see an issue). What goes into the question "Are hosted solutions and applications reliable?" - uptime, downtime, and recovery-time.

As mentioned before, occasionally a popular Internet service goes down and sends everyone into a panic asking whether or not this is the end of the Internet. Calm down people - it happens once in a while. So, you're a paranoid small-to-medium sized business owner. You decided your software should run internally, managed by some tech who refers to the extra closet in your office as the data center. Things are running relatively well for a while.

Now here's a small list of things that will happen, and the usual result in a self-hosted environment:

• Updates are released and they need to be installed.
  • Your tech comes in during work hours, takes the server down for at least an hour to install the updates while everyone sits and waits.
• A server glitch makes the software inaccessible.
  • An employee working from home late at night notices the problem and emails the boss and tech. They're sleeping so the problem goes unfixed until later the next day.
• A storm rolls in, knocking out power to the building.
  • Sit and wait in the dark.
• Your office is broken in to by thieves.
  • Your server and sensitive data are gone and exposed.
• You make yet another crack at your tech's collection of Star Trek action figures.
  • He decides he'd rather sell your company's data than work for you
• A hardware component on the server malfunctions and needs to be replaced.
  • Your tech drives to the nearest electronics store, hoping to find something that works.
• Your server is showing some strange errors and nothing is working.
  • You and your tech aren't trained to handle every problem a system can throw at you. You waste time searching the web or calling for help.

These are just a few scenarios that come to mind. Sounds pretty bad. How would these scenarios play out with a hosted solution like ours?

• Updates are released and they need to be installed.
  • The patches are either deployed passively, without you being interrupted, or scheduled to be released at a time convenient to you - such as on Sunday at midnight.
• A server glitch makes the software inaccessible.
  • Our server providers, a leading company in server hosting, automatically notices the downed server via their monitoring software. Their experienced staff which is on hand 24/7, tends to the issue and has it back in minutes.
• A storm rolls in, knocking out power to the building.
  • Massive backup generators which protect the entire data center kick in, making it like the storm never came.
• Your office is broken in to by thieves.
  • The large data center facilities, which is actively monitored and secured 24/7, don't get broken in to.
• You make yet another crack at your tech's collection of Star Trek action figures.
  • The servers and data aren't accessible by potentially disgruntled individuals.
• A hardware component on the server malfunctions and needs to be replaced.
  • The highly trained technical staff has a building loaded with every computer component that could ever be needed. The item is replaced quickly.
• Your server is showing some strange errors and nothing is working.
  • Having a large, overqualified technical staff on hand means that no error is strange.

There's a reason we utilize one of the largest, most trusted server hosting companies in this country. And there's obviously a reason you should be to. Most likely, you're not a technician or don't have the time to be one. Your job is to focus on your business - and that is it. Why waste your time with software, servers, and technology when you can let us.

Got any scenarios you think should be added? Have any feedback the issue? Please let us know with a comment below.