Step one
In the initial phase, an organisation must ask:
- Why do we want to work with a hosting company?
- What are the risks?
- What are the benefits?
- Do the benefits outweigh the risks?
- What sort of relationship do I expect from a hosting company?
- What sort of relationship will they expect?
- Don’t take anything for granted.
- How will we measure results and whether the relationship is working?
Step two
Analyse your business needs in the areas that you are considering outsourcing.
Are you looking to save costs/money?
What service guarantees do you need in place (SLA – link)? Do be aware that the more rigorous the SLA is the likelihood is that the price will be higher. You may find that the standard SLA more than meets your business requirements.
Step three
Identify the right supplier.
- Use the Conjungo ‘Find a Hosting supplier’ search box on the top right hand side of this page.
- Look through magazine and online reviews.
- Talk to others who have recently installed a hosting solution in the same area as you.
- Use forums, networks and personal contacts to obtain recommendations.
Ask questions such as:
- Who has the experience of working with a company of the same size and profile as yours? This is particularly important if you use your system for ‘trading’ or ecommerce purposes.
- Are any of those suppliers local to where you are located?
- How many similar customers do they have?
- How many ‘outages’ have they had that have impacted their customers?
- If their services were not working, how long was this for?
- Ask for references – ensure that the company is capable and reliable.
- Talk to a couple of their customers in order to see what benefits have been gained and what pains those customers went through when installing the system.
- Obtain a credit check to ensure that they are financially stable.
Step four
Request a detailed proposal from three or four of your preferred suppliers.
- Set a deadline for when you need the proposal back.
- Give out details in advance as necessary to ensure that the suppliers you have selected can give you the best proposal.
- Go and meet them in person – get a good feel for whether you will be able to work with them.
Step five
Select a supplier.
- Who best demonstrates that they understand your business and your requirements?
- Is it cost effective? Have they shown how and where you will save money?
- Does it clearly demonstrate the functional benefits – rather than just listing particular features? Does the proposal clearly show what the benefits are?
- Have you spoken to a couple of your preferred suppliers’ customers?
- Agree on financial terms – Will the service be payable monthly or annually?
- Don’t agree to anything more than a three year agreement. Committing to more can be short sighted as you may wish to re-evaluate the agreement for shorter period of time. While it might be necessary to revert to using the courts in the event that you are given unsatisfactory service, it can be expensive and time consuming to do so.
Step six
Implementation
- Plan how you will handover the hosting with your supplier. This is easier if you are starting from scratch. If you are moving from your own system to a hosting service provider you must ensure that all data is transferred and backed up.
- The same applies if you are moving from a current supplier to a new one. The transition phase is extremely important so ensure that there strong communication between your previous and new supplier until you are satisfied that the project is complete.
- You may need to run each system in parallel for a short time until the hosted services supplier is in full control.
- Communicate regularly especially in the early days of implementation to ensure that all your questions and issues are addressed.
Service Level Agreements
A service level agreement (SLA) is a list of services and objectives that the hosting company agrees to deliver. These terms can differ according to organisation type. For example, if your company uses the website to sell goods or services and this service wasn’t working properly this would have a negative impact on your business and credibility. It is important that you agree on a SLA to ensure that any commitments made by the hosting company are legally binding.
The SLA provides a framework that both you and your service provider agree to. In broad terms, it may be that the hosting company must respond to an issue within a fixed time, provide you with problem management and resolution and offer performance measurement reporting.
If the SLA conditions are consistently not met, you could terminate the agreement and your supplier could face penalties. These penalties are often financial and therefore act as a deterrent to delivering poor service (unless there are justifying circumstances).