Reliability, security and scalability most important for hosting users

Research into the UK hosting market by CWCS Managed Hosting has revealed that around half of senior IT decision makers consider reliability and uptime as the most important aspect of a hosted solution. Perhaps surprisingly, the cost of hosting was one of the least important considerations, lagging behind security and scalability.

The independent survey, carried out on behalf of CWCS in order to further understand the buying decisions of the UK’s IT professionals when they purchase hosted services, brought up some interesting results.

“We’re a hosting provider that prides itself on great reliability and uptime. This research confirms that purchasers and users consider these factors extremely important,” said Karl Mendez, CEO at CWCS Managed Hosting.

“However, I think it is also the case that reliability is now taken for granted, rather than something actively sought out. That’s why nearly 50% of people who responded to the survey actually rated other factors, such as security and reliability, as most important.”

“This is certainly food for thought for many hosting providers. It’s also why CWCS has always focussed on delivering comprehensive hosting solutions that are reliable, secure, flexible, and above all set up to meet the genuine business needs of our customers.” continued Mendez.

Security and scalability came second and third, respectively, in the survey. This shows that, with hosted services still seen as a relatively recent option for companies looking to supplement their in-house infrastructure and data storage solutions, the need for a system that can offer a protected environment that can grow (or reduce) as the business needs it to is high on the procurement wish-list of many companies.

“We feel that this survey provides useful insight in to what is important to companies as they choose their hosting provider. I’m pleased to say it confirms that CWCS has, on the whole, been getting it right and why we’re a growing business” continued Mendez. “UK hosting, security and scalability all featured strongly, which are key areas of focus for us.”

In addition, the survey revealed that the majority of purchasers would prefer the data centres they use to be located in the UK. Just over a quarter stated, however, that they have no preference for the location of their hosted data.

CWCS carried out an independent survey of IT decision makers at over 100 mid sized firms in the UK, to understand their attitudes to hosted services.