Malcolm Carter, a director of e-business hosting at IBM, said that the market is still immature. Now, as the business moves forward, so are the IT strategies. Given that technologies are changing so fast and there is a skills shortage, managed services are bound to show strong growth. Only 14 percent of firms worldwide currently buy Web hosting services. Low take-up is blamed on a lack of information and poor service experienced by some early customers.
Hosted services can help firms to cope with fast-changing technologies, and with skills shortages.
Firms should research Web hosts and negotiate contracts carefully to achieve the best results.