Many companies today are realising the benefits of outsourcing their Web sites - according to Forrester Research, two thirds are now hosted externally. As these sites may be mission-critical to company business with thousands of pounds being spent on advertising to drive Internet traffic to them, there can be no room for failure. Whether a company's Web site is a key component to its business or not, in most instances, a Web site is a company's public 'face'. Gone are the days when a customer would happily wait some time for a Web site to download, or even return to a site that might be down for a while - now, a negative experience will send customers to competitive sites and the chances are, they won't bother going back. Difficult decisions One of the most difficult decisions that company management has to make, is whether to host the site internally or to outsource to a hosting services provider.
Web server outsourcing offers great promise.
Selecting a provider who can deliver on this promise is critical. These are decisions that cannot be taken lightly. By outsourcing, a company is physically separating its corporate network from its public Internet server. This eliminates the possibility of unauthorised access to corporate resources through the Web server. Outsourcers should provide extensive security measures to safeguard each Web server from unauthorised physical access and access to the Internet.