The Service Game
Learn the New Rules Before You Compete
By Henry W. (Hank) Jones III
As corporate Web sites have evolved from billboards to transactional sites, both traditional and pure-play businesses have turned to outside experts to provide necessary services. Your company will need to work with these new infrastructure service providers. Fortunately, many of the rules of working with them have parallels to companies expanding their brick-and-mortar infrastructure in the physical world.
And now hosting companies offer more than fat bandwidth, robust power, and hardware farms. Both established and newer vendors are adding data storage, security consulting, procurement of hardware and software, and other related services.
Your business increasingly depends on a transactional Web site that's swift, safe, and stable—qualities that brick-and-mortar businesses depend on in their office buildings, warehouses, or factories. In addition, there are several other considerations you must make when choosing a Web-hosting service, such as: How will you procure site services? Can you estimate your actual rental costs? Will you be able to relocate to a better vendor later without unexpected expenses or obstacles?
When traditional businesses lease commercial space, construct a factory, or rent storage space, they rely on well-established building codes, zoning laws, familiar contract provisions, and expert advisors to guide their progress. Similarly, companies are increasingly outsourcing their Internet operations to third-party service firms.
