As an independent software vendor, or ISV, with a growing business to run, you need all the support you can get. Much of this comes from within your organization, from your team members and stakeholders. Additionally, like any business, you also rely on a group of outside vendors to provide you with other services, including cloud management, infrastructure, and hosting.

Some of your providers offer simple and straightforward services, but as an ISV, you know that the more comprehensive the services are, the better able you are to offer superior services to your customers.

ISVs Then and Now

In the early 2000s to the mid-teens, many ISVs built their software using traditional hosting infrastructure – paid for and managed themselves, in-house. Today, as ISVs grow, many are looking to move away from using proprietary in-house infrastructure and to migrate their applications to the cloud or to a dedicated hosting provider.

As an ISV moving through this sort of growth, it’s in your best interest to focus on forming alliances and partnerships with your key service providers, rather than just signing onto a basic client/vendor arrangement. Here, we’ll explore hosting partners in greater detail, and why ISVs should look for a hosting provider that can become a strategic partner, rather than just another service provider.

3 Reasons Why ISVs Need a Strong Hosting Partner

ISVs, today, are fortunate to have a plethora of IT solutions available to them, and hosting is part of that landscape of choices. While there are certainly more than enough hosting companies out there, a savvy ISV will think beyond the basics to find a hosting partner, versus merely a provider.

There are many benefits of working with a strong hosting partner, and these three reasons make the top of the list:

1 – Escalated Support

Most hosting providers provide basic support services. In some cases, this bare-bones level of support may seem just fine – that is, until disaster strikes in the form of costly downtime, security threats, or data loss. These are legitimate risks for any business, and a provider with a more robust support system can help you get back on your feet faster by providing 24/7 access to escalated support, account managers, and solutions. 

2 – Flexibility & Scalability

As your ISV business grows, so you will your infrastructure needs. Cobbling together a plan as you go isn’t the best approach to growth or to providing a superior customer experience. Rather, you’ll want to partner with a hosting provider that can help you create a strategic roadmap for growth that meets your needs now and can be scaled to fit your needs as the business grows. 

3 – Personalized Attention

Hosting Partners have other customers – sometimes lots of other customers. A relationship framed as a partnership rather than one that’s simply a customer/vendor arrangement allows you to position your software offering in front of other customers through the host when the timing is right. 

 Finding the Right Hosting Partner

Finding the best hosting partner for your organization can be difficult. There are many hosting providers out there, but they are not all created equal. Here are a few questions that can help:

• What type of companies do you typically work with?

It’s not imperative that your hosting partner has other clients that are exactly like yours, but it does make good sense to pair with a vendor that has experience working with similar clientele.

Before signing on to an agreement with a hosting provider, it’s in your best interest to vet them for the types of industries they work with, the size of their typical client, and so on. You’ll also want to pay special attention to this if your software involves any sort of compliance so that you can ensure your new hosting partner has the capacity and experience to manage those requirements.

• What type of support do you offer?

Strong support infrastructure is an essential component of the right hosting partner for your business. 24/7 support is non-negotiable, and you should request a detailed outline of what support services your new hosting partner will provide.

For example, will you have a dedicated account manager? What measures are in place in the event of a data breach or security violation? A realistic understanding of the threats is vital to effectively plan for a security incident and creating risk mitigation strategies. Find out what potential hosting partners are prepared to offer in these circumstances and what approach they take to mitigating data loss and other risks.

 What types of technologies do you specialize in?

A good hosting partner is versatile in the technologies that they specialize in, but it’s important to ask questions ahead of time to ensure they can handle your needs, whether that’s working with current technologies or legacy infrastructure.

Connectria as Your Strategic Hosting Partner

Contact the Connectria team to discuss your business and your needs. Together, we can form a strategic hosting partnership to meet and exceed your business’s needs.

Connectria goes beyond the basics of generic hosting by providing a wide range of managed services that offer:

• A tailored approach to working with your business and a customized roadmap for success.
• Extensive experience with businesses of all sizes and across all industries.
• The ability to offer cloud, dedicated, and compliant hosting environments.
• Solutions that can easily scale with your business as you grow and develop.
• Unlimited support with customized solutions for your specific needs.
• Budget-minded hosting solutions that reduce your expenses and operating costs.