While welcoming new technologies, it is not always necessary to entirely abandon existing practices that have stood the test of time. This is exactly what we need to understand while welcoming cloud technologies for management of enterprise IT infrastructure.

Unless we fathom intricacies of different models of hosting, it would be not be possible to arrive at any specific conclusion. Let us try to understand different myths of managed hosting one by one.

Managed Cloud Hosting

Managed hosting is highly expensive

This is the commonest argument made against managed hosting and needs to be thoroughly analyzed. Managed hosting facilitates saving of huge capital costs needed to build internal IT infrastructures. It also frees enterprises from ongoing expenses of replacing outdated hardware and other maintenance costs.

An indirect advantage of a managed hosting is optimized use of company’s IT manpower. IT personnel are free to focus on business related projects rather than solving server related problems. This speeds up development process and enhances business efficiency as well as innovation and productivity.

We cannot make a blanket statement that cloud offers better cost benefits due to utility based payment model. This can be applicable only if the organization is not using cloud resources on round the clock basis. In such a situation, managed hosting would be much more economical than a cloud solution. One must understand that businesses must look at other factors such as reliability and stability while chalking out IT policies rather than purely financial considerations.

Managed hosting is not appropriate for critical workloads

Any business can only survive if it is able to establish credibility. It is obvious that managed hosting services have proved their credibility over a long period. Many large organizations, including some fortune 500 companies depend on managed service providers due the assurance of security. Managed hosting services are preferred by companies who have expert teams of IT professionals as well as startups. In many situations managed service-providers act as remotely located IT arms of organizations. It is also observed that number of enterprises rely on managed hosting services for secure data storage in well monitored and protected environment of data centers that are remotely located. In addition to this, managed hosting services ensure regular security audits and offer routine OS updates along with robust virus protection and SPAM filtering for added security.

Limited choices

It is perceived that customers are offered limited software choices in managed hosting. It may be true in case of certain service providers, but in majority of cases the customers can choose from wide array of choices. Modern hosting services offer database support, managed storage, application hosting, and many types of hosted services to support all types of businesses.

Security threats

Most of the security threats associated with managed hosting are associated with human errors or natural disasters. However, these risks can be minimized with proper planning and taking necessary precautions. Managed hosting is in fact more stable than cloud hosting that suffers from possibility of data loss in a shared cloud environment. Managed hosting relies on a single infrastructure and therefore offers more transparency as compared to a multi-pint cloud infrastructure.

Unique advantages of managed hosting

Managed hosting services ensure regular data backup procedures to offer immunity to customers against data loss. Enterprises can also rely on scalable storage solutions that grow with organization. Managed storage services relieve organizations from creating complex storage systems and ensure security of remote data centers for seamless data protection.

With stringent regulations and stiff competition, managed hosting services leave no stone unturned to offer the most impeccable hosting services to clients. Clients need not feel constrained due to limited choice of hosting solutions, because reputable hosts go one step ahead and offer highly customized services to match unique hosting needs of clients.

While looking at the two choices of hosting viz. cloud and managed services, one must understand that in spite of the great hype, cloud is also not entirely immune to various risks that are well documented.

Hosting is a vital support system of your website and is the oxygen for your online presence. One should take a prudent decision by analyzing priorities and risks involved in different alternatives of hosting before finalizing the right solution. In most of the cases, a managed hosting solution would be more appropriate than a cloud based service.

It would be a better idea to select a web host that offers traditional as well advanced hosting solutions. This will provide a smooth transition in the event of a changeover.