What to expect from hosting and support for a business system

Why this matters more than the build

Once a system is running the business, the build is history. What you live with every day is whether it is up in the morning, whether yesterday's work is safe, and whether somebody answers when you need a change. A well-built system that is badly looked after is a liability.

So ask about hosting and support before you sign, not after. Here is what good looks like, and how we do it.

Backups kept somewhere else

A backup on the same machine as the live system is not much of a backup. If that machine fails, both go together. Backups should be taken automatically, stored separately from the live system, and kept long enough that a mistake noticed a fortnight later can still be put right.

Ours are taken every night, stored separately from the live system and kept for thirty days. Whoever your supplier is, ask where the backups are, how often they are taken and how long they are kept.

Monitoring, so the supplier knows first

You should not be the one who discovers the system is down. A properly run system is checked automatically and often, so a problem raises an alarm with the people who can fix it.

We check every system every few minutes that it is up and answering, so we usually know about a problem before you do.

Patching and security

Every system sits on software that needs updating: the server, the language it is written in, the libraries it uses. Security fixes come out all the time. Somebody has to apply them, and it should not be you.

Certificates, domains and updates should be handled for you, with nothing to renew yourself. We are Cyber Essentials certified, and the systems we run are patched and kept current. Ask any supplier what certification they hold and who applies the updates.

Who you ring

This is the question people forget to ask. When something looks wrong on a Tuesday morning, who picks up, and do they know your system?

With us you deal directly with the people who built it, 8am to 6pm on weekdays and on Saturday mornings. There is no ticket desk passing you between people who have never seen your screens. Whoever you choose, get the hours and the number in writing.

How changes are handled

A business system is never finished. A new stage, a different report, a field somebody needs. The question is how those requests are dealt with, and what they cost you, before the first one arrives.

What the ongoing support covers is agreed at the start, so nobody works it out on the day you need something.

Your data, and getting it out

The data is yours, and you should be able to take it away whenever you like. Ask how it is exported and in what format, and ask to see it done rather than taking it on trust.

Your data is hosted in the UK, never shared, and can be exported in a standard format whenever you ask. We show you how on day one. Every system is documented as we go and runs on mainstream UK infrastructure rather than anything of our own making.

Questions to ask any supplier

• Where is the system hosted, and in which country?
• How often are backups taken, where are they kept, and for how long?
• How is the system monitored, and who is told when it goes down?
• Who applies security updates, and what certification do you hold?
• Who do we ring, during which hours, and do they know our system?
• What does support cover, and how are bigger changes agreed?
• How do we export our data, and can you show us?
• If you stopped trading, what would we have in hand?

What this means for you

Treat hosting and support as part of the decision, not an extra. A supplier who answers those questions quickly and in writing is one who has thought about them. One who hesitates is telling you something too.

The detail of how we look after systems is on our hosting and support page, and how we work covers the build that comes before it. If you would like to ask us any of the questions above directly, get in touch.