10 point checklist for choosing a hosted provider

by Jennifer Smith

22 May 2009

It’s a Catch-22 situation. Hosted services are a good option for smaller companies – they don’t have in-house IT staff and don’t want the hassle and expense of maintaining expensive servers. But because they don’t have in-house IT staff, they often don’t have the expertise to properly evaluate an external hosting provider.

I’ve written a 10-point checklist for choosing a hosting provider, published this week on FUMSI. I wanted to make it easier for anyone to evaluate how safe their information was likely to be when entrusted to an external company.

I see a need for an independent quality mark for hosting providers, to make it easier for customers to identify good hosting. But until then, I hope the checklist will at least help you know what questions to ask.