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Validating Reliability of Your Web Service Vendor
Talk is cheap. If you really want to know how reliable a company is going to be, you have to do a little research. The harder it is for you to obtain the information you need to choose your new provider, the bigger indication it should be that you have something to worry about.
Here are some basic questions you should ask yourself and your potential web service provider:
- Can you see the service provider's customers? Why not?
- Are there links back to the service provider from the customer's website?
- Does the service provider have public testimonials?
- Can you trace the testimonials to real people who you can call?
- If the testimonial were from American Idol, would it sound like something Simon, Randy or Paula said?
- Do you know who they are? Names, faces, and experience?
- Will support be over email, telephone or face-to-face?
- Are they fulltime?
- Are they profitable?
- Are they at risk to the ups and downs of the market cycles?
- How long have they been doing this?
- Testimonials might not cut it because not everyone has a talent (or the resources) to monitor their website. You need proof. Preferably from a third party.
- Do they publish downtimes, hide it, or not even know?
- When do they perform server maintenance?
- What type of maintenance do they usually perform?
- Exactly how many times was their website down last year?
- Do they assume full responsibility for outages? Or do they blame external web hosting providers, datacenters, network providers, or the weather?
You deserve a web service partner who can pass your trust test.
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