What do you do if the CFO or CEO walks in with a report on hosting failure from the popular tech media such as Computerworld, The Register, ZDNet, or a mainstream media outlet? Calm down. Breathe easy. A publicized hosting failure doesn’t mean the sky is falling or that outsourcing is a bad idea.
A Litany of Disasters
In the last four months, Fasthosts, a UK-based e-mail and Web hosting company, has demonstrated nearly every outsourcing horror story cliché. Here’s a quick tour of the media coverage.
- Electrical failure causing outage. On July 16, Fasthosts clients lost service for four hours while an electrical panel was repaired.
- Floods. On July 23, Fasthosts HQ was threatened by flood-waters. While those waters never entered the facility, local telephone service failed and employees were unable to get to the facility. The resulting admin shortage resulted in some clients losing service, with reduced capability for clients to establish telephone contact.
