Originally Posted by SweetT

The biggest thing is to make sure that you have systems in place that are constantly interrogating your network. Most hosting companies will not spend the money to write something in-house, they simply rely on what is available over the counter to monitor, trouble shoot and interrogate the network....and trust me from experience, they all suck. We have custom written software that will tell me any time a server as much as hiccups...in fact, it will predict that the server is going to hiccup and will alert my guys before the actual hiccup occurs so that we can be proactive and correct a problem before the client ever notices. By doing this we cut down on our phone calls....less phone calls means faster response.

Second, we hire high level people that can get the job done quickly and completely so that someone else is not having to waste their time correcting others mistakes. So many hosting companies hire $12/hr people to be their "lackeys" and they have 1 or sometimes 2 people who really know what they are doing....the problem is that the 1 or 2 spend all of their time cleaning up after the lackeys and cant get the job done timely....plus occasionally they want to take a day off. We have our guys divided up into Classes and Teams. Each team has AT LEAST a Shift Supervisor (who is classified as a Senior System Administrator...it means that he can handle 100% of everything that happens on his shift) and at least an SA2 (System Administrator, Second Level...it means that he can handle 85% of everything but can escalate it to the Shift Supervisor if there is a problem). Some teams will have an additional SA1 that is "in training" but the SA1 is not allowed to interact with clients....he just observes and learns. Some teams also have an SA3 which is the last stop before someone is promoted to Shift Supervisor...it means that he can handle anything that comes along but he just does not have his own team yet. Of course, in addition we have a Director and Assistant Director of Technical Services that work during the day and deal with pushing forth policy changes and such but they will absolutely get involved with a customer when it is necessary.

So....in two words what sets us apart?? Systems and People.


--T