DO-IT-YOURSELF You host the Web site yourself, relying
purely on in-house resources except for the external
connectivity. PROS: * No service costs to pay * You
have total control over the application CONS: * Can
be difficult and expensive to maintain the required
expertise * You may not have an ideal physical environment
* Coping with future increase in demand may be painful.
YANILLA CO-LOCATION Hosting company provides the
physical space and associated environmental services,
including building access security, for your Web server
and the connectivity to the Internet. However, the
server is yours and you manage everything else to
do with it, including the hardware, operating system
and application. PROS: * Far cheaper than full-blown
dedicated hosting, while avoiding all the environmental
and connectivity issues of in-house hosting CONS:
* You stilt need the resources to manage the Web server
itself including operating system and application.
CO-MANAGED This is a half-way house, in which you
still look after the application, but now the hosting
company owns and administers the server and the operating
system, as well as providing all the basic co-location
facilities. This represents a split in responsibility
between the IT platform and the application running
on it. PROS: * It off-loads all responsibility for
hardware and operating system, allowing you to focus
on the application * Cheaper than full dedicated hosting
CONS: * Considerably more expensive than co-location
* You still have to look after the application, which
is often the main source of reliability problems.
DEDICATED HOSTING Here the hosting company looks
after everything to do with the IT of your Web site,
including the application and even processing-electronic
payments. PROS: * It off-loads all responsibility
for IT, allowing you to focus purely on products and
customers CONS: * Very expensive * You will stilt
deal with customers and products * You may stilt have
to grapple with complex integration issues involving
in-house systems.
FULL-BLOWN PROCESS OUTSOURCING This is dedicated
hosting with the additional component of managing
processes such as CRM and product pricing, in effect
outsourcing the whale e-commerce operation, concentrating
on the products or services you provide but leaving
the online distribution to the service provider. PROS:
* It off-loads some of the integration issues (or
all of them if you resort to total outsourcing of
IT) * Fastest route to new online markets CONS * Adds
even more to the cost * Extends dependence on hosting
provider beyond IT provision into customer relationship
management, which may be beyond its core competence.
Case study: Warner Brothers International Theatre
(WBIT) WBIT. like some other national cinema chains.
recently established a Web site supporting online
ticket sales. With rivals moving online, WBIT decided
it needed to act quickly, setting itself a tight four-month
deadline. The business plan for a Web presence coupled
with online ticket sales was only completed in February
2000. However, the company wanted to go live in time
for the launch in July of the year's biggest movie.
Star Wars, Episode One -- The Phantom Menace. According
to James Scott, WBIT project director, this tight
deadline narrowed the field of contenders significantly
and meant that only a seasoned hosting provider could
be considered. BT was chosen largely on the strength
of its existing relationship with WBIT for telecoms
services. The deadline was met, and the site quickly
proved popular, with seven million hits in a month
shortly after going live. This is an example of dedicated
hosting, in which the provider looks after all IT
issues relating to provision and operation of the
Web site. But it is not full-blown outsourcing, because
WBIT looks after the actual ticketing systems within
each local cinema. The site is managed on BT's own
server farm in Milton Keynes and this interacts with
WBIT's network connecting the local cinemas. When
a customer checks times of films and orders a ticket,
the enquiry runs through the BT server farm to WBIT's
central system in its London headquarters and is then
routed to the requested local cinema. The ticket order
is then processed in the local cinema's system and
a message confirming -- or if fully booked denying
-- the purchase is sent back via the same route.
