Ten Ways to Improve Data Center Efficiency

At ISPCON session S5, panelists said that most data centers could make significant changes and realize real improvements.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [June 1, 2007]

At the ISPCON session "10 Ways for Hosts to Improve Business and Datacenter Efficiency", a "tag team" composed of two people presented. Douglas Johnson Sr. is product manager at hosting systems provider SWsoft. Tobby Davasia is an executive at Bobcares.com, part of Poornam, which lists him as lead developer.

1) Use IT
This apparently obvious piece of advice is frequently given to ISPs and hosts and yet many fail to exploit the opportunity. The business is run on IP. Every transaction can be timed and quantified and yet managers do not tend to set expectations.

"Get numbers and set targets," said Davasia. "You can set monthly, quarterly, and annual targets."

"Also, keep a quarterly IT budget and have one person responsible. Hire a project manager if you have to. The person will keep the budget and anticipate expenditures, such as new software releases."

Processes should be automated "All aspects of the business should be IT driven: signup, provision, inventory, billing, and cancellation. Take advantage of CRM software such as Salesforce.com and asset management software such as CaleamEAM (open source) or Hardcat (commercial)."

2) Automate ordering and e-commerce
In a sense, this is a subset of item number one, but it's where the money is, so it bears repeating.

Davasia said that ISPs must track the performance of websites. Even if it's just a monthly cron job, check the website load time and response time. You can use free tools like Opentracker and phpmyvisites for tracking visitors and JMeter and Grinder for tracking site performance.

"If the site response time is bad, you need to upgrade the server, or, better still, simplify the website. You can have eye candy and Ajax but keep the website light and product descriptions simple."

As a webhost, you want to allow customers to build their own server configurations, but do perform some basic checks on their order. Don't allow customers to provision something that's out of stock, and do ensure that all the hardware they're ordering is compatible.

Do use automated fraud detection. Providers include X-Cart and Fraudguardian and may be available through your billing provider.

At this point, Johnson took the podium.

3) Automate provisioning
Johnson said that many webhosts have 50 steps or more in their setup. Then, after a customer has completed all the steps, they have to wait until the domain is updated, which can take a day or two or more.

Instead, he advised hosts to be plugged into a registrar, automating domain registration. He said it's good to give a customer a temporary domain so that they can see what they've bought. A provisioning system should work with your billing system to offer service according to plan levels (i.e., Platinum, Gold, Electrum, Silver, etc.). It should be as automated as possible but also allow manual provisioning if that becomes necessary.

4) Use virtualization
Johnson said that your infrastructure should support "true virtualization", should be managed, should deliver high availability, and should offer SaaS applications to your customers. "It should enable convenient re-provisioning and support large off-peak migrations," he said.

5) Self service control panels
Is it easy for customers to upgrade their stuff? You want them to spend money! Make it easy.

6) Standardize applications
You need documented processes in order for everything to work perfectly. Johnson told the story of one of his customers who lost a customer when one tech unplugged a mail server and set it aside for upgrading. Another found it, didn't know it had important data on it, formatted it, and set it up for a new customer. The company served a new customer at the cost of an old, loyal one.

7) Build an upgrade process
More applications mean more monthly dollars for you.

8) Automate billing
Make sure everything is paid for. Don't provide services to people using stolen credit cards. You need a system for ordering, invoicing, and provisioning.

9) Create a marketing vision
Davasia returned to the podium. He said that you should define a business plan and stick to it. He noted that few hosts are pursuing verticals, leaving opportunities for anyone able to specialize.

Davasia said hosts should use modern marketing methods including adwords, direct mail, advertisements, and blogging. "Start slow if your marketing budget is low," he advised.

He told the story of a customer that grew from providing shared hosting to dedicated hosting to owning their own data center.

10) Hire the right support stuff
Most companies, Davasia said, rely on word of mouth rather than advertising. Those that are able to do so have a very good support staff. "They hire people who are good techs: knowledgeable, honest, polite, and fast."

If you choose to outsource tech support, ask a lot of questions about prospective providers, including: SLA, referrals, how many years they have been in the business, who do they hire (qualifications and attitude), infrastructure, do they follow standards like ISO 9001:2000, can they provide support 24 x 7 (even if you don't want this today, you might need it in the future).

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