Ab

AFP 10 MDI, Gurgaon AA

MIS Assignment Comparative Analysis Of Web Hosting Services

By :Roll No. : 055 Roll No. : 008

Wg Cdr Urmila Sahu Sqn Ldr Ashutosh Bahuguna (Retd)

Index Sl No

Topic

Pages No

Introduction

03

Evaluation Of Effectiveness : Web Hosting Services

04

1

Listing for top 12 Webhosting Sites from www.ecomresourcecenter.com

05 - 06

Compared Websites and ratings by www.ecomresourcecenter.com

07-08

Categorization of services for Comparison Of The Web Hosting Services

09

Services available in compared websites

10 - 17

Comparative analysis and ranking of Webhosting Sites

18-26

Overall Ranking of compared Sites

27

Introduction 1.

Webhosting and provision of online business solutions is a boon to the

e-commerce industry. The webhosting services enable business holders to host their website in the global sales window-‘The Internet’. The webhosting sites provide, web designing, webhosting and online solutions of various business needs. The standard requirements of running a business are bundled in packages. The services which are peculiar to certain businesses are dealt with as additional services and value added services. There is a separate premium payment charged for these additional services. 2.

The webhosting services of today provide a number of online solutions. These

may differ from one site to another. Outsourcing the webhosting services eases out the burden of networking resources including the internet connectivity, web designing, transaction processing applications, secure online financial transaction services, storage 2

space for data, backup of data, website registration process and update of services according to current requirements. 3.

It is certainly beneficial to the organisations to utilise the webhosting services.

Even small businesses are utilising these services to improve their productivity and process efficiency. This e-transformation of the world market will boost the globalisation drive prevalent for the last three decades. Mutually acquired benefits of increased productivity will pace the growth of the Webhosting providers as well as the customers. The clientele of the web hosting users will multiply. Removal of global barriers though communications and e-services will increase the demand of all business. This increase in demand will have to be supported by an enhanced production supported by an efficient logistics and sales system. All services and processes involved would require the intervention of technology and the web hosting services to keep up the pace of progress. Thus we can say that the market of the webhosting services will always be available and the constant improvement in services will drive the growing businesses of tomorrow.

Evaluation Of

Increasing Decreasing Time Returns From Growth Business Rate Growth Rate

4.Like all business, any

business

utilising hosting

the

web

services

follows a trend of ‘

increase in growth’ and

a

‘decline

in

growth’. If a graph is plotted of the growth of business against time it would usually be a convex curve. A sample of the curve is depicted below :2

It is very important to use the feedback and analysis tools to identify the position

5.

of business in the graph. The aim of any evaluation is to maintain a steady growth and avoid the decreasing rate of growth by constantly improving business processes. For evaluating web hosting services, a number of related services, technologies and users have to be evaluated. The inefficiencies related any of the links in the system should be rectified in time to avoid losses. Some of the factors which are generally considered while evaluating web hosting services are user friendliness, networking resources, database storage and backup, application services, online transaction services, regular updates, E mail services, value added services etc. It is imperative to carry out the SWOT analysis before e-transformation of the business using a web hosting service. The web hosting service will also have to be evaluated towards this end. A number of rating agencies are available who provide online consultancy for the

6.

analysis. For the purpose of comparison of web hosting services the data provided by the website “www.ecomresourcecenter.com” has been utilised.

A COMPARISON OF SOME OF THE PRESENT WEB HOSTING SERVICES Sl No

Company Name

Service Name

Pricing

1 Pow Web .

Starter

$8 per month

2 Acorn Hosting .

Starter (including $2 for dedicated IP)

$10 per month

2

Overall Company/Service Rating

3 West Host .

Special

$12 per month

4 Apollo Hosting .

Business

$30 per month

5 Volution .

Steel

$30 per month

6 CoreCommerce .

Basic

$40 per month

7 Percision Web .

Standard

$45 per month

8 Payment Online .

eCommerce Solution

$50 per month

9 Network Solutions Standard .

$50 per month

1 Pinnacle Cart 0 .

Starter

$55 per month

1 1 and 1 Internet 1 .

Starter eShop

$10 per month

1 Shopify 2 .

Basic

$24 per month + 2% of Revenue/Sales

1 Yahoo 3 .

Merchant Starter

$40 per month

Source : http://www.ecomresourcecenter.com/

Graphical Representation of Comparison of Web Hosting Services (On A Scale Of 5)

Bar Chart for rating of web hosting services by “ecomresourcecenter.com” 2

Web Hosting Services For Comparative Analysis 6.

All web hosting services have different packages which makes their comparison

difficult. However, the basic facilities provided can be compared to find out the best site suitable for the business, keeping in mind all packages and additional services provided by the web hosting company. The sites that have been chosen for comparison are :a. b. c. Company Name & URL

How Long in Business

Yahoo Shopify PowWeb Yahoo

Shopify

http://smallbusiness.yaho http://www.shopify.com o.com

Since 1995

PowWeb http://www.powweb.com

Since 2006

Since 1999

Ottawa, Canada

Burlington, Massachusetts

Location Sunnyvale, California

Service Description This solution offers unlimited products storefront and unlimited space for hard disk and unlimited bandwidth. In

Simple to use, has many features, ideal for a start-up company that wants to get onto the Internet and start selling 1

Three ecommerce web hosting solutions that include the ShopSite shopping cart software (although not many

addition, a new business account received $100 Yahoo search marketing bonus.

really fast. Reasonable pricing.

features are included with the STARTER package).

7. The website comparison on the basis of the data provided by www.ecomresourcecenter.com and the ratings provided by the same website are given below. The sites have been rated on a scale of 5.

Comparison of Three Web Hosting Services..Ratings and pricing

Starter Overall Rating

3.5

Standard

Professional

3.0

2.0

Basic 2.5

Professional

Enterprise Starter

Ecommerce Manager

2.5

2.5

3.5

2

4.0

Ecommerce Pro 3.0

Features Rating

3.5

3.5

3.5

2.5

2.5

2.5

2.0

2.5

2.5

Support Rating

4.0

4.0

4.0

2.5

2.5

2.5

3.0

3.0

3.0

Price

2.0

2.0

1.5

2.5

2.0

1.0

1.0

3.5

3.0

Rating

$39.95 per month + 1.5%

$129.95 per month + 1%

$299.95 per month + 0.75%

$24 per month + 2% your sales

$59 per month + 1% of your sales

$299 per month + . 5% of your sales

$7.77 per month

$29.95 per month

$49.95 per month

Setup Fee:

$50

$50

$50

$0

$0

$0

$0

$0

$0

Money back guarantee:

No

No

No

No

No

No

30 days

30 days

Free Trial upto10 orders

Free Trial upto10 orders

No

No

No

Price Description:

30 days

No

No

No

Free Trial upto10 orders

Recommend ed plan if you expect sales of:

Less than $18K per month

$18K to $68K per month

More than $68K per month

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

Maximum number of products you can sell

50,000

50,000

50,000

100

2,500

10,00 0

05

Unlimited

Unlimited

Free Demo:

Categorization of Services for Comparison Of Web Hosting Services 2

8.

Qualitative analysis of the web hosting services will be complicated and beyond

the scope of this project. Moreover, the data like of customer’s feedback on web services, web site effectiveness in increasing sales, efficiency of the networking resources, feedback on ease of ease navigation on website etc is not available. Therefore, for the purpose of comparison a quantitative comparison of the websites has been carried out based on the number of services provided by the webhosting service. 9.

8.

The web services commonly available have been categorized into following :a.

Ecommerce Web Hosting Management

b.

Server Pre-Configuration

c.

Pre-Installed Free Software

d.

Shopping Cart Specification

e.

Email Hosting Specification

f.

Credit Card Processing

g.

Technical Support

h.

Miscellaneous

The business processes involved in a particular business will have to be listed

and compared with the availability and the budget feasibility for the business to choose the web hosting service provider. Moreover the human element involved in the processes i.e. the operators, customers etc will also have to kept in mid while choosing the web hosting services. A feedback from the human element is essential before employing the e resources of the web hosting services. If required, requisite training is to be imparted to the human element involved in the process, wherever felt necessary. 9.

The category wise availability of services is depicted in Pages 9 to 16.

Availability of services is depicted as follows :-

☺or Text

: Available

X

: Not Available

1

Services Availability

Starter

Standard

Professional

Basic

Professional

Enterprise

Starter

Ecommerce Manager

Ecommerce Pro

Ecommerce Web Hosting Management : Dedicated IP address

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

Green Web hosting company

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Multiple Web sites on single account

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

Plan

Plan

Plan

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

Plan

Plan

Plan

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

Colocation sever

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Virtualization - Virtual Machine

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

Unlimited Disk space allocation

Unlimited Bandwidth usage

Virtual private server

Shared server

Ecommerce Web hosting

1

Web site hosting

Secure data center facility Server redundancy

Networking redundancy Backbone connection redundancy Website/data daily backup

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

Starter

Ecommerce Manager

Ecommerce Pro

Services Availability…..Continued

Starter

Standard

Professional

Basic

Professional

Enterprise

Ecommerce Web Hosting Management ..continued Customer initiated backup

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Free Domain with Service Hosting

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Company owns Domain

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Domain name registration service

1

Customer Owns Domain

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

Free AntiSpam Software

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

MOD Perl, MOD rewrite, + modules

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Password protected directories

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

Redirect pages or directories

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

Custom Error Pages

Add-on domains & domain parking Unlimited sub-domains Website Builder (Wizard / Editor) SSH Secure Shell Access FTP Access

Services Availability…..Continued 1

Starter

Standard

Professional

Basic

Professional

Enterprise

Starter

Ecommerce Manager

Ecommerce Pro

Ecommerce Web Hosting Management ..continued Log Reports (Apache + Error)

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

Log Analyzer Software included

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

Webalizer statistic

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

integrat ed

integrat ed

integrate d

MySQ L

MySQL

FreeBS D

FreeBS D

FreeBSD

Linux

Linux

Linux

Unix

Unix

Unix

Apache

Apache

Apache

X

X

X

Apache

Apache

Apache

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

X

X

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

Analog statistic Other statistic software included Multiple Login for Administrator s

Databases

Server Operating System

Web Server Software

CGI Access Extensive CGI Library Extensive Scripting Library Cron Server Side Includes

MySQL(75 MySQL MySQL (75) )

MySQL (75)

Server Pre-Configuration: PHP 5 environment

X

1

MySQL 4

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

phpMyAdmin

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

Starter

Ecommerce Manager

Ecommerce Pro

FrontPage Extensions

Services Availability…..Continued

Starter

Standard

Professional

Basic

Professional

Enterprise

Pre-Installed Free Software:

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Blogging software

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

Content management software

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Customer relationship management

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Decision support system

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Enterprise resource planning

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Alexiva CRM Anti Virus software

Coldfusion

1

Fantastico suite of library scripts

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Forum software

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

Guestbook

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

Macromedia

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Plesk Application Vault

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Photo / image gallery

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Starter

Ecommerce Manager

Ecommerce Pro

Project Management Ruby on rails Value chain management

Services Availability…..Continued

Starter

Standard

Professional

Basic

Professional

Enterprise

Shopping Cart Specification: Pre-installed shopping cart

Yahoo Store

Yahoo Store

Yahoo Store

Shopify

Shopify

Shopify

ShopSite

ShopSite

ShopSite

Maximum # of items allowed

X

X

X

100

2,500

10,000

5

unlimited

unlimited

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

Able to sell shippable goods Electronic

1

software delivery

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Real-time shipping calculations

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

Advanced shipping calculations

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

USPS

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

UPS

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

FedEx

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

Discounts

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

☺

Coupons

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Able to sell subscription

International shipping

DHL Product database import/export Customer data import/export Order management system

Affiliate tracking Automatic affiliate sign-up

Services Availability…..Continued 1

Starter

Standard

Professional

Basic

Professional

Enterprise

Starter

Ecommerce Manager

Ecommerce Pro

Shopping Cart Specification..continued

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Built-in content management system

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Vendor notification

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

1,000

X

X

X

unlimited

unlimited

unlimited

Advertising tracking

Product administration Recommendati on (Tell a Friend) Print PDF invoices Inventory Management Cross selling on Ebay Cross selling Multiple currencies

Email Hosting Specification: Email Accounts Provided Full featured web mail system

1,000

1,000

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

Autoresponders

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

Mail list

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

POP3

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

IMAP

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

1

Services Availability…..Continued

Starter

Ecommerce Manager

Ecommerce Pro

☺

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

X

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Payment gateway setup fee

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Payment gateway monthly fee

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Payment gateway transaction fee

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Internet merchant account setup

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Starter

Standard

Professional

Basic

Professional

☺

☺

☺

X

☺

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

X

X

☺

Payment gateway fee included

Enterprise

Credit Card Processing: Shared SSL certificate Customer dedicated SSL certificate PCI compliant Merchant PCI compliance assistance Real-time credit card processing

1

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Manual settlement/captu re

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Manual resettlement for hung orders

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Payment history and management

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

Virtual Terminal manual authorization

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

Starter

Ecommerce Manager

Ecommerce Pro

Visa/Mastercard % fee Per transaction fee Additional fees apply Automated batch processing Recurring billing

Shipment tracking

Services Availability…..Continued

Starter

Standard

Professional

Basic

Professional

Enterprise

Technical Support: 24/7 Live Telephone Support

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

24/7 Email Technical Support

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

24/7 Chat Technical Support

X

X

X

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Video tutorial

1

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

☺

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

CRM software support

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Content Management support

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Accounting software integration

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Basic search engine optimization

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Google marketing ($25) voucher

$50

$50

$50

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

Yahoo marketing ($25) voucher

$100

$100

$100

X

X

X

☺

☺

☺

Free Web content and RSS feed

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Internet marketing course

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Online documentation Blogging software support

Shopping cart software support Scripting support Log analyzing support

Miscellaneous:

Podcast hosting

8.

The services under these categories have been individually considered. One

point for each is credited to the web hosting company for a service provided. The total 1

points in the category have been compared to give a ranking to the web hosting services. This gives us a fair idea of the web hosting service required for a particular business. 9.

All three web hosting services have three different packages. For ease of

graphical representation for comparative analysis, the packages have been renamed :a. Basic b. Premium c. Gold 10.

To calculate the overall ranking of the web hosting service, the cumulative

ranking of all categories has been considered.

2

Ecommerce Web Hosting Management

Summary of Services Availability

Starter (Basic) POINTS

Standard (Premium)

Professional

Professional

Enterprise

Starter

(Premium)

(Gold)

(Basic)

Basic (Gold)

Ecommerce Manager

Ecommerce Pro

(Premium)

(Gold)

14

14

14

15

15

15

28

28

28

45

45

45

45

45

45

45

45

45

MAX POSSIBLE POINTS RANKING ON POINT BASIS

3

2

Server Pre-Configuration

Summary of Services Availability 1

1

Starter (Basic) POINTS

Standard (Premium)

Professional

Professional

Enterprise

Starter

(Premium)

(Gold)

(Basic)

Basic (Gold)

Ecommerce Manager

Ecommerce Pro

(Premium)

(Gold)

0

0

0

2

2

2

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

MAX POSSIBLE POINTS RANKING ON POINT BASIS

3

2

1

Pre-Installed Free Software

Summary of Services Availability

Starter (Basic)

Standard (Premium)

Professional

Professional

Enterprise

Starter

(Premium)

(Gold)

(Basic)

Basic (Gold)

Ecommerce Manager

Ecommerce Pro

(Premium)

(Gold)

POINTS

0

0

0

1

1

1

5

5

5

MAX

17

17

17

17

17

17

17

17

17

1

POSSIBLE POINTS RANKING ON POINT BASIS

3

2

1

Shopping Cart

Summary of Services Availability

Starter (Basic) POINTS

Standard (Premium)

Professional

Professional

Enterprise

Starter

(Premium)

(Gold)

(Basic)

Basic (Gold)

Ecommerce Manager

Ecommerce Pro

(Premium)

(Gold)

15

15

15

4

4

4

12

12

13

29

29

29

29

29

29

29

29

29

MAX POSSIBLE POINTS RANKING ON POINT BASIS

1

3

1

2

Email Hosting

Summary of Services Availability

Starter (Basic) POINTS

Standard (Premium)

Professional

Professional

Enterprise

Starter

(Premium)

(Gold)

(Basic)

Basic (Gold)

Ecommerce Manager

Ecommerce Pro

(Premium)

(Gold)

6

6

6

0

0

0

5

5

5

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

MAX POSSIBLE POINTS RANKING ON POINT BASIS

1

3

1

2

Credit Card Processing

Summary of Services Availability

Starter (Basic) POINTS

Standard (Premium)

Professional

Professional

Enterprise

Starter

(Premium)

(Gold)

(Basic)

Basic (Gold)

Ecommerce Manager

Ecommerce Pro

(Premium)

(Gold)

3

3

3

3

4

4

5

5

5

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

MAX POSSIBLE POINTS RANKING ON POINT BASIS

3

2

Technical Support

2

1

Summary of Services Availability

Starter (Basic) POINTS

Standard (Premium)

Professional

Professional

Enterprise

Starter

(Premium)

(Gold)

(Basic)

Basic (Gold)

Ecommerce Manager

Ecommerce Pro

(Premium)

(Gold)

3

3

3

1

1

1

4

4

4

11

11

11

11

11

11

11

11

11

MAX POSSIBLE POINTS RANKING ON POINT BASIS

2

3

1

Miscellaneous services

Summary of Services Availability

Starter

Standard

Professional

Basic

Professional

1

Enterprise

Starter

Ecommerce

Ecommerce

(Basic)

POINTS

(Premium)

(Gold)

(Premium)

(Gold)

Manager

Pro

(Premium)

(Gold)

(Basic)

2

2

2

0

0

0

2

2

2

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

MAX POSSIBLE POINTS RANKING ON POINT BASIS

1#

3

2

# Based on higher value of shopping vouchers offered

Final Ranking Based On Availability Of Service SERVICE

RANKING

Yahoo SB

Shopify

Pow Web

E Commerce Hosting Web management

3

2

1

Server Pre-Configuration

3

2

1

Pre-Installed Free Software

3

2

1

Shopping Cart Specification

1

3

2

Email Hosting Specification

1

3

2

1

Credit Card Processing

3

2

1

Technical Support

2

3

1

Miscellaneous

1

3

2

17

20

11

Total*

*

The least total is the best web hosting service

Overall Ranking

2

1

1

3