Content management systems are real power tools when it comes to creating and managing technical documentation. The question of whether it is better to host the system internally or externally has strategic implications – with a direct impact on factors such as data availability, cost and security.
In the following article, we briefly and succinctly show you why external hosting of a content management system can be a worthwhile option.
What does internal and external hosting mean?
In a nutshell, when it comes to internal hosting, a company operates the content management system on its own servers and within its own IT infrastructure. By contrast, external hosting outsources system operation and infrastructure to specialised third-party providers – such as full-service providers for technical documentation.
What possible reasons are there for having a content management system hosted externally?
In our customer projects, every now and then we receive inquiries as to whether we can also take over hosting of the customer system. There can be various reasons for deciding to hand over system hosting to an external partner. The most common three are:
- In-house IT department is too inflexible
“Yet another new system that needs to be set up and regularly maintained? We can’t do that internally right now.” IT departments today have to deal with ever-increasing volumes of applications and data. It can easily happen that a new tool for technical writing ends up at the bottom of the priority list of IT specialists. - In-house IT department is too small
Many job positions cannot be filled, while at the same time IT departments are having to deal with more and more tasks. It can thus make sense for companies with smaller IT teams to conserve their own resources and to commission an external service provider to host and maintain the content management tool. - Content management tools not important enough
For some large companies and corporations, the topic of “systems in technical writing” is simply too insignificant to devote IT resources and build-up know-how to this area. In this situation, you will often hear: we prefer to outsource hosting and technical support for the content management system in full to a specialist service provider and can then concentrate on our core tasks.
What are the advantages of external hosting?
Cost-efficiency and scalability
External hosting eliminates the sometimes high investment in your own server hardware and network infrastructure. Instead, you typically pay monthly or annual fees, which are scalable depending on the capacity and performance you need. In other words, you only pay for the resources you actually need.
This dynamic approach offers a high degree of flexibility, which pays off especially in rapidly changing business environments like technical writing.
Reliability and resilience
Professional third-party hosting solution providers have dedicated, redundant infrastructures and fail-safe data centres. This minimises the risk of downtime and maximises the availability of data.
Regular updates and maintenance
Up-to-date and secure: regular updates are essential to maintain the performance and functionality of the content management system. Providers of hosting solutions ensure that the systems and applications used are always up to date and patched.
This ensures stable performance and high system reliability.
Security and privacy
A professional hosting provider typically offers strict security protocols and standards that often go beyond what an internal team can provide. This includes, among other things, state-of-the-art security technologies, firewalls and encryption methods.
What are the disadvantages of external hosting?
Dependency on a third party
When they outsource system hosting, companies also relinquish a certain degree of control. In the event of any failures or malfunctions, they are therefore always dependent on the support of the external partner.
Limited scope for individualisation
External hosting solutions offer less freedom in customising the system environment. This results in limitations compared to an internally hosted system, which can be configured entirely at your discretion.
Possible data protection concerns
Even if a professional hosting partner offers high security standards, there may still be concerns about data protection in the company. It is important here to communicate with the external partner at an early stage in order to clarify critical questions about physical and digital security. In the event that systems and data are hosted using a stand-alone data centre, it is worth taking a closer look at the following aspects:
- Resilience
- Concept for emergency power supply
- Redundancy levels for optimum data availability
- Cooling and climate control
- Access security
My conclusion: external hosting of a content management system is worthwhile.
“How does the configuration work again?”
“Who actually carried out the last system update and when exactly was that?”
If questions like these are part of your everyday technical writer life, it is usually time to rethink your current hosting strategy. In fact, our experience in a wide range of different customer projects and system introductions has shown that many companies are able to benefit from external hosting of their content management system. Whether this step also makes sense for your technical writing team depends, of course, on individual factors and your specific situation.
As a partner and consultant for content management systems, kothes is also at your side when it comes to system hosting.
Want to know more or have questions? Then feel free to contact us.
