I've been toying with the idea of starting a business around, or maybe packaging into a plan in ArielHost's offerings, this idea:

Fully Managed Hosting for Web Hosts
Includes:
- Managed Dedicated Server
- Control Panel
- Script Installer (Installatron, Fantastico, or whatever)
- Billing Software
- Help Desk Software
- End User Support (yes, we'd provide the tech support to the hosting clients)
- Other products & services maybe? Not sure yet.

All of this would be included for a monthly fee of "something".

This would be similar to a "reseller", except that the customer would of course have their own server... however, they could concentrate on selling, not on the less "fun" aspects of this business.

What do you folks here think of this idea? I have not yet done any market studies or other research yet, but I've been toying with the idea for a few weeks.

Its a good idea but the initial basic cost should be low.

There's a market for that type of managed server, but it wouldn't come cheap. Especially if you're also handling tech support for their clients. But you could factor that cost into a sliding scale, so it starts low and then as they get more clients with whom you support, they pay you more for that support.

The cost should be what you need to make it work with good support. $20/yr for support for a dedicated server. lol.

I think the issue is how much work will the 'reseller' require you to do - eg, when they get a new customer, would you add the users to the helpdesk/billing software, and would you send out the welcome emails (etc) to them?

If you're managing the server, and providing support calls - then $20/month is too low. Check out how much it would cost to get these services from 3rd parties.

As you're selling to the totally non-technical (and not just the lazy :) ) then you can expect to charge more than you would for a host-and-forget reseller package. Id market it accordingly, make sure it gets sold to "business" type of people, and not just bundled in as a more expensive option with the other reseller packages.

There's a market for that type of managed server, but it wouldn't come cheap. Especially if you're also handling tech support for their clients. But you could factor that cost into a sliding scale, so it starts low and then as they get more clients with whom you support, they pay you more for that support.

That's kind of how I was thinking of pricing it. Even at the low end, it wouldn't be cheap, but on the other hand, I think it can be offered for less than buying everything individually (along with outsourced support). I think there is something to be said from buying everything from one source as well.

The cost should be what you need to make it work with good support. $20/yr for support for a dedicated server. lol.

I think the issue is how much work will the 'reseller' require you to do - eg, when they get a new customer, would you add the users to the helpdesk/billing software, and would you send out the welcome emails (etc) to them?

If you're managing the server, and providing support calls - then $20/month is too low. Check out how much it would cost to get these services from 3rd parties.

As you're selling to the totally non-technical (and not just the lazy :) ) then you can expect to charge more than you would for a host-and-forget reseller package. Id market it accordingly, make sure it gets sold to "business" type of people, and not just bundled in as a more expensive option with the other reseller packages.

Hey, I never said $20 a month! That was some other guy, and I think he actually said $20/year(!)

I think ideally the billiing system would be automated, so the users would be added as they sign up. The host would have to provide his own billing support, but he could offload the technical support issues to the provider.

Definately an idea, but if you have a customer that needs everything done, remember, chances are you will need to manage nearly every aspect of their company.

I wish I could find something like this. While cost is a factor, for people who are serious about this business and want to make sure their customers are well taken care of and have the peace mind that THEIR customers are the only ones on the server, I think you would get plenty of takers as long as the quality of the service delivered matched the price paid. I've had a very difficult time trying to choose a setup that would work for my needs. While I am a competent webmaster, I am not a SysAdmin and thus do not want to have to handle the tech. support end. Yet, based on my experiences with reseller hosting (and I've been with good hosts) I have a really hard time believing that a shared reseller environment would be stable enough for my tastes and clients. VPS is an option, but then I have to try to "piece together" what I would need, like Mondernbill, Kayako or Cerberus, end user support, etc. A provider that could manage to deliver on the dedicated, fully managed, end user supported, automated billing, and tech support would be a real move in the right direction.

I would recommend using a tiered structure for pricing though. Something like all other varibles being equal, with 1-50 end users supported costing x.xx and 51-100 end users suppored costing y.yy, etc.

David

Sounds like an excellent idea, I know i would take you up on the offer!

Sounds like an excellent idea, I know i would take you up on the offer!
Do you have lots of cash lying around to pay him? :)

Well that's inherently the problem; I can't see how it could be done realistically for under $500 a month. On the other hand, I could definately offer it for less than the cost of buying each piece individually, including the outsourced support. I don't know yet if there is a market for such a thing.

I would have taken a great deal of time to decide is this option was available to me when I started 2 years ago. Sounds like a good idea, but with many questions still out there.... cost/details/types and amount of support......

Personally, if I had chosen this option (assuming it was available at the time), I would have required a ton of support from you. I think that a lot of people who would choose this option would be those just starting out in the industry - which would mean hands on help from you in basically every aspect of the business, at least for a while.

Personally, if I had chosen this option (assuming it was available at the time), I would have required a ton of support from you. I think that a lot of people who would choose this option would be those just starting out in the industry - which would mean hands on help from you in basically every aspect of the business, at least for a while.

You're probably right. However, I think it's going to be more support/consulting to the business owner rather than end user support, as it takes some time to accumulate customers. Also, a certain % will fail within a few months, so that should be taken into consideration as their $$$ ends up funding the customers that stay.

It's called "Adverse selection" and it will kill you if you're not careful. As D4 said, you'll end up getting the biggest pains in your rear end, if I had to guess. How can you really increase effeciencies by bundling, other than in billing/account admin?

It seems that companies that specialize in server admin / support will be better than a company that's also running a datacenter which has totally different demands.

Doesn't dynamicnet.net have a sub-company that does something like this? Although, I'm sure they are asking for $2000+ easily. There is a market for it, but it all comes down to realistic pricing.

I think accunett does it as well.

hostopia.com already does that, afaik.

--Tina

I do have to applaud you for trying a new business idea instead of the same-old... we need more of that.

I do have to applaud you for trying a new business idea instead of the same-old... we need more of that.

I totally agree! My hosting company is about to approach one year old, and it's doing very well.. but I'm looking for new ideas. We have tens of thousands of companies all basically doing the same thing. Where's the innovation? Maybe this idea is good, maybe it's not... but I'm trying to think of new things to do. I don't mind sharing, I'd like to help the industry as a whole, if possible.

I do have to applaud you for trying a new business idea instead of the same-old... we need more of that.
It's not exactly new, supplying a managed ded server with various software, and end user support.

IMO, it's a viable product that some folks will find of benefit.