So you’ve decided to explore what FileMaker has to offer, and you’re starting to like the general idea? Welcome to the club – you’re far from alone, and many people keep discovering the great benefits of FileMaker on a pretty much daily basis. And as simple as it can be to get off the ground, things quickly get complicated as you climb up the hill, and at some point you’re going to hit a roadblock that can only be overcome by working with professional partners.
Hosting is often one of the main points to consider when it comes to FileMaker applications, and you should take some time to figure out if you can handle it on your own. But for most people, the answer quickly turns out to be that working with an external FileMaker hosting provider such as HostPresto.com is often a much better idea.
The hidden long-term cost.
It might seem like a cheap solution to do your own hosting at first, but the cost can actually grow quite fast in the long run, especially if your needs expand. You should always be planning for the future, and this includes the development of your custom business applications.
If you feel like your needs might quickly grow larger, you should consider investing in a solution that will be able to handle them in the future, instead of relying on your own time and efforts forever. The difference will be significant later on, especially if your business suddenly hits a lucky spot and you go through a period of rapid growth. Being prepared to handle that moment can make all the difference in your success on the market.
Your time is a valuable asset.
This leads us to another important point – your time is a resource like any other, and it’s actually one of your most valuable ones, so act like it. You should always be striving to align things in such a way that you have to put as little effort as possible on “external” activities, and instead focus on the main points of your work.
When you have to spend a couple of hours a day just tinkering with a server, this can quickly drain your willpower to do anything else in the company, and the final impact on your business can be significant. Don’t make this mistake, and prepare yourself for the future as early as possible.
Technical problems can be hard to resolve.
Not only that, but sometimes you’ll find yourself simply unable to solve a certain issue because it’s above your level of expertise. And sure, you can spend a few hours researching it on the Internet, trying out different solutions and experimenting until something works, but is that worth it in the long run? You didn’t start a company so you can deal with external problems, so don’t bring even more of them on your head.
When working with a specialized FileMaker host, you can always rest assured knowing that your applications are handled by someone with a lot of expertise who knows exactly what to do if something goes wrong. This can go a long way, and relieving yourself from that kind of stress can be very freeing.
Have a guarantee about uptime and availability.
Last but definitely not least, a professional host will give you the reassurance that your applications will always be available when you need them. This is a common problem with personal DIY solutions, and something that can easily be avoided by simply working with the right company. Just read what different companies have to say about their uptime guarantees, and this should give you all the information you need about whether or not they are a good potential partner for you in this market.
And if things don’t work out, you can always switch to another provider. It’s not that easy to make a drastic change and improve your situation when you’re your own host, especially when you’ve already invested a lot of money into hardware and other infrastructure. Locking yourself into a low-performing host that can’t be replaced easily without costing you even more money can quickly turn into a nightmare, especially when so much of your business potentially relies on FileMaker applications if they’ve been on the table for a while.
