A deep dive into hard dollar savings versus soft dollar headaches when leasing cheap dedicated servers

As it relates to cheap dedicated servers, hard dollar savings refer to real savings made in actual currency, whereas soft dollar headaches refer to the indirect costs that can arise from implementing a new process or undertaking a project. These headaches may not necessarily involve actual dollars and cents but can impact a business in other ways, such as loss of productivity, employee morale, or strategic focus.

For example, if your new server has issues related to provisioning/upgrading applications, how much productivity could be lost by spending hours online with support personnel deep diving for a resolution? Loss of production frequently results in real money going down the drain, and the dollars you thought you were saving by settling for a server a few dollars cheaper upfront disappear quicker than a dog can woof down a hot dog.

What are some of the soft dollar headaches you might encounter when leasing a cheap dedicated server?

There are several potential soft dollar headaches that can arise, including:

1. Technical support challenges: They may not come with adequate (or no) technical support, so if you encounter any problems, you may need to spend extra time troubleshooting or paying for third party support.

2. Downtime or server crashes: If the server you lease is not reliable or doesn’t have enough capacity for your needs, you may experience frequent downtime or server crashes, which could affect your productivity and reputation.

4. Limited scalability: They may not offer enough resources or scalability to accommodate your business growth, which could lead to additional expenses down the line if you need to upgrade.

Overall, when leasing a server based on hard dollar savings upfront may seem like a good way to save money in the short term, the potential soft dollar headaches associated with these servers could end up costing you more in the long run.

Are Cheap Dedicated Servers Reliable?

The reliability of a cheap dedicated server can vary depending on several factors, such as the quality of the hardware, the level of support provided by the hosting provider, and the workload that the server is expected to handle.

While cheap dedicated servers may be a cost-effective solution for some businesses, it’s important to carefully evaluate the hosting provider and server specifications before making a decision. Here are some factors to consider when evaluating their reliability:

  1. Hardware quality: The quality of the server hardware can greatly affect its reliability. Cheap dedicated servers may use lower-quality components, which can lead to hardware failures and downtime. ProlimeHost uses enterprise-quality hardware.
  2. Hosting provider reputation: The reputation of the hosting provider can also be an indicator of the server’s reliability. Look for providers with a good track record of uptime and customer satisfaction. With two decades in the web hosting industry, ProlimeHost has partnered with thousands of clients, small and large alike, allowing them to do what they do best and that is running their business successfully.
  3. Level of support: The level of support provided by the hosting provider can also affect the reliability of the server. Make sure that the provider offers 24/7 support, with experienced technicians available to assist with any issues that arise.
  4. Workload: The workload that the server is expected to handle can also affect its reliability. Make sure that the server is configured with the appropriate hardware and software to handle the expected workload.

Overall, while cheap dedicated servers may offer hard dollar savings for some businesses, it’s important to carefully evaluate the hosting provider and server specifications to ensure that the server is reliable enough to meet your business needs, because potential soft dollar headaches can quickly negate any upfront savings.

Does Price Sell?

Of course, price sells. Why? Let’s face it, the Covid crunch left countless businesses, large and small, struggling to cope with fewer walk-ins, supply chain issues and employee retention. How could their respective budgets not be constrained? That had to be balanced with reliability because hard dollar savings need to be measured against possible soft dollar issues, for example downtime and loss of productivity. Of course, there are other considerations like security, loss of data, excessive latency and more.

Value-add services

Cheap here doesn’t infer lack of value-add. I would more so trust servers provisioned by reputable web hosting providers that have been in the industry for decades and not some run-of-the-mill summer hosting provider that’ll disappear like smoke in a windstorm once school is back in session.

Who can you trust?

In the hosting industry, I read of providers going belly up way too often. Hosting forums are flooded with threads from members asking which provider to trust. The providers that survive are invariably the one’s that provide value.

Perceiving value

So how do you perceive value online? The answer is researching lots of content – relevant content that’s geared to your specific needs. You want to know that the hosting services that you will be paying for will match your requirements. In a way, this comes down to the quality of a solution versus simply exceeding specifications (or saving a few dollars monthly on your lease).

Reliability

How can you decipher whether the servers listed here are comparable to the last provider’s site that you just left? At ProlimeHost, we provide quality solutions that your business or organization can relate to, so you can ultimately make an informed decision on which server(s) best match your hosting requirements.

Core values

You need to match the servers offered to the infrastructure in place to support those services, at a price point that facilitates sustained growth and profit for both ProlimeHost and yourself.

With thousands upon thousands of cheap dedicated servers currently in the mix industry wide, it’s definitely harder than ever to be unique.

There’s a perceived value to every category of dedicated servers. We’re here to provide some value-add recommendations so you can make an informed decision that best matches your hosting requirements, and saves you money long term.

ProlimeHost Cheap Dedicated Servers

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PROLIMEHOST

We’ve been in the web hosting industry for over a decade, helping hundreds of clients succeed in what they do best and that’s running their business. We specialize in Virtual Private Servers (VPS) and dedicated servers, with data centers in Los Angeles, Denver & Singapore.

VPS SERVICES: LIGHTNING FAST SSD VIRTUAL SERVERS

Our Virtual Private Servers all feature high performance Xeon processors and SSD storage in a RAID10 configuration to optimize your server’s performance, which dramatically enhances visitor experiences on your site.

That speed is backed by unparalleled 24/7 support, featuring both outstanding response AND resolution times to maximize your uptime.

Now is the time to join the ProlimeHost virtual private server revolution.

DEDICATED SERVERS: BACKED BY A 99.9% SLA NETWORK UPTIME GUARANTEE

We only use enterprise-class hardware in our dedicated servers and offer a four (4) hour hardware replacement. Throw in IPMI for remote management, support for public and private networks, free operating system (OS) re-installs, and SATA, SAS & SSD (including NVMe) storage. Call 1-877-477-9454 or contact us. For everything from gaming servers to cheap dedicated servers, we’re here to help.

ASIA OPTIMIZED SERVERS: IMPROVING CONNECTION SPEED AND QUALITY

Procuring an Asia optimized server improves the connection speed and quality between the server and the users in Asia or China. This can reduce latency, packet loss, jitter, and bandwidth issues that can affect the performance and reliability of the server and the applications hosted on it. For more information, please call 1-877-477-9454 or contact us.

Steve
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