All new Registrations are manually reviewed and approved, so a short delay after registration may occur before your account becomes active.
Gauging interest for cheap server management
We're doing well with our relatively high-end server management service but it prices out the average consumer. I am considering developing a cheaper service for those who need occasional or simple help. It will still be backed by an excellent team in the UK - no outsourcing etc., but savings would have to be made in some areas, particularly the amount of time that we can offer and the types of setups we can support.
This is just an idea now and we will be discussing it internally tomorrow. I imagine that some users here might be part of the target market so I want to gauge interest.
If we can offer something streamlined at around the $15/month mark, would you be interested? It would likely (but not necessarily) include some very easy to use tools to automate complicated tasks, server resource and uptime monitoring with automatic responses and a limited amount of human time every month, but this time will be stackable - i.e. if you don't use it in month 1, you get twice as much for month 2 etc.
Looking forward to feedback and suggestions.
Comments
The cheapest I'm aware of currently is PSM. https://www.platinumservermanagement.com
They are decent for 29.00$ per month, but they require you to have CentOS and cPanel installed and don't support much else. They basically stick to the default cPanel setup and won't venture out much past that. I'd say you could charge 25-30$ a month if you were to support more setups. More OS's, more Control Panels, More Web Servers and Plugins, Etc. I probably wouldn't need it myself, but I definitely know some people who would be interested in a service like that. I'd say its a good idea as long as you could still be profitable at such a low cost.
From my perspective, before I let you and your team anywhere near my servers, I'd need to know exactly who you/your business are. Looking at your other venture cloud pilot.net, I see the whois is private, so doesn't immediately fill me with confidence. I need to get a 'warm and fluffy' feeling from you.
@theblackesthat thanks for the feedback. Our existing service is about 3-4x the cost of PSM. This service will be similar to PSM, in that there will be assumptions about the type of setup you have. That could be a requirement for cPanel, or some other software. The problem with cPanel in this case is that it already costs roughly $15/month. We are aiming for less than $30/month and one way we will do that is to put a hard limit on the amount of admin time but compensating with some automation. AFAIK, PSM automate a lot of stuff anyway but that's transparent to the user. Here, the user will be fully aware of what is self-serve with very simple buttons and what is coming out of the allocated time.
@Nekki fully understandable concerns. I'm not currently on LET representing my company - quite the opposite actually. The company website has all of normal stuff - a real physical address, telephone number, reg number, VAT number etc. The company has insurance, good staff, real verifiable testimonials from real businesses, and a good trading history. If we do this then I'll publish details of that as it would be a service offered by the company.
If you can do all of that then it's a non-issue.
Can I ask what your company is that is offering the existing service? Like Website URL? Just kind of curious.
@theblackesthat I sent you a PM.
Wizzsolutions already have server management for $15 /mo.
PSM are great for $29, every additional server after $29 is $19.
I'd still need any credentials from your company before I let you near my servers as well.
@KosherHam: I've seen companies offering it for $10. The aim here it to provide a high quality service, but streamlined. Our customer satisfaction and retention rates are extremely high and we have a good team. Realistically though, engineer time is expensive so the aim is to combine a small amount of time with lots of automation for this product and pitch it at about $15. The time should be enough for most people who are willing to use a very simple interface where possible. Company details will follow if this goes ahead.
@jh, would you mind letting me know which company you work with?
@angrysnarl I sent you a PM
JH, send me a PM too with your company, please.
@jh: As long as your service isn't as useless as PSM, I would say there's definitely an interest for good and cheap server management.
At that price, even I would be interested, as long as cpanel (or any other paid panel) is a requirement.
You'll have to be very clear about what exactly you offer. A lot of people that are going for cheapest price usually expect everything handed to them on a silver platter.
PM sent
Do you mean is or isn't? We need to make some assumptions but are unsure which will maintain efficiency but alienate the fewest people.
Absolutely. It'll be dead clear.
Oops, I meant "isn't".
Is there even any server management that doesn't use panel shit? Someone you can ask to set up LXC with a bridge and to assign a /64 per container? Someone you can ask do diagnose RAID stuff? Even someone who will not just magically enter commands he had written down, but will explain in detail what they did?
Why would you dick around in the low end market if you are successful at the high end? If you have a talented team, you leave money on the table.
@jh: pls send me pm with link to your company website, thx.
Why useless? Are you speaking from experience using their service? Or are you referring to the need of installing Cpanel?
That's us. That service is more than $30/month though.
Because I know that if you can automate enough, it's profitable and scales nicely.
We have to make some assumptions about what is and isn't on the server. What do you suggest?
Sure, i do all that for you - But not for 30$. Basic option for management with custom stuff is easily 100EUR+....
I meant, taking a blank server, setting it up to run a website (LAMP or LEMP, varnish/APC etc), securing and setting up monitoring, without cpanel.
We will be releasing this shortly. For those who may be interested, would 50GB free backup space have an impact in your decision to sign up?
None whatsoever.
I could do this for you as well but $100/month is the base costs for this. If you consider the average person needs about 4 hours of support in a month and your paying $25/hour for professional quick responses on issues and not just canned responses, its actually a deal. Also, if you are reasonable and have legitimate issues we are known to be generous on the hours and help you anyways.
To note @jh did comment on automating most of his stuff. Now if you just want me to login and setup Wordpress with some standard optimizations, I can do this for less than that $100 management cost, sure. I got an ansible script ready to run, will take 30 minutes... I think this is the type of work he is looking for more than the detailed setups with hand holding and explanations.
@jh as long as you set the right expectations with the customer outright, I am sure you can pull this off and have reasonably happy customers. Just be careful about giving out more than what you agreed to or people will just start taking advantage.
my 2 cents.
Cheers!
@jh: pls send me pm with link to your company website, thx.