Founder Deepak Kori Talks MilesWeb — How a Focus on Customer Support and High Value Has Helped the Company Become One of India’s Top Hosts

TL; DR: When MilesWeb hit the scene in 2012, word quickly spread across India that the host and domain registrar was doing things a bit differently than its competitors. The company’s mission is grounded in a philosophy that customers deserve not only high-performing hosting packages, but also pointed, hands-on support. We recently spoke with Founder Deepak Kori, who told us how MilesWeb continues this tradition of delivering world-class service through its local team of experts dedicated to helping site owners realize their online goals.

By 2012, most households in the US and UK were connected to the internet, and searching for goods online had become the preferred method of commerce for millions of consumers. Meanwhile, India was catching up, but most small businesses were still unable to build online presence due to a lack of local hosting providers that offered top-tier services at affordable prices.

Recognizing the opportunity to bring more people online, Deepak Kori, along with business partners Chinmay Dingore and Chetan Mahale, founded MilesWeb. The newly formed hosting company aimed to offer a budget-friendly alternative to India’s small- and medium-sized business community. With previous experience in the hosting industry, Deepak told us he sought to break from the norms and encourage the spread of online business in a starving market.

“We found that people in India were realizing the importance of getting online,” he said. “The market here did not catch on as fast as it did in the US and UK, but it is rapidly improving.”

In the six years since its founding, MilesWeb has attracted numerous clients, many of whom are Indian entrepreneurs who’ve realized the benefits of turning to the web to launch their businesses.

An increasing number of India’s startups are born and operate entirely online. As such, Deepak and his associates have created something far more than just another hosting company. MilesWeb not only gives SMBs greater access to online consumers, but the company is also actively stimulating India’s economy.

During its relatively short lifespan, MilesWeb has witnessed several major trends in the Indian hosting market. Despite India’s previously lagging economy, web accessibility and eCommerce have begun to pick up pace in recent years. As a result, MilesWeb helps guide a steadily growing customer base toward finding online success.

“It is difficult to tap into the market because people may not realize the importance of having a website,” Deepak said. “We’ve been trying to create awareness by sharing content on our blog and social media pages.”

By empowering its customer base to make tech-savvy, business-oriented goals, MilesWeb not only provides a competitively priced hosting platform, but also a means to facilitate growth.

In addition to educating customers, MilesWeb relies on its user base for feedback regarding service quality, feature suggestions, and other improvements.

“We wanted to be competitive in the market and meet customer expectations, so we needed to come up with a new, cloud-based platform,” Deepak said. “After analyzing industry trends and customer feedback, we have delivered on those expectations by launching this product.”

Cloud hosting through MilesWeb provides an easy way to deploy and scale web applications, making it an increasingly popular choice for India’s growing independent dev scene.

MilesWeb equips clients with a number of tools designed to help them create and maintain online presence. Among these are various hosting packages that suit a wide range of business needs. In addition to cloud and VPS hosting, MilesWeb offers a variety of shared, reseller, WordPress, managed, and dedicated hosting packages.

A cheap solution for fledgling businesses, shared hosting is available both in Linux- and Windows-based forms. Shared Windows hosting is powered by Windows Server 2012 and is suitable for organizations that rely on app integration through ASP.NET, Visual Basic, and MS SQL.

For businesses with greater computing needs, specialized business hosting, unlimited hosting, and dedicated servers are also available. Dedicated hosting is powered by hybrid servers located in India and the US and features powerful hardware reinforced by redundancy and proactive monitoring. Meanwhile, MilesWeb’s signature cloud-based business hosting package is designed for maximum affordability, and ease-of-use and features secure email, free SSL, one-click installs, and DDoS protection, among other things.

For those looking to partner with MilesWeb more directly, an affiliate program is offered in addition to reseller hosting for Linux and Windows.

“We have something for every type of client who wants to get online,” Deepak said.

Not only does MilesWeb’s wide variety of services cover an impressive range of business sizes and markets, but these offerings are also designed to be as user-friendly as possible. Even the MilesWeb’s entry-level packages feature a dedicated website builder and allow for easy backups, malware scans, and easy script installs. Complete with cPanel and 400-plus apps, including WordPress, phpBB, and PrestaShop, MilesWeb provides the essential building blocks for every aspect of running an online business.

Because many of its customers are going online for the first time, MilesWeb stands out as a leader in both accessibility and customer support. In addition to providing user-friendly software, MilesWeb’s servers are powered by high-end hardware and are optimized for fast and reliable performance, meaning little to no downtime for business sites.

Whether choosing managed WordPress hosting or another package, the most technical aspects of running one’s site are left safely in the hands of MilesWeb staff through free SSL, redundant storage, and datacenter monitoring. And, if a problem does arise, support is available 24/7, 365 days a year.

Named as one of its biggest advantages, MilesWeb’s support is available at any time via email, phone, and chat. Additionally, localized support is offered in multiple languages, such as Hindi, Marathi, and English, making it one of the most accessible support teams in the business. Customers can also find information and reach out to either the staff or community through MilesWeb’s blog, forum, and social media pages.

“Customer support is our main focus,” Deepak said. “If customers can buy your hosting service for an insanely low price, but you’re not able to offer the kind of support that a customer expects, you start losing customers.”

Since its founding in 2012, MilesWeb has tackled some of the biggest pain points for India’s small businesses and the country’s hosting market. Among the most common roadblocks to launching and maintaining an online presence are a lack of technical expertise and steep hosting prices. As a result, small businesses struggle to grow, as hiring web developers is out of the question for their exceptionally small budgets.

By making website creation more accessible, MilesWeb offers an invaluable service to many Indian businesses. Continuing its efforts to make this daunting task as easy as possible, MilesWeb plans to expand its cloud hosting offerings with automation and other features.

“We want to encourage more people to opt into the cloud and backups,” Deepak said. “Our own backup tool that will be live soon will make everything easier because people only need a few features — they don’t want all those flashy options that make it more confusing than it has to be.”

Through automation, MilesWeb gives clients greater peace of mind. Along with automatic backups, registered domains are automatically renewed each year with the purchase of any hosting package. MilesWeb is the first web hosting company from India to incorporate Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate free with their hosting packages with auto installation and renewal option. MilesWeb was quick to pass on such benefits to its users once the SSL was officially recommended by companies like Google. Rather than having to learn about the 2018 policy change and implement a solution on their own, MilesWeb customers can relax, knowing that their chosen hosting provider is there to guide them through any major changes in the web.

MilesWeb has recently partnered with Jetpack to offer a complete new range of managed WordPress hosting service with bundled features.

As one of India’s largest hosting providers, MilesWeb has contributed to the growth of numerous web-based businesses. In just six short years, MilesWeb has won several awards and is widely recognized in the eastern hosting market as a leader in affordability, usability, and reliability.