Key Takeaways
- About 33% of hyper-growth businesses (HGBs) prioritize hosting in their budgets. Is hosting finally becoming an integral part of a brand’s growth strategy?
- 88% of HGBs saw an ROI after upgrading, but it’s not just about uptime. AI optimization, edge speed, and green infrastructure are rising to the top of the feature list.
New data from Liquid Web reveals that 1 in 3 companies ranked hosting as their top priority, and 88% of those who upgraded saw a measurable ROI.
Objectively, it’s a big deal. What was once relegated to the IT department is now in the same ranks as brand awareness and the actual products themselves.
While hosting ranks third overall as a spending category, nearly one-third of respondents said it was their top priority above brand and product investments.
The payoff is nothing to scoff at either: 88% is a massive success rate for infrastructure.
And hosting saw more substantial ROI than traditionally “sexier” investments, like new talent (30%) or IT security (17%).
Hosting may have just become the quiet MVP of the growth budget, which is something Liquid Web’s Chief Creative Officer, Reid Peifer, believes.
“Think of hosting as a strategic investment, not just an operational cost,” said Peifer. “For hyper-growth businesses, prioritizing reliable, scalable hosting supports today’s demands but also secures tomorrow’s success.”
The report surveyed more than 100 hyper-growth businesses (HGBs), a freshly coined term for companies that are growing rapidly with a CAGR of 40% or higher.
What These Firms Are Actually Investing In
The report also shows the top 10 features that hyper-growth businesses are prioritizing:
- Reliability
- Security
- Speed
- Uptime
- Customer service
These are bare minimum requirements that are no longer exceptional; this further suggests that they’re not just paying for stability, but for solutions that support long-term growth.
Of course, value-added features change, too. Whether switching or upgrading, here’s why HGBs are choosing certain providers over others:
- Scalability
- Performance monitoring and analytics
- Flexibility
- Data privacy and compliance
Another important point the study found is that HGBs prefer hosting providers that prioritize AI optimization, edge hosting, and green infrastructure.
For most, this comes as no surprise. Those who aren’t integrating AI are already years behind, but edge hosting and green infrastructure are quickly rising on the list of must-haves:
- AI optimization: AI optimization benefits both the provider and the customer. It can automate processes from security checks to content creation, and providers that personalize client web experiences see an average conversion rate increase of 80%.
- Edge hosting: eCommerce sites with load speeds of 1 second have conversion rates of 3.05%. That falls to 1.68% at 2 seconds.
- Green infrastructure: Switching to green hosting is a flex in today’s data-heavy, energy-intensive landscape, and around 80% of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable brands.
It won’t be a surprise if these features become the new baseline within a few years. And by then, the next generation of must-haves will already be here.
