How Storm Internet Continues to Help Businesses Manage Risk and Navigate Digital Transformation with Cutting Edge Cloud and Managed IT Solutions

TL; DR: Cyber liabilities have made running in-house IT an expensive and risky proposition, which is why more businesses are turning to Storm Internet for managed solutions. In addition to its quality and security accreditations — ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 — Storm Internet offers managed IT services that are both efficient and convenient. And the company is upgrading its cloud infrastructure to provide clients with the power they need for digital transformation. Businesses rely on Storm Internet for modern solutions, and it plans to add more robust services and value in 2019.

Storm Internet has always tried to keep its cloud and managed hosting services well ahead of the curve. And no matter what the next innovation or regulation, the company wants to design solutions that eliminate problems before they reach its U.K. clients.

Long before the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect in May 2018, Storm Internet was prepared for the new set of data privacy laws governing the E.U. And in 2019, it continues to stay on the leading edge of cloud hosting technology and best practices.

“We wanted to appeal to the kind of customer who goes through and checks all the boxes to ensure that their hosting provider is the best of the best,” said Nick Stead, the Head of Sales and Business Development at Storm Internet. “That’s why we completed our ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certifications this year. These accreditations validate our hard work and prove our service’s worth.”

The ISO 9001 accreditation verifies that Storm Internet has the highest quality management systems, while its ISO 27001 accreditation affirms that its infrastructure is among the most secure in the business. While Storm provides service to many SMBs, the company is expanding its services to include larger corporations and enterprises. Its latest credentials are proof that Storm’s standards in quality and security are strong enough to support businesses of any size.

But as the Storm Internet team is excited to expand its client base, it’s also proud that it attracts the small and medium-sized businesses that continue to fuel so much of the internet’s growth. And the company’s mission is to fulfill three key promises to those clients — to expertly manage their data security, availability, and backups.

“We don’t aspire to be the cheapest hosting provider — but we do aspire to be among the best,” Nick said.

As small start-up businesses increasingly look to cloud solutions for all of their hosting needs, many larger companies use economies of scale to shoulder the cost and risk burden of owning their infrastructure.

Meanwhile, medium-sized businesses find themselves stuck in the middle, with on-premise IT that they can’t afford to upgrade.

“Those companies are increasingly saying, ‘We don’t want the hassle anymore,’” Nick said. “They’re calling us and saying, ‘We have our own servers, but we just had a problem restoring from a backup. We’re thinking of getting rid of all of this. Can you help us?’ And we can. That’s exactly what we do.”

Because so many new customers are interested in its products, the award-winning Storm Internet team has spent an increasing amount of time and resources developing and expanding its managed IT services. Now, Storm can handle and monitor IT operations for a monthly cost that is much less risky — and less expensive — than companies managing infrastructure themselves.

“Businesses don’t have the time nor want the hassle of having to secure and maintain their data environments, especially with all the new legislation that is now in place,” Nick said. “They want to focus on growing their business. This is where we come in and try and make a difference. By taking responsibility for the client’s data security, web site continuity, and DR, our clients not only have total peace of mind but can also focus on what’s important to them, ensuring their business thrives.”

One of Storm’s managed IT customers was a small business in England that had lost all of its data after an outage hit its previous hosting provider. After assessing the damage, the company switched to Storm and hasn’t suffered an outage since.

“Small businesses don’t need or want to be server experts. It’s nice just to have a bespoke service to reach by email or phone to keep our services running,” the company said in an online testimonial.

SMBs may have their own IT or CTO, but they don’t usually have the resources to devote an entire team to security. Storm provides that team through StormSecure and its Storm Security Centre — one that’s always there to ensure everything is working. And businesses that use Storm’s services can save money in areas they may not expect. For example, Storm’s Managed IT solutions reduce a company’s potential risk burden and exposure cost.

“Unfortunately, it’s not easy to get the message across because people don’t take it seriously enough yet,” said Nick. “Recent statistics show that the number of businesses that invest in protection increases almost in proportion to the number of businesses that are shown to have been impacted by cyber liabilities. That means that a lot of companies are closing the gate after the horse has bolted.”

Nick has also noticed that insurance companies are starting to adapt to this new landscape. He said that many find ways to exclude cyber liabilities in their policies, so businesses have to shoulder much of risk on their own. According to Nick, only one or two insurance companies specialize in cyber liability insurance.

Unfortunately, cyberattacks happen often, and a small, in-house IT staff isn’t prepared to deal with serious breaches. And when they occur, insurance likely won’t cover the damage. When those over-exposed companies are hit with a big attack, their business might not even survive. That’s why adopting Storm’s managed IT solutions can be a business-saving measure — but it’s not the only way that Storm protects its clients.

Storm Internet has been offering its cloud service for seven years, and it has been staying ahead of the IT curve — and the competition — ever since.

“While we’re smaller than many of the other household names, we also tend to be more reliable than them,” Nick said.

The company’s public cloud is run in a Tier 4 datacenter and has never had any unscheduled downtime. And in all the time it has been running, it has provided its clients with resilient and reliable service.

Now, Storm Internet is focusing on making its cloud solution even better.

“The underlying technology we had was tried and tested, but it wasn’t the absolute fastest in the marketplace,” Nick said. “That’s why we’ve tuned it up. We moved our interconnect from speeds of 1GB to 10GB, and we improved our storage media to the latest SSD standard.”

A few customers are already using its new and improved cloud — and Storm is preparing to officially launch the service. Soon, the rest of its clients will have the opportunity to upgrade to a solution that includes the latest software-defined storage infrastructures and high-performance SSD hardware — along with the same hypervisor technology that Storm customers have come to trust.

New clients who want to take advantage of Storm Internet’s turbocharged cloud service will likely be impressed with the personalized nature of its service. The company tailors every aspect of its products to meet a customer’s needs — from service level agreements to monitoring requirements. These are the kinds of bespoke solutions that small and mid-market companies can’t get from most hosts — but that Storm is happy to deliver.