future of web hostingWeb hosting has evolved over the years. We are in a much better position today than we were thirty years ago. Back then, web hosting was a mess. Companies used hosting servers that posed great risks and nothing was secure.

Gradually, things evolved and we took a jump to VPNs and today cloud hosting is the solution to all hosting problems. We host everything from websites to our important files on the cloud now, and everything is accessible around the world. According to a Right Scale report, 95% internet users are using cloud hosting in one way or other.

The presence of cloud hosting has solved a lot of problems for us, however is this the end of it or shall we expect improved services in the future?

According to a report from 451 Research, growth in this sector is going to be slow, but it doesn’t mean there would be no improvement in the world of hosting.

Hosting providers have started to specialize now, and are targeting a narrow market. For example, there’s WordPress hosting for ecommerce[a] stores that mainly targets online stores. Similarly, there are companies offering shared hosting packages as well to cater to the growing demands of customers.

The landscape has changed, and it is going to change further. The best way to know how technology has changed is to look around instead of going through books or manuals.

Let’s talk about browsing, see how it has changed. Back in the initial age of the internet, even Yahoo.com took a minute to load, whereas now the average loading time for Yahoo.com is a few seconds, including images.

This change is due to several reasons. Now the speed does not depend much on where a website is hosted as everything is on the cloud. The speed you get depends on your own personal internet bandwidth limit, however certain hosting packages may cause a website to load slowly.

Let’s look at some of the stats to understand how the world of web hosting is going to change in the future.

1. The global web hosting industry is expected to grow to a whooping $143.8 billion by the year 2020.

2. Hosting revenue is expected to increase at a rate of 15.5% per year. However, this is the average growth rate, and specific rates for each type of hosting differ. Let’s take a look at expected growth rates:

  • Dedicated hosting: 5.7% yearly
  • Shared hosting: 10.4% yearly
  • Managed hosting: 18.7% yearly

3. The market share is also changing. Web hosting is expected to decline to 28.5%, from 36.8% last year. On the other hand, managed hosting is expected to hit a record high of 71.5% by 2019.

But why are things changing? There’s one answer: Technology. Today’s customers are spoiled. They are used to evolving technology, and have very high expectations.

Businesses often find it difficult to meet these expectations, because in most cases even customers do not know what they really want. Some even argue that today’s customers have unjustified expectations. However, the good news is that businesses are trying to meet these expectations by continuing to improve how they work.

The truth is that competition is stiff in all industries. If a hosting provider fails to improve or meet its customer’s expectations, the customer would move to the next best alternative. Since there isn’t much difference between core products offered by hosting providers, it often also becomes difficult to compete with businesses competing mainly on prices and overall customer service and add-ons.

Today’s businesses run on the cloud thanks to internet-based infrastructure that has been accepted wholeheartedly by businesses around the globe. Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is growing in demand and is expected to overtake virtual private servers (VPS).

In today’s dynamic world, the only thing that is constant is change. Hosting providers need to identify and understand trends so that they can plan accordingly. It is important for businesses to stay nimble and respond to the changing scenario as quickly as possible.

Also, it isn’t very different for customers these days. They are continuously struggling to find providers that can meet their expectations. While there are over 352,760 hosting providers out there, many customers are still seen looking for better alternatives.

According to the 451 Research report, the hosting sector might not be growing at a great pace, but it is expected to see an additional revenue of $7.5 billion per year. That’s a good news for businesses, but if you wish to a have a share in this cake, you must be able to reinvent yourself and provide your customers what they want.

When it comes to hosting, growth is all about getting new customers or getting your old customers to upgrade or subscribe to new services. This is easier said than done, but the truth is that customers are willing to spend money if they get what they really want.