Interviewed on 12 Mar 10
Chris James, Director
Clook Internet is a leading provider of UK based managed web hosting services. We have a solid reputation for high levels of service and proactive customer support rated second to none. Our web hosting services range from simple shared hosting accounts to clustered server solutions – allowing us to cater to the needs of individuals, small businesses, large enterprises and everyone between.
Established in 2002 Clook Internet operates 8 colocation cabinets at UK and US based data facilities housing over 250 separate owned servers. Network connectivity and server performance are proactively monitored 24x7 by our highly skilled in-house NOC technicians who are always ready and willing to lend a helping hand.
Our fully managed hosting solutions allow customers to focus on expanding their website or growing their business without worrying of technical server issues. Sleep well at night knowing that your website is in great hands and will be online and functioning as expected when you awake!
What unique selling points do you offer?
Although this is an easy question to answer, it is also one of the most difficult questions for a managed web hosting provider to answer at the same time. Nearly all web hosting companies advertise the same rhetoric - 99.9% uptime, blazing fast servers, superb network connectivity, 24x7 support and so forth – yet only few companies seem to actually provide these selling points at the end of the day.
While Clook Internet is one company that actually do provide those selling points (which immediately set us a step above our competition) there are a number of other unique selling points which Clook Internet is known for providing.
1. Our technical support is PROACTIVE which means we prevent problems before they start and we fix problems before our customers even notice a service disruption.
2. We spare no expense when it comes to the hardware that our customer websites are hosted on. That said, we only use (brand new, out of a sealed box) state-of-the-art HP blade server technology (http://www.clook.co.uk/company-news/what-are-blade-servers/) which not only provides a solid hosting infrastructure for our clients but allow us to use more environmental friendly technology.
3. Our servers are configured to use our redundant DNS cluster instead of handling DNS on the same machine. Due to our DNS cluster machines being completely separate and in geographically diverse (US & UK) facilities our customer’s hosted domain names will be available for DNS lookups 100% of the time. This is essential should any part of their domain name be hosted elsewhere (eg a subdomain on a different server or email handled by a third party) as this will remain fully active in the rare event of a server being unavailable.
4. We have a cluster of servers which handle all incoming email for our clients. This system is responsible for accepting email, scanning it for spam and viruses then passing onto the inbox should it be deemed ‘clean’. In the event of an email being detected as spam or infected the system will quarantine it for further inspection.
Along with the highly accurate and feature packed spam/virus detection, this system also has the advantage of taking the resource intensive task of email scanning away from our hosting servers which saves significant amounts of ongoing RAM and CPU usage.
5. We have staff available 24x7 that are working the support desk and monitoring servers. These employees, even during late night hours, are not “on-call” and we do not outsource any aspect of our services… even to US based companies.
Describe the services you offer?
We offer a range of hosting services from shared hosting packages for single websites through to reseller packages for those reselling hosting services or with multiple separate websites. Beyond this we have a range of VPS packages for those requiring an extra layer of customisation along with a full suite of dedicated servers catering for those with more power for websites or hosting requirements. This can be extended towards load balanced solutions and other highly customised hosting environments to suit the requirements of the client.
Describe your target market?
We have clients from varying markets from private individuals with personal websites right up to large multi-nationals with larger hosting requirements. Our target market is the high end consumer market encompassing those who are happy to pay a little more for their hosting in return for increased levels of service to in addition to the small to medium size business that require a stable and feature packed yet competitively priced hosting service.
How is your company planning for the future?
The hosting industry has always been fast moving and it’s essential that those of us in the industry stay aware of current and upcoming trends along with constant evaluation of the marketplace, competitors as-well as internal examination of company procedures and services in order to remain competitive. Our management team routinely participates in web hosting conferences, webinar presentations and meetings with cutting-edge technology companies to stay ahead of the competition.
Having recently completed a major review of our dedicated server packages and the accompanying management provided with the servers we are soon planning a similar review of our VPS line of services to further increase the management services included with these packages. Additionally, research and development into emerging technologies such as “the cloud” are continuously ongoing projects.
What benefits can you offer your customers?
Many of the benefits we offer our customers are those that we have alluded to in the first open-ended question of this questionnaire. When it comes to hosting we firmly believe the best benefits we can offer our customers are those that correlate directly with their web hosting services, and not necessarily the free promotional items that many companies use to sell their hosting. We let our hosting speak for itself and therefore sell it sell!
The above being said, we do offer a growing number of “freebies” that include ClientExec licenses, domain reseller accounts, discounts for popular software titles and so forth.
How do you support your customers?
We have always had a large focus on our customer support and after sales care believing this is what sets us apart from a lot of our competitors. Our support department is staffed 24/7 with in-house employees with up to sys-admin levels of knowledge resulting in queries being handled very quickly - usually within 5 minutes - without needing to be escalated.
Our primary method of support is via email or our online help desk. This allows all queries to be handled efficiently with all replies stored online for clients to refer back to at a later date should they wish. Telephone support is also available but not yet covering 24/7 which should be changing once our live trials of this feature are complete within the next few months.
In addition to the above we have a full suite of online resources such as video tutorials, frequently asked questions and a busy customer forum where clients can exchange views, opinions, tips and ideas with us and other clients. With a large proportion of clients registered and active on our forum it has become a valuable resource for everyone along with a fun place to be when passing time.
