Isn’t technology wonderful? It keeps us warm when the nights are cold. It allows us to stream endless hours of entertainment from the comfort of our homes. It helps us to stay in touch with loved ones halfway around the world and gives us access to funny cat GIFs that can pick us up when the world gets us down. But for the enterprising parent, technology also represents avenues of opportunity which could scarcely have been imagined by previous generations of entrepreneurs. It is through the ubiquity of digital technology that hundreds, thousands around the world have thrown off the corporate yoke and been able to go into business for themselves.

If you have chosen this path, either as a side-hustle or a full time career, you need to ensure that you’re not only keeping your head above water operationally but laying a foundation for future growth. When you operate in the digital realm, this has inevitable implications for your hosting requirements. As your business grows your needs may outgrow the cloud based starter packages that many startup businesses begin life with. In this case a VPS may cut a path to sustainable growth for you. If you’re reaching the end of what your server capabilities can do for your home business, let’s take a look at what a VPS can do for you...

What is VPS? 

A VPS or Virtual Private Server is a perfect middle ground between a cloud based server solution and investing in a big physical server, which can be prohibitively pricey for a home business (as well as clashing quite spectacularly with the decor of your spare room). A VPS uses virtualization software to partition off the provider’s physical servers into multiple "virtual" servers. Each is completely autonomous and is able to run its own operating system and applications.

Why it’s beneficial to small home based businesses 

For most home businesses, their website is an integral part of their operations. It’s not only the means through which transactions are facilitated, it’s the gateway through which both regular customers and new prospects will get their first and definitive experience with your business. As such, your hosting needs to be secure, reliable and upscalable.

If your business is growing fast and you have further growth in mind, using a VPS as an alternative to cloud based solutions or a physical server can be beneficial in a number of ways:

They’re fast

In a fast-paced age where most of us engage with the internet through mobile devices your website needs to be fast and responsive. A page load time of just 7 seconds can increase your bounce rate by over 30%. A VPS can ensure that your website operates quickly and smoothly to facilitate great UX. Speaking of speed, VPS servers can be set up in around 5 minutes!

They’re flexible

Whatever the nature of your business, a VPS can be implemented to suit your needs. What’s more fully virtualized servers use QUEMU KVM so you don’t have to worry about your existing applications being compatible with your servers.

They’re scalable

Finally, a VPS can be scaled up so that it grows with your business while also ensuring that you never pay a penny over the odds for storage that you aren’t using.

If you don’t anticipate your home based small business staying small or home based for long, a VPS can be a great solution to scale up growth without interrupting function!