Fasthosts recently released what they call an 'SME Indicator’ which distinguishes between online businesses according to three levels of vehicles: “The Compact”, “The Convertible” and “The Sports”.

Web hosting – like a car engine – powers and drives an online operation in distinctive ways. The analogy has helped Fasthosts discover a unique classification system for all small and medium enterprises (SME).

The UK Web host recently released what they call an ‘SME Indicator’ which distinguishes between online businesses according to three levels of vehicles: “The Compact”, “The Convertible” and “The Sports”. Fasthosts surveyed over 1,300 random customers through an email invitation and uncovered these three main varieties, based on elements such as, frequency of website use, amount of hosting services used, use of servers and number of IP addresses required.

Stephen Holford, Director of Product Marketing for Fasthosts, told TopHosts that the SME Indicator’s car analogy is meant to help pinpoint the status of an SME’s online presence, providing a comparison anyone can relate to.

“The majority of people will understand the appeal of the convertible, and equally, the difficulty in getting there,” Holford said. “The sports car emphasizes that, and highlights the amount of effort needed to grow a small business to that level.”

The Compact
At the most rudimentary level, “The Compact” or the Personal User is a small business made up of between one and five employees, managed as an efficient car owner might run his or her automobile – intuitively and economically. These operations use basic or shared hosting services, and look for value and reliability from their Web host.

The Convertible
Moving up one level, “The Convertible” or Entrepreneur is a more dynamic operation, with creative business ideas and strong financial motivation. This type updates their website regularly and tends to be an intermediate user which has recently moved to – or is considering a move to – entry level dedicated servers, from a high-end shared hosting service.

The Sports
At the uppermost echelon is “The Sports” or Serious User. Like a high performance vehicle, this type makes the most of its resources to gain a competitive edge. These types require more IP addresses, and usually needs unlimited data transfer because of the higher traffic. These companies run on multiple dedicated servers to ensure the highest availability, access speeds and security.

Chris Chisholm, a Webmaster for MovieBunker.com (http://www.moviebunker.com), and a Fasthosts customer, thinks the SME Indicator paints a pretty accurate picture of online operations. He relates to the classification system.

“My website falls into the Personal User category since it is a hobby site,” Chisholm said. “Yes, I drive a Compact Car… I found myself nodding in agreement at the contents.”

Chisholm believes Fasthosts’ measurement tool is helpful because it allows a smaller operation like his identify where they stand and what kind of technology to look into should expansion plans take shape.

And that’s precisely what the tool was intended to do, according to Holford. The primary objective behind the SME Indicator was to help an SME, like Chisholm’s, recognize what it takes to move to the next level. The research has also helped Fasthosts understand their SME customers better, allowing them to provide the specific Web hosting services SME types need to help them grow.

“The key is in understanding the SME barriers to growth, and helping them overcome these issues by providing tools and services that encourage and enable growth,” Holford said.

For now, Chisholm says his modest online operation is looking mainly for Web hosting value, reliability and solid uptime – a quality reflecting “The Compact/Personal User”. Down the road however, he says he understands what to ask for if his site experiences major growth, thanks to the SME Indicator.