DIY Web Hosting Services Scoops Growth Accolade

For Immediate Release

‘Do-It-Yourself’ Kiwi Answer to Web Hosting Services Scoops Fast Growth Accolade for Lower Hutt Company

New Zealand’s most popular web hosting and domain registrations company and first time entrant, iSERVE, was ranked New Zealand’s tenth – and Wellington’s second - fastest growing company in the 2005 Deloitte/Unlimited Fast 50 Awards.

The rankings also place the company - the only web hosting company to make it on this year’s list - as the highest ranked ICT business run by a woman.

The rankings, based on percentage revenue growth, show iSERVE notched up a 536.31 per cent revenue increase over the past year. In Wellington the company was beaten only by Trade Me, which ranked fourth in the overall index.

A focus on demystifying web hosting services for Kiwis, breaking new ground in a fledgling but growing industry and providing superior customer service have paid off for iSERVE, which was founded just four years ago by five shareholders in answer to a major gap in the web hosting market.

“When we set up iSERVE there was nothing on the market that offered Kiwis what they really wanted out of web hosting services,” iSERVE General Manager Joy Cottle says. “We realised that Kiwis are really a do-it-ya-self kinda bunch, and there were not a lot of ‘self help’ web hosting services available.”

Growth has been dramatic and since 2002 the company has been ranked as the most visited New Zealand website for hosting and domain registration by Hitwise.

Since it began operations in 2001, the company has built up a large and loyal customer base and grown its annual turnover from $60,000 annual to a multi-million dollar figure. iSERVE now has 17 staff and more than 30,000 customers.

Or as Cottle puts it, “We have grown from one server, one product (web hosting) and one customer four years ago to more than a 100 servers, two data centres and three products offerings (web hosting, domains registrations and server hosting).”

By automating some web hosting services iSERVE entered the industry as a market leader and since then has launched a string of other innovations. iSERVE was the first New Zealand company to launch a locally built web-hosting console, to provide two simple hosting plans, to launch a plan for resellers and to launch a console specifically for server hosting.

The company has grown its customer base largely though word-of-mouth and by providing a superior service. “When hiring our focus is on customer service, we believe we can quickly train staff on the technology but good service skills come from experience.”

The majority of iSERVE's clients are small and medium sized businesses and the company has recently launched a data services division providing managed and outsourced server options. Its customers range from an 82-year-old grandmother to one of New Zealand's largest insurance companies.

ENDS

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