1-GRID: Specialist in All Things Hosting in South Africa

“Businesses that aren’t online are digging their own grave and missing out on potential business,” estimates Cape Town-based web hosting company 1-grid, and it is this omission that it is on a mission to fix. The internet has made the world a far smaller place and it is inarguable that enterprises with no or inadequate online presence are simply bypassed, as potential customers spend more and more of their time in studied reverie behind computer screens and smartphones.

1-grid is exactly the place to click for those clamouring to take their merchandise and transactions online, but lacking the knowledge of where to start or how to go about it and in need of the reassurance and deep experience of the specialists in all things hosting in South Africa. “Investors need to see that you take yourself seriously and not having a website does not indicate a high level of seriousness,” 1-grid astutely analyses, “while having a functional website can also streamline processes in your business and make things easier.”

HOME ONLINE

The benefits of starting or taking online an existing business are, in reality, endless. It lends legitimacy and enables people to follow-up the abundance of word-of-mouth recommendations with a more thorough search to gain an impression of what the company offers and the full range of products or services. An online presence also brings revenue from organic traffic, while being atop search results is essential to capturing potential new customers. “In short, all businesses need to get online,” 1-grid sums up. 

“From expertly designed websites to secure web hosting and water-tight security, we are your home online.”

1-grid accomplishes everything from domain and company registration to reseller hosting, taking care of website design, building and optimisation and VPS and dedicated servers. “Combine these exciting services with a top team that understands the industry, and you get a company that’s outlived some of its biggest competitors,” 1-grid expands. “Our roots go back to 1997 and the formation of Webafrica, when websites were simple and diskspace allocations which started at a whopping 5mb.”

In 2013 Webafrica then purchased the renowned Gridhost, and five years later Gridhost Services was born, moving away from Webafrica to embark on its new journey as a specialised web hosting business for SMEs in Southern Africa and rebranding as 1-grid. It has proven a voyage of constant evolution and adaptation to customer needs, replete with essential additions to the company’s support system such as new interactive channels and a brand-new ‘Knowledge Base’, to better assist customers throughout their product experience.

Several country and industry firsts have punctuated the 1-grid story along the way, including a unique business registration feature which has allowed hundreds of start-ups to establish and protect their brand identity by ensuring consistency both on and offline. The birth of the company’s very own mobile app in 2020 was another example of its being again the one that others follow, joined by the ground-breaking 1-grid podcast to further empower SME’s in South Africa through online tools.

“This year, completing a major Data Centre move to a state-of-the-art world class ISO certified facility allows us to continue to provide the reliable, secure, and fast hosting service that you’ve come to expect from us,” 1-grid reveals, and this policy of progress and improvement stands the company in excellent stead, especially with 70% of South African SMEs expecting their investment in technology to increase in the next year.

SMB GROWTH AND EMPOWERMENT

This foreseen growth will directly impact and benefit 1-grid. SMEs are earmarking significant digital and IT budgets for everything from levelling-up websites and refreshing hardware to upping their spending on e-commerce, digital marketing and customer relationship management (CRM) in months to come. According to Ventureburn, “there is a growing acknowledgement that smart technology investments can pay for themselves multiple times over, by enabling a business to cut costs and improve profitability or increasing top-line revenues.

“Technology is key to SMB resilience, giving businesses the agility to thrive through difficult times.”

With 1-grid’s complete, all-in-one solution to get businesses online, nobody is better placed to pass comment on and offer valuable insight into the further regulation of the registration and operation of websites in South Africa proposed by the dotZA Domain Name Authority (ZADNA).

“Even when implemented with the best of intentions, restrictions run the risk of creating a barrier to entry,” cautioned 1-grid CEO Thomas Vollrath. “While we support the work of the registry in ensuring that the domain database is accurate, we also believe in an open market. Internationally, we’ve seen that the most successful registries have been the ones that ensure widescale open access to domains, without unnecessary barriers to registration.

“To support local providers and promote industry growth, we should be encouraging South Africans to invest in local domains.

“At 1-grid we aim to invest in the growth of individuals and SMEs by moving them online,” the company reiterates. “We are inspired by the initiative that individuals and companies take to enter the business market in South Africa, and our team is passionate about SME growth and empowerment in South Africa and committed to the African entrepreneurial energy that helps SMEs succeed in the digital space.”