13 Things To Look For When Choosing An Intuit Hosting Provider

Choosing the right Intuit hosting provider is crucial for businesses that rely on QuickBooks, Lacerte, or ProSeries to operate smoothly. As more firms move away from on-premise systems to reduce IT overhead and gain flexibility, cloud hosting has become a practical and reliable option.

However, with numerous providers offering hosting services for Intuit applications, it can be challenging to determine which one best suits your business needs.

This blog breaks down the key factors you should evaluate so you can confidently select a hosting provider that delivers performance, security, and long-term value.

1. Intuit Authorized 

Intuit authorizes select cloud service providers to host its products under the Intuit Hosting Program. These providers are approved based on strict criteria, including reliability, performance, security, and customer support.

Choosing an authorized Intuit hosting provider, such as Ace Cloud Hosting, ensures you receive a secure and high-quality hosting experience backed by Intuit’s standards. Additionally, under the QuickBooks Solution Provider Program, authorized partners can also sell genuine Intuit products, such as QuickBooks Enterprise, at competitive pricing.

Therefore, before opting for any hosting services for your Intuit applications, it is essential to check whether the provider is officially authorized.

2. Market Reputation

Before entering into a long-term partnership with an Intuit hosting provider, it is vital to investigate the provider’s reputation. You must ask the provider about any downtime history, security incidents, or non-compliance events. 

Request them to share customer testimonials and case studies. Moreover, you must research community forums, like Reddit, to get genuine customer feedback. Service rating sites, like G2 and Capterra, will also help you gauge the provider’s reliability.        

3. Service Uptime

When hosting Intuit applications remotely, it is critical that employees have 24/7 access to their applications and data, as even a short period of downtime can lead to financial losses.

In cloud provider SLAs, uptime is measured in “nines”—the more nines, the higher the availability. This metric also directly corresponds to the amount of downtime permitted over a given period. Measuring availability in nines is standard industry practice for indicating how often an application remains accessible.

Therefore, you should shortlist Intuit hosting providers that offer at least 99.99% uptime, and ensure this guarantee is clearly stated in the SLA. Competent providers typically use infrastructure redundancy and failover mechanisms to deliver the promised uptime.  

4. Data Security

According to Anne Neuberger, US Deputy National Security Advisor for cyber and emerging technologies, the annual average cost of cybercrime will cross $23 trillion in 2027. Moreover, 17 percent of cyberattacks will use some form of generative AI by 2027. Hence, when choosing an Intuit hosting provider, data security is a non-negotiable. 

The Intuit hosting provider you shortlist must have a state-of-the-art security infrastructure with advanced capabilities, such as threat intelligence, threat hunting, XDR, and more. 

Moreover, you must enquire if the provider ensures data protection at all levels (physical, endpoint, admin, and network) by deploying protocols, such as multi-factor authentication, data encryption, 24/7 network monitoring, DDoS protection, antivirus, antimalware, OS patching, and distributed firewalls.   

5. Free Trial and Custom Pricing

Pricing is often the deciding factor when choosing an Intuit application hosting provider. Hence, you must analyze your budget and assess the provider’s affordability.

Compare the providers’ pricing plans to select the one that matches your budget. Moreover, you should ask the provider whether they can customize the pricing plan according to your requirements. 

Generally, your partnership with the Intuit hosting provider is long-term. Hence, it is recommended to try the hosting services before entering into a contract. You must ask whether the provider offers a free trial of their services so you can make practical decisions.         

6. Industry-Specific Solutions

When it comes to Intuit hosting providers, you will find several options available. However, most providers offer generic application hosting services. 

You must find a provider that provides industry-specific cloud hosting solutions to match your business requirements and comply with industry regulations. These providers understand the niche challenges of hosting Intuit products and can provide customized services. 

7. Automated Backup Solution

Data backup is crucial for ensuring easy data recovery in the event of a security incident, such as a ransomware attack or accidental file deletion. Hence, you must check if the Inuit hosting provider offers an automated backup and recovery solution. 

Also, enquire about the backup duration and frequency, and whether the backup would disrupt operations. You must also ask whether the backup solution is included in the pricing plan or if the provider levies additional charges.  

8. Regulatory Compliance

Depending on the region and industry in which you operate, your organization must ensure compliance with multiple regulations and laws. Some of these include PCI-DSS, HIPAA, IRS WISP, and GDPR. Any non-compliance with these regulations can lead to huge penalties, audits, and reputational damage. 

Hence, make sure you consider an Intuit hosting provider that can assure compliance by following the proper protocols. Ask them if they maintain logs and offer advanced reports to ensure a smooth audit. 

9. State-of-the-Art Infrastructure

The provider’s IT infrastructure affects its performance, location, data security, and availability. Therefore, you must enquire about which data centers are used to host your Intuit applications and data. 

Prefer a provider that hosts in a Tier-4 or above data center. These data centers deploy infrastructure redundancy and fault-tolerant systems to ensure all-time availability and peak performance. Moreover, these data centers have enterprise-grade physical security to prevent any unauthorized access.    

10. Priority Support

IT glitches can cause significant downtime to your operations. Therefore, any Intuit hosting provider you shortlist must have reliable customer support. Some providers offer 24/7 support, but not on weekends and holidays. 

Hence, ensure that the Intuit hosting provider provides support for 365 days a year. Moreover, the provider must define the First Response Time (FRT) in their SLA. Also, make sure the provider offers support via multiple channels, including phone, chat, bot, and email. Lastly, enquire if customer support is included in the pricing plan or if the provider charges extra.  

11. Unrestricted Scalability 

As the workforce expands, you need to include more users and applications in the operations. Moreover, the requirement for data storage also increases with time. The Intuit hosting provider must be able to scale IT resources to meet the growing business requirements. 

Also, ask the provider about the billing cycle and how you will be charged after upgrading the IT resources.

12. Performance

When accessing the Intuit applications remotely, you desire the experience to be the same as if working on the local desktop. However, you might experience latency if the provider’s server setup is not optimal. 

Opt for an Intuit hosting provider that deploys a high-performance computing (HPC) setup that facilitates parallel processing. Moreover, prefer a provider that offers dedicated servers for better performance. It ensures that you get a real-time experience, even on remote devices.      

13. Disaster Recovery

Natural disasters, such as earthquakes and floods, can affect the entire data center facility, causing days of downtime. Hence, ensure the selected Intuit hosting provider deploys a Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR) plan to ensure uninterrupted operations, even during a natural disaster. 

The provider must replicate the Intuit applications and data in more than one data center, so they can give access from alternative data centers when one location is affected.  

Choose the Intuit Hosting Provider Wisely

Choosing the Intuit hosting provider with thorough planning and consideration ensures a stress-free transition to the cloud. However, it is always smart to try the hosting services to get a real-time experience of the providers’ capabilities. 

If you’re unsure how to choose the right Intuit hosting provider, feel free to reach out to Ace Cloud Hosting. From hosting applications like QuickBooks, Lacerte, and ProSeries to supporting essential business add-ons, Ace Cloud Hosting also offers managed security and IT services tailored for accounting and CPA firms. You can also sign up for a 7-day free trial to experience our hosting services firsthand.