About Cozahost Internet Consultants

A brief history on how Cozahost started, how we grew, what we believe and where we are going.

Picture the early 1990's.  That is when, for us, life started designing and developing enterprise client server systems for large corporates.  Young, arrogant and convinced we are the best hackers ever to touch a keyboard we reluctantly came to accept that computer systems (any system) can not exist in a vacuum - they require integration into the organization: it's people, methods, ethos. 

While we desperately tried to stick to the safe and predictable realm of software engineering, a large part of the solutions we offered required consultancy services...in other words: working with people.  Understanding business and the realities of the free market system.  The school of hard knocks. 

Big picture

We learnt many things during the next decade.  Chiefly among them is that people can not be rebooted.  Apparently they have to be upgraded gradually.  Weird.

We also learnt that technology was not the problem - you can kick a tree and four propeller heads (computer nerds/geeks/hackers) fall out.  The ability to see the big picture is the issue:  to make our clients more profitable using technology.

So, we added the word "consulting" to our software development firm - and immediately started wearing pagers on our belts and little pda computers in our man-bags.  We even wore ties for a few years.

Then the internet arrived

We were happily minding our own business when in 1998 the internet arrived in South Africa.  A game changer.  It soon became clear that the internet will change the way we do business and live in a fundamental and permanent way. 

So, with a little leap of faith we founded CozaHost in 1999 with the realization that most businesses cannot not get the help and expert advice they need to use the "internet-web-thing" to grow.  Technology was becoming more and more powerful and easier and easier to use.  Much, much easier to shoot your toes off with it.

The internet is like a spade.  It cannot dig your hole for you, but if you use it right, it can make the task much, much easier.  (Mind the toes though)

Our customers need holes

So, while ISPs tried to sign up gazillion web hosting clients or ADSL users to boost their profits - we specialized to turn internet visitors into paying customers for our clients.  Our strategy:  If we boost our client's profits, then ours will increase too.

Can the implementation of this "strategy" be delegated to a room full of helpdesk clerks with 2 years experience answering phones?

Aikona. Not so much.

So we'd have to do the work ourselves.  Hiring half of India to answer the phones won't work.

And that suited us just fine.  We'd rather be the cozy bistro rather than the McDonalds.

No thanks.  Not for us.

So, instead of the conventional, we thought our niche we would be to help small business watch their proverbial toes while playing with the internet.

We figured that, by focusing on what people really need, we can have our cake and eat it.

So, we put our money where our mouths were: we created CozaHost and built the business to be profitable within one year - using nothing other than internet marketing. No adds in the paper, no radio spots, no millions of Rands capital injections - nothing other than free internet marketing. We figured that if we could do this, we could help our own customers do the same:  running a technical infrastructure is easy compared to making sales and paying salaries at the end of the month! :-)

A real company

We own our own server racks (in South Africa and USA) and we have our own fixed line network in South Africa - in other words: a real web hosting company, not just a front for someone else. Currently we run all our services in the USA and our South African network lies dormant - waiting for Escom and Telkom to improve service levels to a point where one can reliably and cost effectively run an internet business. (Perhaps the telkom/electricity problems are a blessing in disguise: our clients are hosted at the very center of the internet - in the largest and most sophisticated data center in the world.)

We don't take your clients for granted

We don't use contracts to tie our clients down.  We understand we are only one service provider - there are millions on the internet.  A few of them even know what they are doing.  Some we respect.  

Like in a good marriage, we have to romance our clients each and every day or suffer the consequence.

And as for growing our own business?

While the "big guns" in the industry try to get as many as possible customers on their network to satisfy their shareholders, we try to keep our customer base as small as possible. We don't have to employ technicians that neither know nor care about how to build a profitable business on the internet.

Just think for a moment: what kind of service can an ISP profitably provide you with if they charge you R 20.00 per month for web hosting? And what if they have 100 000 customers? How important do you think your business is to them?

So we to stay small. We know our clients. We like it this way. We have absolutely no interest in taking over the world.

Would you like to speak to us?

I'm sure you have questions or comments about us and our products - and how we can help you become successful online. Please contact us, and let's chat for a few minutes.