We decided to move our intranet from our own servers, to a different host for multiple reasons.
Security, Staging options, Login Features (i.e. shibboleth), Speed were amongst the reasons.
In practice, at present, we have multiple users registered in our WP intranet, and we have no way to know how many of them have already left the university, and should therefore be removed. The shibboleth architecture is a way to link our BU logins to our intranet logins so that the system is automated, and when the student/staff/faculty leaves, the login credentials will also be removed.
We also do not support the latest HTTPS standards, and this creates dangerous openings to outside attacks, and flags by web browsers telling our visitors that we are “not secure”.
We opted to sign up for a Kinsta account as they cover all of these areas and are a well renowned platform used by a lot of businesses, with great reviews.
They also offer a well built dashboard that includes many features, an easy to navigate architecture, and the options to easily set staging environments.
Ultimately, they also provide free CDNs (which will increase our overall site speed and rendering) and are specifically experienced with WP migrations. Their support is also excellent.
If you want to know more about our migration project, check this section.
If you want to know more about Kinsta and its features, check this section.