Empowering SMBs: Liquid Web’s web hosting and AI-driven solutions

In a recent episode of Tech Impact, Carrie Wheeler, President of Liquid Web, joined host Marc Saltzman to discuss how Liquid Web is reshaping web hosting for small to mid-size businesses (SMBs).

As an industry leader, Liquid Web offers high-performance, dedicated hosting solutions and integrates AI to make digital infrastructure simpler and more reliable.

Read on for highlights, and be sure to check out the full interview for an in-depth look at how Liquid Web helps SMBs thrive online.

Explore cloud VPS hosting today

Watch Tech Impact Interview about empowering SMBs with Carrie Wheeler, President of Liquid Web, hosted by Marc Saltzman

Liquid Web’s mission: Reliable hosting for SMBs

For nearly three decades, Liquid Web has been dedicated to providing reliable hosting for small businesses. With over 200,000 customers, Liquid Web understands that SMBs need dependable, high-performance hosting solutions to grow their online presence.

“Starting a small business is hard enough without worrying about your technology platform, security, or performance,” says Carrie Wheeler. “That’s where we come in.”

Simplifying technology for SMBs: The Liquid Web advantage

Liquid Web’s success is built on the “three Ps:” Products, Platforms, and People.

Products tailored for every project

Liquid Web offers an array of dedicated hosting solutions designed for the specific needs of SMBs. Whether a customer is running a high-traffic ecommerce site or developing complex applications, Liquid Web provides SMB hosting solutions that simplify decision-making, onboarding, and migration.

Carrie Wheeler highlights, “While we have a wide range of web hosting, we don’t just leave you to navigate the options alone. Our expert team is here to guide you to the right solution for your particular size, scale, and workload.”

High-performance hosting platforms

With enterprise-grade infrastructure, Liquid Web’s hosting environment is designed for maximum uptime and efficiency. “We deliver best-in-class data centers, hardware, and software platforms built for unbeatable performance and reliability,” says Wheeler. These platforms ensure high-performance hosting with lightning-fast speeds and rock-solid security, helping SMBs focus on growth.

Dedicated support from a team of experts

Liquid Web’s commitment to SMBs goes beyond technology. Their expert support team is available 24/7/365 to handle issues and ensure seamless operations.

Wheeler emphasizes, “Our clients depend on hundreds of trained technicians to help—especially with today’s tech challenges.“

Supporting key industries with web hosting for SMBs

Liquid Web provides hosting solutions for SMBs across various industries, including ecommerce, legal, medical, manufacturing, and consulting. By supporting various CMS platforms (like WordPress and WooCommerce), Liquid Web’s infrastructure allows SMBs to leverage both traditional and cloud hosting solutions effectively, attracting clients who prioritize uptime, security, and scalability.

Innovating with AI-driven hosting solutions

With the rise of AI in web hosting, Liquid Web is committed to delivering cutting-edge, AI-driven solutions that save SMBs time and resources. Liquid Web’s Kadence AI platform is one example, as well as their GPU hosting, simplifying web development tasks, while future releases will include bare metal solutions optimized for AI and API-driven hosting.

Wheeler highlights the value of AI, saying, “AI is an incredibly powerful tool for small and midsize businesses because it creates the most valuable asset — time.”

Liquid Web’s ongoing investment in AI tools and high-performance hosting platforms empowers SMBs to work more efficiently and meet evolving tech demands.

Building a fair future for SMBs in the digital space

Liquid Web’s mission is to be the backbone that helps SMBs succeed in the digital world. By providing reliable, AI-integrated, and high-performance hosting, Liquid Web offers SMBs the chance to compete with larger enterprises.

“Our goal is to create a future where businesses of all sizes have equal opportunity online,” Wheeler states.

Liquid Web is here to help SMBs grow and thrive by handling the tough technology challenges so that business owners can focus on what matters most.

Explore cloud hosting today

Chat with an expert

Click to read the full Carrie Wheeler interview transcript.

Marc Saltzman :
Maximizing your digital potential requires the highest standard in web hosting and critical infrastructure solutions. And the experts at Liquid Web have been setting the standard in web hosting for over 27 years. So, let’s meet Carrie Wheeler, President of Liquid Web.

Marc Saltzman:
Hi Carrie Wheeler! Welcome to this special AI episode of Tech Impact!

Carrie Wheeler:
Marc Saltzman, it’s great to be here; thank you for having me. I’m really excited to chat with you today and share some of the great capabilities, tools, and innovations we’ve been investing in at Liquid Web — especially in AI — to help small and midsize businesses succeed online.

Marc Saltzman:
Carrie Wheeler, tell us a little bit about Liquid Web.

Carrie Wheeler:
We’re a company built with one goal in mind: making web hosting and hosting infrastructure simple for small and midsize businesses. For over 27 years, and with over 200,000 customers, we’ve invested in technology solutions focused on three foundational concepts:

Helping SMBs and online businesses grow. We provide premium hosting solutions for businesses where online operations are their business. They need platforms that are always available, lightning-fast, secure, and ready to scale—so they can stay focused on what they do best.
Providing peace of mind in a “digital world.” Our goal is to deliver solutions that just work. Running a business is tough, and SMBs often lack the resources larger enterprises can afford. That’s why we’re here—offering best-in-class platforms that run, and run well, and of course, support when they need it most.
Delivering innovation to our customers. We’re doing this in two ways: by integrating AI-powered capabilities into our platforms and developing tools for our customers to use themselves.

A recent survey from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Teneo shows that almost all small businesses — 98 percent — are using AI tools. And 40 percent of those businesses are tapping into generative AI tools like chatbots and image creation, which is nearly double what it was last year. AI is an incredibly powerful tool for small and mid-size businesses because it creates the most valuable asset—time. We’re investing in AI to help create efficiencies of time for SMBs — for example, our Kadence AI platform that makes web development a breeze. We’re building AI help tools on our Knowledge Base, and in early Q4, we’ll be providing the infrastructure that AI runs on, with a range of GPUs, and an API-driven bare metal solution. It’s an exciting time in hosting and technology right now!

Marc Saltzman:
A lot of SMBs or small and midsize businesses can benefit from your solutions. How do you help them succeed online?

Carrie Wheeler:
It all comes down to the three Ps for us, Marc Saltzman. Our products, our platform, and our people.

Our products: We like to say we have a product for every project. But, as you know, technology options are vast and complex, so we offer choice with guidance. Our goal is to simplify decision-making, onboarding, and migration while providing the flexibility you need. With so many options out there, it can get confusing and, frankly, overwhelming. While we have a wide range of web hosting, web development, and infrastructure solutions designed to meet the needs of all businesses, we don’t just leave you to navigate the options alone. Our expert team is here to guide you to the right solution for your particular size, scale, and workload.
Our platforms: We deliver best-in-class data centers, hardware, and software platforms built for unbeatable performance and reliability. With enterprise-grade infrastructure behind everything we do, you get super-fast speeds, rock-solid security, and effortless scalability. Whether you’re building a new website, managing a high-traffic ecommerce site, or developing complex applications, our hosting environment is designed to keep your business running smoothly with maximum uptime and efficiency.
Our people: And finally, making technology easy — or, well, easier for our customers through our products and platforms is great. Let’s be honest, this AI explosion can be confusing; sometimes, you just need help, and you need to talk to someone. Software does bad things sometimes, security gets breached, networks run slow—the challenges are numerous, so our clients can depend on the hundreds of trained technicians and engineers we have on staff 24/7/365 this year to help.

Marc Saltzman:
What a powerful combination of tools. What are some of the industries you serve?

Carrie Wheeler:
Our products and platform serve all industries, but we really shine in supporting businesses that rely on a strong online presence, especially ecommerce. While retail makes up a large part of our customer base, we also work with legal, medical, manufacturing, advertising, marketing, and consulting businesses. Why is that? It goes back to choices — optionality. We’ve invested heavily in technology and infrastructure that give optionality to our customers. Our platform supports a variety of CMS options (primarily WordPress as the world’s leading CMS), multiple ecommerce solutions (like WooCommerce and Magento), SaaS solutions (like healthcare applications), and many custom-built applications. The optionality we provide attracts companies from a broad array of industries.

So, whether it’s helping small businesses scale up for the holiday rush, defending against costly DDoS attacks, or delivering a world-class content site, Liquid Web is designed to support small and mid-size businesses at every stage of their digital journey.

We also support other hosting companies and we’re our own customer as well. We rely on the hosting infrastructure and products we build every day to power Liquid Web. Our enterprise-grade website and entire ecommerce platform, which flows millions of dollars in online transactions, use our very own Kadence AI software. What’s the saying, Marc Saltzman? “We eat our own dog food.” I honestly prefer “We drink our own champagne!”

Marc Saltzman:
It really does sound like you have solutions for every need. What a great benefit to your clients!

Carrie Wheeler:
Thanks, Marc Saltzman. It’s estimated that somewhere between 40-50 percent of SMBs are not leveraging cloud or hosting services today. That needs to change for SMBs to not only get the most out of today’s digital world but also to ensure their assets are secure — both physically and online. We’re here to help.

AI is a sea change moment, much like cloud computing before it. SMBs need to adapt and leverage these new tools if they’re going to thrive. It’s our goal to help them do that.

We’re really proud of our company, our people, and we’re impressed every single day with what our customers do on our platforms. It’s a privilege and awe-inspiring. I think what truly sets us apart is our in-depth understanding of small and mid-size businesses’ unique needs and our dedicated support, which includes direct access to top-tier technical experts. We make sure they have the resources to grow and thrive, and we have a lot of fun watching them succeed!

Marc Saltzman:
What else do you want us to know before we go? This is such great information for SMBs.

Carrie Wheeler:
You have to believe you can change the world — because that belief is what makes it happen. And right now, AI is changing the world!

At Liquid Web, we’re creating a future where businesses of all sizes have an equal opportunity to thrive online. When we were a much smaller company, we saw firsthand how tough it can be to compete against the big guys—it’s never a level playing field. Starting a small business is hard enough without having to worry about things like your technology platform, security, and performance. That’s where we come in.

Our mission is to be the backbone that helps businesses tackle those obstacles, making it easier to grow. We handle the tough stuff so you can focus on what drives you. Because when you win, we win. And that’s the future we’re building — a future where everyone has a fair shot at online success. Technology is the great equalizer, and we’re committed to empowering businesses to thrive.

Marc Saltzman:
That’s awesome! Carrie Wheeler, thanks for joining us on this special AI episode of Tech Impact. And to the audience, if you’d like to learn more, check out their website, liquidweb.com.