Business-Grade BDR: What Really Matters?

By The Business Solutions Network

With so many BDR (backup and disaster recovery) solutions to choose from, it’s important that IT service providers understand the key selection and selling points between business- and consumer-grade options.

With major data security breaches becoming a regular occurrence over the past year, it’s no surprise that IT security solutions and services are in high demand. Analyst firm Gartner projects the worldwide security market will increase from $60 billion in 2012 to $86 billion in 2016. When many SMBs — and some service providers — think about IT security, they tend to focus on only antivirus, email filtering, and intrusion prevention system (IPS) solutions. However, BDR plays an equally important role in protecting customers’ data. No matter how well you fortify your customers’ computers and networks, factors such as user errors (e.g., clicking on unfamiliar email attachments) will inevitably lead to a data loss situation that requires data recovery. And when this worst-case scenario occurs, rolling back the customers’ systems to the closest pre-infection moment becomes paramount.

There are hundreds of BDR vendors to choose from offering a wide range of features, functions, and price options. I recently spoke with four leaders in the IT channel to get their input on the must-have features VARs and MSPs (managed services providers) should be looking for when selecting a business-grade BDR solution. Spoiler alert: Business-grade solutions are more expensive than their consumer-grade counterparts. So we’ll also hear their advice regarding how to handle price objections without sacrificing your BDR profit margins.