Help SMBs Overcome Their Data Backup Ignorance

By Neal Bradbury, Senior Director of Channel Development, Intronis MSP Solutions by Barracuda

The fact that you have so many customers who are not currently using your business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) solutions and services must mean that they all have their data backup figured out, right? If your target market includes SMBs, that assumption is far from reality.

A research report released by the U.S. Fire Administration and FEMA on the topic of business continuity planning revealed that while 94 percent of small U.S. businesses back up the financial information stored on their computer systems, most of them store their backups onsite only. For these companies, a flood, fire, or earthquake that destroys their office and primary computer system could destroy their backups as well. And, the statistics associated with businesses that experience disasters without having business continuity plans in place aren’t very promising — most companies go out of business within a few years.

When It Comes To BCDR, Ignorance Is Not Bliss

Knowing that literally millions of businesses simply aren’t backing up their data properly, the logical follow-up question is how do you sell cloud BCDR solutions to these companies? But, before you start thinking about the right bundled offering, the right price, etc., don’t forget that there’s still a lot of confusion and ignorance that should be cleared up first.

Fact is, 44 percent of IT solution providers are not proactively selling backup and disaster recovery (BDR) to their customers, according to a survey of more than 350 channel partners. What this means is that these resellers often wait for something bad to happen to their customers’ data, and only then do they speak up and suggest their BDR service. Not only does taking a hands-off approach shortchange resellers’ revenue potential, it puts their customers at risk, too.

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