Is Your BDR Ready For An EF5 Tornado?
By The Business Solutions Network
In the next few weeks, I'm going to be sharing a pretty unusual and amazing story about a small MSP that had its BDR (backup and disaster recovery) skills put to test in a big way last year when an EF5 tornado (the strongest category) ripped through its hometown. Before then, however, I wanted to give our blog readers a sneak peak and to share a key takeaway you may be able to apply to your businesses.
John Motazedi is the CEO of a nine-employee MSP called SNC² (SNC Squared), based in Joplin, MO. Since starting his company in 1998, Motazedi spent much of his time trying to convince other small businesses (primarily in the healthcare and law verticals) about the importance of having reliable network and BDR solution.
Many companies listened to SNC²'s advice, but there were always some clients that insisted they could either do it themselves cheaper or they had "a guy" (often the decision maker's brother-in-law or nephew) who could get them what they need for less. For those clients that insisted on taking shortcuts on their network security or backups, Motazedi wished them good luck and walked away from their business.
"My obligation to the business owner is to offer the whole package," he says. "It seemed stupid to provide their antivirus software, but to be forced into using an inadequate firewall because they want to try to save a few bucks." The MSP sums it all up with, "If a customer runs into a HIPAA problem, they're not going to remember they told you, 'We don't need a new firewall.' The burden typically goes back to the IT service provider."
On Sunday, May 22, 2011, a tornado reaching a mile-wide in diameter and creating winds up to 250 mph, swept across the southern part of Joplin, MO, destroying nearly 2,000 buildings in the process. Among the fallen buildings were SNC²'s facility and half of its customers, representing 467 computers, servers, and other IT hardware.
What's really amazing about this MSP's story is that with the help of its BDR solution, which comprises eFolder image-based backups and virtualization and Intronis cloud backups for its customers' mobile devices, it was able to get itself up and running and restore all of its customers' data within 72 hours. In the end, the MSP successfully restored 350,000 patient records and recovered millions in financials. "Even though we were never able to locate many of our clients' premise-based servers, we were able to recover 100% of their data," says Motazedi.
Today, Motazedi is a sought after speaker, and he's becoming somewhat of a celebrity not only in his local area, but in MSP circles as well. I wonder if SNC² had compromised its position a few years ago and made exceptions to allow some of its customers to only do local backups, if this MSP would be enjoying the status and success that it is enjoying today?