Every business that relies on data needs a backup and disaster recovery (BDR) plan. Chris Crellin, Senior Director of Product Management at Barracuda MSP, points out that although it has always been important for businesses to recover from user error, hardware failure, natural disasters, and more, with the security landscape posing such a heightened risk, it is even more critical.
“As the threat landscape continues to evolve, BDR services can be the lifeline that keeps your SMB clients in business,” says Crellin. “This service is imperative for customers who rely on data to run their businesses and those who must comply with industry regulations.”
With widespread need across businesses in nearly all verticals, offering BDR solutions and services can represent a significant opportunity for value-added resellers (VARs) and managed services providers (MSPs).
If you’re ready to make backup and disaster recovery one of your business’s solutions, here are four simple steps to take to your first BDR sale.
1Get educated
Crellin says that to properly provide customers with backup and disaster recovery services, VARs and MSPs must understand the systems they are backing up. “For example, if they are backing up vSphere, they need to know how it works, as well the solution they’re using to back it up,” he says.
After proper training, you should be able to set up a new backup, back up a customer’s business-critical data, and perform a complete restore while meeting their customers’ needs for RPO and RTO. “Vendors typically offer solution-specific training to ensure VARs and MSPs can take advantage of the BDR solutions efficiently and according to best practices,” Crellin says.
2Find the right solution
Crellin points out, “VARs and MSPs should find a backup and recovery solution that is a good fit for their customers’ unique needs, whether retention policies, regulatory compliance needs, or specific RPOs and RTOs.”
He adds that VARs or MSPs should also choose a vendor that provides training with these services. “By ensuring the proper support measures are in place, providers can be confident that they are safeguarding their customers’ most important asset – their data,” says Crellin.
3Take advantage of the resources available to help you succeed
You don’t need to start from ground zero as a BDR solution and services provider. Your vendor partner and peers offer resources and advice that can shorten your learning curve. Crellin says, for example, Barracuda MSP offers multiple resources to get providers started, including onboarding support with how-to guidance, resources and collateral, videos, training through Barracuda Campus, and dedicated partner success and support teams.
“We understand that offering a new service can be challenging, so we offer the resources and guidance to make it easy for partners to secure their customers’ data quickly and efficiently,” says Crellin. “Providers can join our Ready, Set, Managed program, an interactive, educational social platform that encourages peer-to-peer sharing of best practices so that providers can gain additional insights and overcome challenges with offering new services.”
4Make BDR a part of your managed services offering
Crellin advises VARs and MSPs to weave BDR into their offerings to ensure each customer is covered. “Some providers add it to every service package as a base service because it is a best practice to include it,” he says.
He adds that because BDR should be an integral part of any solution you provide, it must integrate with the user’s other tools and services. So, for example, MSPs and VARs should look for a solution that integrates with their PSA and RMM tools.
“In addition to connectivity, providers should look for a solution that can back up and recover data quickly, so they can get customers back up and running as quickly as possible,” Crellin says.
BDR shouldn’t be optional
Crellin comments, “Backup and disaster recovery should no longer be optional. It’s the foundation of any multi-layered security offering. For SMB customers, it is an insurance policy in their business as data is critical to its survival.”
He points out that MSPs and VARs need to realize that backup and disaster recovery is an ongoing process. “It isn’t something you can simply take the ‘set it and forget it’ approach with. Instead, it needs to be continually monitored and tested to ensure that all critical data can be restored if necessary,” he says.
