Not All “As-a-Service” Offerings are Equal
In a world of Cloud, virtualization and pay-as-you-go, it seems just about everything from CRM, security, infrastructure platform, and database is available “as-a-Service.” Fact is, not everything lends itself well to being offered in the as-a-service model, and importantly for MSPs not every service lends itself to being a profit center.
However, one area custom-made for being offered in an as-a-service model is data backup. There are several factors that lend themselves to making backup the ideal offering for the as-a-service solution. First, consider multi-tenancy and virtualization. Long before MSPs and the Cloud were popular, multiple servers were being backed up to the same backup solution. While virtualization has revolutionized the server market (coincidentally exploding the number of servers that need backup), sharing one machine to backup multiple devices is old hat to the backup industry.
Going Remote
Another factor that makes backup the optimal as-a-service candidate is the fact that best practices call for backup to be done off premises. Not much sense in keeping all of your eggs in the same basket when talking about backup. Yes, you can keep a local copy if you like, but if you are serious about backup, you need to keep your backup in a different location than the original. Backing up to a remote data center is therefore optimal.
Finally, backup talks the language of bits and bytes, speeds and feeds. Backup can be offered based upon the amount of devices backed up, the amount of storage required, and how big a pipe is needed. Backup fits the MSP model to a tee. With the advent of the Cloud, the idea of elasticity and instant provisioning has become very attractive. For those offering backup, these features have been pretty standard for some time.
Adding to the Bottom Line
Backup-as-a-Service is a tailor-made way for MSPs to add to their bottom line. Using backup server software like Idera Server Backup, an MSP can quickly set up a backup-as-a-Service offering. It fits your monthly billing cycle, can be quickly sold in tiers, and once set up requires little ongoing support. Better yet, just about everyone needs to be backing up and there is more to backup today than ever before. Backup is literally just perfect for pumping up your bottom line.
Optimally you want your backup software provider to match your own MSP business model. So check to make sure you are both aligned. There are lots of choices out there. Backup is big business, is perfectly suited to your business, and is needed by just about everyone. If you aren’t offering it yet, you need to ask, “What am I waiting for?”
Scott Bleasdell is a senior product manager at Idera. Monthly guest blogs such as this one are part of MSPmentor’s annual platinum sponsorship.
