3 FAQs Datto Gets From MSPs on BDR
Before managed services providers (MSPs) jump into data backup and disaster recovery (BDR) by signing on the dotted line with business continuity (BC) solutions vendor Datto, they often have questions. Which questions does Datto hear most often?
Datto Product Manager Ian McChord, who normally answers a lot of these questions for MSPs, provided MSPmentor with a list of top concerns about Datto products, which include the following:
- How do I restore from a lost file, broken server and complete disaster?
- What happens when my client outgrows their appliance?
- How much?
How do I restore from a lost file, broken server and complete disaster?
“Datto spends countless hours on making the restore process faster and more efficient for our partners and their clients,” McChord said.
He said Datto offers a specialized solution for each restore challenge. For example, the vendor doesn’t want a partner to have to failover to the cloud if it doesn’t need to be done. The cloud, he said, is the last line of defense.
“The simplest type of restore is a local file restore,” he said. “We give our partners the ability to restore files from the user interface or via a Windows File Share. You can do a file restore from all backup points and can download files as well as folders.”
To protect customers from a failed server, Datto saves backups directly to virtual formats, avoiding any risks associated with converting from physical formats to virtual formats, he said.
“The final restore is the one the client is dreading the most and when it happens, you want to be properly protected,” McChord said.
The vendor’s cloud virtualization runs a little similar to the local virtualization. Backup images are in a virtual format and can be spun up at a moment’s notice, he said, adding that Datto offers free tests of off-site virtualizations.
What happens when my client outgrows their appliance?
McChord said many MSPs worry about customers outgrowing appliances. Will MSPs be penalized for their customers outgrowing an appliance?
“At any time, partners can trade in their clients’ BDR appliance and receive 100 percent of the investment they made for the unit towards a larger unit,” he said. “This allows partners to simply pay the difference between units minus a nominal transaction fee.”
How much does this all cost?
According to McChord, price is the most frequently asked question. As a channel-based vendor, Datto aims to provide MSPs with high margins.
“With our top of the line technology and competitive pricing, we believe that Datto offers not only the best solution on the market, but also the most valuable solution that our partners can integrate into their service stacks,” he said. “That being said, we never suggest that our partners sell on price alone.”
McChord said partners should focus on demonstrating the value of business continuity services, and that should be the key pitch in the selling process for MSPs.
