Do you trust your data backup and disaster recovery (BDR) and business continuity (BC) solutions vendor with your data? — well, do you?

The first step to any business partnership, and partnership in general, is finding trust in the other party, is it not? Take a leap back from your current BDR partnership and evaluate it. Why does the partnership work?

Ask yourself this question: Can I trust my BDR vendor to be there when I’m in need, but, more importantly, can I trust my partner to step up to the plate when my customer is in need?

Before signing on the dotted line, review a vendor’s history, customers and objectives. Is the vendor on the same page with you? How does it treat customers? What is the company’s business model?

Be sure take a look at the technical details of a vendor’s solution, as well. Does the solution match up with how your business wants to handle current technology strategies for disaster recovery (DR)? Where does the vendor store its data (meaning your data or customer data)?

Take the time to fully understand the terms around your partnership agreement. Make sure that each side of the partnership has a role that has been clearly defined, avoid any gray areas.

Your customers trust you, which means they trust your partnerships, too. If one of your partners fail, you fail. It’s up to you to decide if a BDR partner will be there to catch you when you fall.