Everybody crowds into a successful market, a lesson that managed services providers (MSPs) probably recognize from the current state of the data backup and disaster recovery (BDR) market and the number of vendor partners choices they have.

Case in point: Preferred IT Group co-founder Don Bentz told MSPmentor in an interview that he receives at least one call per week from a BDR vendor looking to partner.

“Many seem to be very hungry,” he said. “Hungry is good, except when the market is overcrowded, which means they are starving.”

In a crowded market, Bentz said, the customer is king, and he expects successful vendors to “treat the channel like kings,” while also remembering a simple concept: “Don’t promise and not deliver.”

Bentz believes that BDR vendors should compete by offering partners educational opportunities on topics including HIPAA and contract language.

He also believes that vendors are competing on price. But vendors that can deliver more automated systems will be able to command a higher price, he said. “For our company it comes down to both. I don’t mind paying a bit more for a system that I touch less.”

Bentz spoke with us back in September about how customers prioritize types of data.