Datto's pricing is absolutely asinine. Even I would have a hard time making a profit with their insane prices.
Most people that don't deal with BDR of servers..and haven't been through a lot of them over the years, and the stress/pressure on you, can't grasp what Datto does that makes their product stand heads and tails above the crowd.
I've done the "IT for SMB" game for about 30 years. I've dealt with most server backup products (and mechanisms) out there...plus a ton more that many people never heard of. Datto is _the_only_ product....where, if a client calls me with the dreaded call about the server being down, that I do not break out in a sweat worrying about if you'll be able to get the server back up in a hurry if you need to turn to DR.
There's "backup". the old days. If a server caught fire and burned to the ground, the client is "down". You had to spend the time to determine the server was done, or wait for a part like a new RAID controller, motherboard, whatever. Get the parts, put back in. Or say the OS got tanked...you had to reload the OS, and then restore..and hope the backups were good. Likely at least one day, if not several days. Send employees home.
Things matured from "backup" to "BDR"....full image backup. In theory...if the servers OS tanked, or the server caught fire, you could go out, get a new server, restore the image. (assuming you had retail Server license, not OEM). Client is still down for the time...send employees home.
And then there is "Business Continuity"...which is the realm that Datto plays in (sorta one of the leaders of this new tech), basically "failover" servers. If a server catches fire and burns to the ground, I still do not break out in a sweat from that phone call. I'm all sorts of "OK, no problem, we'll have you back up in a jiffy". Usually well under an hour...like a half hour...things are up, employees coffee break is over..back to work. And then I can plan on the real cutover back to a new server, plenty of time to get a new server, order the parts/specs that I want instead of rushing to a "What do you have that can ship out in 1x day"...usually cheap basic junk. And plan my restore at a convenient time.
I go on vacation a lot. I can't count how many times I've had to "restore" services..using Datto, while I'm away. One time a client got their 2x servers ransom wared. I was on vacation, on a boat in the middle of Lake Winnipesaukee..New Hampshire. Tethered my laptop to my phone (I always have laptop with me, even on remote islands in the Bahamas)...thanks to the client being on a Datto Siris 3000 appliance...services back up in about an hour, and I dealt with the restore the weekend after I came back home.
Another time when a huge storm created havoc up the North East coast...wiping out lots of power lines and coastal flooding, a jet engine sub contractor client of ours was to be without power/internet in their campus for over a week. We fired up their servers in the Datto offsite data center, including their Exchange server...flipped their MX records, and the white shirts could continue to do important business work for the next week, until utilities came back at their campus.
I can type pages...and pages...of similar stories here, where a client had an issue, and I easily, painlessly, got services back up VERY quickly for the client. We've sold Datto since 2006 (roughly their first year out), and we have a large number of them out there. so I have a very large sample size to draw from. Their support has been fantastic. I don't have to do much finger lifting. If a unit has a problem, I open a ticket, they dial in and fix it. Or if it's something they can't do (like do something to the clients server)...they'll give me the instrux. I want to spend the LEAST time supporting a backup service. Datto is a white glove service you pay for...well worth the money, I don't have the time to support a huge fleet of backup devices.
Two fairly important clients of ours, one was healthcare, another was under a branch of the military, with servers issues where I had to spin up Datto, and we had some complex logistics to work with, their support was staying in touch with us..calling me on my cell phone every now 'n then to check in on how things were going. I can't think of any other product support that has EVER done that.
For our MSP clients, this is our "go to" backup product. With MSP Level 2 and Level 3 clients, restores are on our time...the client pays a fixed monthly. So I want a product that I KNOW is working, and that I KNOW I can get services back up in a hurry, easily. Because...the more time I spend..the less profitable that client is.
Not many other "backup" brands actually play in the "business continuity" space....at least where their support does all the work. I can think of just 1x other..Axcient. I know some techs can cobble together other products and almost...sorta...try to imitate SOME of what Datto products do.
As for not making money? Yes...Datto is expensive, yet..it's so worth it. You double your cost. How can you not make money from doubling your cost? Well, you can price it however you want, there is no rule. But typically MSPs will double the cost. If a Siris 4000 (4TB plan) costs mid 400s a month, you turn and sell it for upper 800's a month. Or if the client has a ton of other MSP services from you, maybe be nice and round down to 799/month. Yeah, 4TB, that's for a larger business with several servers. Say a single server unit, like an Alto...sell a backup service at 150/month is too much? For everything that it can do? It's a no brainer! For the BDR (business continuity) that a Datto Alto can provide to a small business business with a single server...just 150/month is not a hard sell. If you can't sell that...dunno what to tell you. But until you've been through many real actual server emergencies, and you can realistically tell clients how long it REALLY can take to put humpty dumpty back together and get everything working again (<===this is where so many IT people fail)...business owners can appreciate the honest and will gladly open their checkbooks and stroke a check for a service like this. I can't count the times a client told me "Yup, it suuuuuure was worth it! I see what you meant"
So yeah, profit wise, Datto is one of our larger slices of pie if you look at our income from different services each month. It's easy...peasy...gravy. Just sits and makes things easy for you, and rolls in the cash. Without you putting in much time.
www.datto.com
