Offering Online Backup

[HepTech]

I am wanting to add online backup service as an added benefit to my clients and to add extra revenue. the ones that are most popular on the forums here are mozy or carbonite.

what I am wanting though is a reputable online service that I can rebrand as my own but still using their servers/service , but say powered by mozy or whoever. does anyone have any recommendations?

Thank you

 

[Xander]

There's recent threads in the Resellers forum on this.

 

[Knightsman]

There's Spider Oak, and some more.


I use Logmein Backup and backup to my server. Its a great revenue stream for me.

 

[4ycr]

There's Spider Oak, and some more.


I use Logmein Backup and backup to my server. Its a great revenue stream for me.

Does bandwidth not become an issue. I know mine could probably handle about 10 to 15 clients but I think it would slow down a lot after this. Do you have this problem?

Also can you seed the original backup to save the upload time?

 

[Knightsman]

Does bandwidth not become an issue. I know mine could probably handle about 10 to 15 clients but I think it would slow down a lot after this. Do you have this problem?

Also can you seed the original backup to save the upload time?

Right now I have them set to back up at different times all day. The most I have had at one time is 4, and they were full backups and it didn't touch my bandwidth. But I believe you are right when I get to that many customers im going to have to get with my internet provider and work something out.

I can do a full seed to my external and then import it. I can export it also when the time comes for them to need it.

Sent from my DROID2 using Tapatalk

 

[jdpetrov]

I once had an online data backup setup through the software company Vembu. I had Amazon EC2 servers with S3 storage configured to handle the backup needs. I found that selling the service was the hardest part. I do happen to live in a rural area where 50% of my customer base has slow internet, but the main reason is "why should I get it?". I ran the scare stories that Mozy/Carbonite run but still the customers just didn't care or didn't get it.

So I shut down the servers after the first 2 months of ZERO customers. Now when customers come to me for a backup solution I sell them an ioSafe plus my time to come out for the install and configuration. For some reason they love local backup to an ioSafe but hate backup over internet. I think it's the difference between a one-time-only fee and a monthly service fee.

 

[Knightsman]

I have the same problem. They just don't see the value.

I now only target my small business customers, they are really the best at buying it because its a no brainier.

I backed up a clients data, and not two days later did the drive fail . I was able to restore all of her files. That made me feel good.

 

[Xander]

I'm just starting to wean myself off from using the term "Data Backup" to "Disaster Recovery." For those of you who live in hurricane/tornado/flood regions, this should be an easy sell. You don't hear of many PCs lost to "snow damage".

 

[ProTech-MN]

First, who is your target market - business or residential clients?

For residential users, it'd probably be more cost effective to resell Mozy, Carbonite, etc. Most residential users are simply not going to be willing to spend a lot of money for backups.

Business clients are going to be willing to spend more on their backups and this is where investing in a more robust backup solution (and rebranding if they offer it) can help you earn much more recurring revenues...

-Randy

 

[Knightsman]

I'm just starting to wean myself off from using the term "Data Backup" to "Disaster Recovery." For those of you who live in hurricane/tornado/flood regions, this should be an easy sell. You don't hear of many PCs lost to "snow damage".

I like this idea, "Do you have a disaster recovery plan?" Sounds a whole lot better than "Do you backup your data?"

Sent from my DROID2 using Tapatalk

 

[randomaccessit]

I've found a lot of my clients don't want their data "in the cloud" (or over the internet in general). They want their data where they can physically go to it in case of a disaster. In the future I may offer data storage for clients on my own equipment. I know I can't compete with the services of the super-redundant, earthquake proof, fiber-connected SAN super-systems but I can offer a local office for them to check up and feel like their data is within reach. Even if that means them dropping off their weekly backups for safe keeping. Where I live a lot of clients are all about "choosing local/community services" and sometimes that's even the deciding factor.

I wouldn't offer those services realistically unless I had at least 5 ready-to-sign clients for the service.

Note: Some clients *can't* backup to the cloud (govt mostly) or to my servers so they need a good reliable local solution. Training normal employees or admins to actually TAKE THEIR BACKUPS OFF SITE is the hardest part IMO.