Solution providers have expressed that backup tapes are no longer a viable option for small businesses due to their cost and the manual processes involved, especially for companies without on-site IT personnel.
Matthew Mosteller, owner of Vashon IT, shared a cautionary tale about a construction firm that lost crucial data after erasing their backup tapes for over a year. This incident almost led to the company going out of business.
Doug Chandler, director of storage software and services at IDC, believes that small businesses will increasingly embrace storage as a service as they become more comfortable with outsourcing their data management to third parties.
New players in the small-business backup arena, like eFolder and SOS Online Backup, are working closely with solution providers to offer online backup services. These services come with robust encryption to ensure data security.
EFolder, founded by John Williams, offers different partner levels for solution providers to resell their online backup service. The pricing is flexible, allowing VARs to set their own rates.
Steve Harper of Network Management Group in Kansas praised eFolder for its technology and channel commitment. Vashon IT also partners with eFolder for its hosted data center services, citing the low startup costs and high margins as key benefits.
SOS Online Backup, based in Australia, is aiming to recruit 1,000 U.S. small-business solution providers in the next year. Their managed services reseller program offers attractive revenue-sharing options for partners.
Vembu Technologies from India is also entering the U.S. market with its backup software offerings. Solution providers can quickly set up backups for their clients’ data to a partner’s hosted storage, with the option to do initial backups to a USB hard drive.
Overall, the trend in the small-business backup space is shifting towards online services that offer convenience, security, and flexibility for both solution providers and their clients.