7 Challenges MSPs Face When Looking to Build

Long-Term BDR Success

Managing YourTotal Cost of Ownership

#1

Spinning the Wheels with Yesterday's BDR Tool

If you merely calculate the simple ratio of hard costs to revenue, you’ll be turning a blind eye to other factors that contribute to the TCO of your BDR platform. This outlook eats away at profitability month over month, to the detriment of business efficiency and growth.

Labor Inefficiency

Most MSPs are paying skilled core-team members to jockey a BDR tool to perform routine, recurring tasks. However, if there are spikes in service requests, those core team members are going to be stretched thin, and service delivery standards risk being compromised for all clients.

Bridging theIT Skills Gap

#2

The Growing Complexity of IT Environments

In an era where numerous Internet-connected technologies are all part of a client’s IT network, the degree of specialization that is required to meet the demands of service delivery has only increased. Add to that the increased importance of cloud-based architecture into modern IT environments, and specialization then increases.

The Geography Gap

With IT demands no longer clustered around major cities and their outlying metro areas, the demand for high-quality managed IT services remains high across the country.

Commoditized BDR Means Less Differentiation

#3

BDR Is a Modern Business Must-Have

Uptime is now critical for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and users demand always-on access to data and applications. Similarly, with the risks and damages associated with a data loss incident or downtime event, the need for effective business continuity planning as a last line of defense against malicious attacks is a must.

The Perpetuity Myth

Many of the BDR solutions in today’s market are built using the same engine and technology foundation. Thus, the same BDR platforms that brought success in recent memory will not necessarily set you up for future success and allow you to profitability grow and scale your BDR line of business.

The Impact ofthe Cloud

#4

Splitting Cloud Architectures

As cloud platforms began to crystalize into tangible services, BDR services became splintered based on client needs, data retention requirements and pricing details. Private cloud architectures were best suited for certain requirements, whilemassive public cloud architectures were better suited for others.

Costly Underutilization

Many BDR solutions require lengthy contracts that put the MSP at a disadvantage in terms of cloud storage utilization, requiring MSPs to pay for space that may never go used. Aside from performance limitations or additional fees, MSPs could risk losing the profitable edge on BDR services if they pay too much for cloud storage that is underutilized month over month.

Managing BDR Storage

#5

The Myth of Unlimited Storage

Some BDR vendors offer “unlimited” cloud storage plans for MSPs to provide BDR to their clients—but there’s a catch. These plans are proposing storage within the boundaries of what the vendor believes is “reasonable usage.” At best, it’s not a truly unlimited plan, and at worst it can govern the acceptable upper limits for backups. These are restrictions MSPs should not have to fear when onboarding new clients or planning to grow over time.

Why Pay for What Your Clients Don't Need?

“Unlimited” BDR storage plans are not as open and flexible as they seem. They do not lower the total cost of ownership of their BDR platform, and the flat fee that once seemed simple can wind up walling MSPs in, because they end up paying for massive amounts of storage that are not needed.

Deciding When to Switch BDR Platforms

#6

Are Your BDR Needs Being Met?

If your current BDR platform doesn’t fit your specific needs, it can do as much or more harm than good, preventing you from achieving greater margins and costing your business more money than it should just to run daily. Therefore, it’s a good time to seriously consider making the switch to a new platform.

The Four Reasons for Switching

1. Your staff is spending too much time managing your current BDR platform. 2. You’re unable to bring on new clients and grow your business due to difficulties with your platform. 3. The margins on BDR have decreased over time because the TCO has increased. 4. The platform you use is no longer as competitive with other solutions in the marketplace.

How BDR Will Fit into the Emerging Security Spectrum

#7

Fighting Ransomware

Ransomware is nearly impossible to remediate as a security issue because it encrypts files with protocols too difficult to feasibly restore. However, when ransomware is tackled as a data-loss disaster, it makes more sense to recover files from a recent retention point and restore business continuity in a fast, inexpensive process.

Pairing BDR and Security

Given the necessity of BDR to fight ransomware, it should absolutely be included in any proactive strategy to roll out a security solution to SMBs. Coupled with a threat monitoring and management solution (TMM) and more, BDR has a necessary place in the security conversation for the near future. However, not all BDR solutions are created equal, and some will be more well-suited to handle ransomware threats than others.

What's the Solution to Each of These BDR Challenges?

?

Continuity247®

An advanced backup and disaster recovery platform for profitable growth.

Continuity247 is a fully-managed BDR platform designed to extend an MSP’s workforce. Coupled with Continuum’s world-class Network Operations Center (NOC), Continuity247 allows MSPs to scale resources up or down to meet demand, drastically lowering total cost of ownership over time.

Managing Your Total

Cost of Ownership

#1

Continuity247 bridges the IT skills gap by bundling specialized BDR labor costs right into the price of the platform. Continuum MSPs pay for the technology, the labor and the certified skills to take on virtually any client they can close, neutralizing any issues that competitors will be facing relating to IT skills gap issues.

Bridging the IT Skills Gap

#2

Continuity247 is built to meet the needs of MSPs and their clients, while tactically addressing challenges the industry is facing due to traditional BDR technologies. With our 2014 acquisition of R1Soft, a proven backup platform protecting 250,000 servers in the web hosting market, we took ownership of a rock-solid IP and built on top of it a new solution that can meet the needs of the modern MSP and SMB both today and tomorrow.

Commoditized BDR Means

Less Differentiation

#3

A platform like Continuity247 changes the rules of cloud storage options. It empowers MSPs with a contract-free plan that provides the flexibility to best cater to the way your clients back up their data, allowing MSPs to keep an eye on their cloud utilization and realize a more profitable BDR offering month over month.

The Impact of the Cloud

#4

Choosing a flexible storage plan on Continuity247 allows MSPs to keep their total cost of ownership lower, scale their businesses profitably, and adapt to shifting market demand. Understanding the pitfalls of “unlimited” plans and making the switch to Continuity247 could prove to be a major advantage as the BDR landscape continues to become more commoditized into the future.

Managing BDR Storage

#5

Continuum makes it as easy as possible to make the switch to Continuity247, and uses a combination of a hands-on partnerships with account managers to make sure your transition is seamless. Also, utilizing the power of the NOC will help you handle many of the technical details that often make the “rip and replace” process more difficult.

Deciding When to

Switch BDR Platforms

#6

For BDR to fight ransomware and restore continuity, backups must be operating properly. Continuity247’s Continuous Data Protection (CDP) technology ensures that solid backup technology is capturing the delta changes at the block level, and its proprietary Tru-Verify™ time-lapse video verification feature ensures that if an SMB’s environment is hit with ransomware, their backups can be trusted to properly restore every time.

How BDR Will Fit into the Emerging Security

Spectrum

#7

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