How Do You Choose? Finding the Right BDR Solution

By Datto Guest Blog 2

Once the decision has been made to include a backup, disaster recovery (BDR) and intelligent business continuity solution in your portfolio, how do you choose the vendor that best meets your needs? The first qualifier should be based on the vendor’s dedication to the channel market. Here's why.

In choosing a vendor who is 100 percent channel-only, you’re choosing a vendor whose best interest it is to see their partners succeed.  They will work harder for your success than non-channel only vendors.

While you may weigh each item differently based on your MSP model and client base, your checklist for evaluating a vendor might look something like this:

Products & Technology.  It’s important to choose a vendor with product and solutions choices that match your clients’ needs and that you feel confident in delivering.  Especially with business continuity, you must ask yourself, “Will this solution 1) be easy to manage, 2) make me look like a hero, and 3) give my clients peace of mind?”

Datto SIRIS is the flagship product that defines the intelligent business continuity marketplace.  It will enable you to offer your clients a step beyond basic backup and recovery, and deliver intelligent business continuity.  Being able to offer and sell a “no downtime” solution to your clients is huge.

Technical Support. It’s the nature of the BDR and business continuity beast, disasters will happen (as we learned too well from Superstorm Sandy).  Choose a vendor that will be there for your and your clients around the clock, and is prepared to do whatever is necessary to ensure uptime for your clients. A vendor that provides 100% U.S. based technical support, live 24/5, and 24/7 emergency support is required, so you can in turn deliver the best support and service to your clients.  Datto delivers superior support, and was acknowledged for this as the winner of the ‘Best Customer Support’ award at the 2013 ASCII Success Summit in Los Angeles.

Training & Certification MSPs have a responsibility to uphold their client SLAs.  As such, it’s important to be as knowledgeable about the products you provide, and truly act as an expert and trusted advisor.  Partner with a vendor with a multitude of training options—online, in person, in print, and webinars—at all levels of learning, and that provides certification.

This year Datto is excited to introduce two new components to its Partner training.  The first is a series of Webinars focused on Sales and Marketing, to help Partner maximize their efforts in selling Datto solutions.  The second is the first Datto Partners Conference, scheduled for September 11-13 in Washington, D.C.

Marketing & Communication.  It’s important to work with a vendor with a strong Partner Alliance Program.  The Program should be designed to help Partners achieve greater success by selling the vendor’s solutions, accelerate revenue, and be rewarded for their participation and commitment.   Another component of this is to work with a vendor that encourages and welcomes 2-way communication.  Some of our best ideas come from our partners; from the MSPs who are out in the field selling Datto solutions.

Of course a vendor must supply its partners with a variety of content, on a variety of topics and in a variety of formats (white papers, success stories, infographics, videos, and more).

Partner Portal

Perhaps the most important component of your decision is a vendor’s Partner Portal.  The Portal should provide partners with intuitive monitoring tools, resources, product support, general information, training and everything necessary to facilitate the buying, managing and selling of a vendor’s solutions.  Datto released a revised portal in April 2013; it has an easier-to-use interface, improved tracking and reporting and additional marketing resources.  Contact a Datto Sales Executive for a tour.

Finally, you have a choice when it comes to selecting the vendor.  Make sure it’s one that has your best interests front and center.  And, of course, it should be a company that you like doing business with.

Holly Wainwright is Content Marketing Manager at Datto. Datto Inc. is an award-winning vendor of backup, data recovery (BDR) and intelligent business continuity (IBC) solutions, providing  technology and support to more than 5,000 channel Partners throughout North America and Europe. Datto’s hybrid-cloud BDR/IBC technology provides instant on- and off-site virtualization of servers and workstations, serving the needs of small to medium-sized businesses.