MSPs Should Look to the Cloud to Backup Critical Data

Managed service providers (MSPs) are growing in number and size and this year has already seen a number of mergers, acquisitions and partnerships among major players. With MSPs increasingly handling more and more data and providing more complex services to customers and partners, backing up that data is of primary importance.

The cloud offers a perfect opportunity for MSPs as well as a number of major advantages. Not only does a cloud backup implementation fit perfectly with the managed IT services model being offered by these providers, but it provides costs savings, critical SLAs/uptime guarantees and much needed peace of mind to both MSPs and their customers.

MSPs do the heavy lifting by providing their customers with core IT services so they can focus on their primary business. This ultimately offers cost savings to those businesses and gives them time and resources to invest back into their main business.

The same theory holds true for MSPs. They are providing a core suite of services to their customers, and managing massive amounts of data in the process. It doesn't make much sense to try to house all that data locally, and MSPs -- particularly smaller ones offering niche services -- aren't usually in the business of maintaining networks of data backup facilities around the globe.

So why wouldn't MSPs turn to the cloud for the critical and intensive process of backing up their data? This frees them up to focus on offering custom services and applications to their clients, with the added benefits of guaranteed uptime, round-the-clock support, security guarantees and other items offered through their cloud providers.

As the MSP business model grows in popularity, cost is becoming less of a differentiator for service providers. Custom service offerings that take clients' entire business models into consideration give MSPs a major competitive advantage in this changing landscape. Setting up the proper network to ensure data is securely backed up and immediately available is crucial to providing customers with the assurances they are seeking. Turning to the cloud for data backup is a logical solution and a competitive differentiator for MSPs.

The importance of the cloud as it relates to MSPs and IT leaders from all market segments will be covered in an upcoming webinar.

Want to learn more about Managed Service Providers? Then be sure to attend MSPWorld, collocated with TMC’s ITEXPO East 2012taking place Jan. 31-Feb. 3 2012, in Miami, FL. Since its inception, MSPWorld has been the only event with a single, vendor-agnostic focus of supporting Managed Service providers and their respective ecosystems. MSPWorld in Miami will delve into the most pressing channel and end-user issues that MSPs and their customers confront every day. For more information on registering for MSPWorld click here.