04/ 13/ 2005
by Bud Stoddard
You’ll be hard-pressed to find a business that isn’t data-dependent these days. If that data is lost, or you are unable to access it, there could be serious consequences for your business. To protect against such risks, more companies are choosing to outsource their data backup functions to specialized companies.
As you start your search for a backup company, you may be lured in by a fancy Web site or a catchy sales pitch, but don’t let a slick site or a smooth salesman talk you out of doing your homework – it’ll pay off in the long run. Consider the following tips and questions as you start your investigative process:
How long have they been in business?
Experience matters. Make sure that your supplier has a minimum of three to five years experience and has more than 100 clients under contract. The barriers to entry in this business are not that great, so make sure you have chosen a sturdy company that will be in business well into the future.
Visit that data center, if possible
Anyone operating from a kitchen table could advertise as a backup company. Go visit the data center and make sure you see things like backup power systems, highly secure firewalls, servers and storage systems. Don't take it for granted that every supplier has the appropriate software, hardware and infrastructure; make it your business to be sure that they do.
Do they have lots of customers like you?
Make sure that your company has worked with companies like yours; their experience with others like you ensures they understand your needs. You should also ask the company for references so that you can find out firsthand about their service.
A proven 365x24x7 customer-service team
Technology is a great but fallible resource. When things go wrong, you want to be sure you have the people behind the technology to help you. Backup usually runs in the middle of the night or continuously, so 9 a.m.-5 p.m. just won't cut it for the tech team. Make sure your vendor has tech people that will be available around the clock, every day of the week.
Is backup the company's core business, or just one of a great many IT services?
Carefully consider the consequences of becoming involved with a generic IT-service company. Ask them how they allocate their resources and how many people or how much time will be given to your account. Also, find out who your contact person will be.
Your vendor's financial stability
A great many companies have come and gone in the past three years. Remember some of those dot-com darlings that are now resting in the dot-com graveyard? More than 80 percent of companies fail in the first five years of operation. Retrieving your data from a dark office with a lock on the door could be challenging at best. Check out your potential partners financially as well as technically. Ask for financial statements if it is a privately held company, and ask its CFO any questions you might have. If they want your business they will answer your financial questions; if they won't get you the information you need, it’s time to move on.
Look for and get a service level agreement (SLA)
Ever ask a vendor what happens if they don't respond on time and the answer is “nothing?” When it comes to protecting your mission-critical data you need guarantees. A missed backup, delayed or missed retrieval, or lost data can prove catastrophic for your business. Be sure you are familiar with your vendor's SLA.
If the price looks too good it probably is, so move on
To be a backup service provider, there are a lot of fixed costs. Infrastructure, hardware, people, bandwidth, first-class facility – it all adds to the cost of doing business, and it isn't cheap. Some companies will try to compete with very low prices. Don' be fooled by a low-price offer; if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Outsourcing backup, recovery and disaster recovery is a prudent business decision. So many companies do a less-than-adequate job of backing up their data. It’s wise to put your data in the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing. Just remember to take the time to find the company that best fits your needs.
Bud Stoddard is president and CEO of Waltham, Mass.-based AmeriVault, a leading provider of disk-to-disk data protection solutions since 1998. For more information, visit www.amerivault.com.
