Your Emerging Data Management Provider

Scott Bush, AmeriVault's Director of Marketing, and I regularly discuss over the phone current trends that are shaping the future of online backup. It was during one of these conversations that Scott just happened to mention that AmeriVault relies heavily on Internet search engines for lead generation.

Now I usually view Internet search engines as means for consumers to find information to make decisions and buy products. But the fact that AmeriVault generates many of its new business leads through the Internet indicates that companies, not just individuals, are also using the Internet as a source for making buying decisions. Where it gets difficult is how do individuals in businesses substantiate the quality of the information they are reading to make critical buying decisions?

I find this topic particularly intriguing because with most consumer products, you can research them to the nth degree and what makes them different. Whether it is Zest soap, Chef Boyardee ravioli or Jiff peanut butter, you can find nutrition information, where it was made, who uses it, how long it lasts under ultraviolet light before it starts to glow and, with some digging, how it compares and contrasts to other like products. But try to find current information about products and services that businesses buy, that information suddenly becomes difficult to come by.

Current information on online backup providers is especially difficult to find. On the surface, it might be easy to think that online backup providers are exactly alike, especially if one is not familiar with the space. However it quickly becomes evident that online backup providers refer to themselves as Managed Service Providers, or MSPs, because they do more than just backup data. Email and file archiving, hosted replication, data classification and disaster recovery are services that they either offer now or are considering for the future.

The possibility of SMBs obtaining these types of services from an MSP like AmeriVault is not so far-fetched. SMBs rarely have the time, money or staff to develop these data management disciplines themselves. Since MSPs are already managing their backup data and have become backup experts, they have easy access to SMB data and can can look to offer services like archiving, classification and disaster recovery. Since MSPs can support multiple clients, SMBs are better off leveraging the seasoned MSP expertise rather than bringing technologies in house that they have to learn, maintain, and dedicate valuable resources to. After all, don't most SMBs out-source their payroll? So the leap to out-sourcing their data management is not a big one to make.