This question was posed to me a year or so ago by the very knowledgeable and highly respected, Marc Staimer , while attending a sales training session at Asigra. We were discussing the difference between file based backup and recovery vs. server imaging technologies and the realities of delivering both data recovery assurance and server/application high availability. At the time, I considered this question from a solely technology delivery standpoint, but as I continue to engage with the channel community, I now fully understand why this simple, but often overlooked question, is so important.
Just last week, I was speaking with a partner prospect who is looking for a data protection platform for his client base. While he was attempting to weigh the benefits of two different strategies which each leverage a different technology approach, ours vs. another highly regarded vendor offering, I asked him this same question, and he proceeded to work through a very thoughtful assessment of what he believes his clients’ needs really are. And then, I hit him with a second question; “What are your clients’ expectations around the recoverability of their of the electronic information assets, and which of these expectations are they truly prepared to pay for?” After thinking it through, he articulated that his customers would typically accept a longer recovery time if it meant assuring the recoverability of their off-site data while achieving greater overall security.
I believe we will soon have another partner coming on board.