(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — To a full conference room, BackupAgent sales and marketing director Roland Sars made the case for online backup as a value-added service.
Netherlands-based BackupAgent provides an online backup software solution, which it administers through a network of via service providers telcos, and hosts as Software as a Service.
BackupAgent tries to make it easy for service provides of all stripes to offer online backup, which, as a matter of fact, is a service that is in high demand. According to research, value-added services via SaaS is poised to increase much more than traditional hosting. So those offering hosting services can easily boost average revenue per user by adding this service.
It also makes customers more sticky because it makes a company a “one-stop shop, instead of having to go to another service provider,” Sars said. If hosting clients don’t get online backup from you they will go elsewhere, and your hold on those clients has diminished.
Research suggests that 30 percent of SMBs in 2009 didn’t have any backup plans at all. Sars considers backups made less than daily a serious danger to any business or individual. Only 22 percent of SMBs backup daily.
While that may seem like there is little interest in online backup, that is certainly not the case. The real reason is that there are simply few companies offering the service. IDC research suggests 47 percent of SMBs want to use cloud computing for backups in the nexgt 12 months. This presents a great opportunity for service providers.
“Online backup is a service that will grow very fast,” Sars said.
