In recent years, the country has been ravaged by flood, fire, and in the case of our overseas neighbours, earthquakes. If you manage IT resources for business, and are on alert for severe weather conditions that pose a threat to your clients, we will provide you with a free reseller account and unlimited storage until the threat has passed.

You may choose to stay on as a licensed reseller at the end of your stay with us, or simply remove your data and carry on as you were before the event.

Accounts will be granted at the discretion of Corporate Backup, and we reserve the right to cancel or suspend the service at any time.

This cost Gary $69 a month, plus a once off branding fee of $495. In his first month, Gary signed up 8 customers for his ‘Essentials Backup’ that gave them 20GB of space to backup mission critical business documents for $29.95 a month. That’s $239.60/ month in revenue before we’d even sent him his first invoice!

In the months that followed, up to December 2012, Gary added a further 23 clients of varying shape and size, totalling 1.12TB and he also added the exchange backup module to his account, costing an extra $39/ month. His fees as of December 2012 look like this:

1.12TB of storage: $221.80
Software Modules (File + Exchange): $108.00
Total Monthly Fee $329.80

When he gave us this testimonial, Gary pointed out that this was far more than he ever intended to spend on a backup solution, but it was generating more than $1500/ month in revenue which was far more than he thought he would make!

If you’re ok with spending $330 in order to make $1500+, get in touch with us today on 1300 885 117 to discuss your requirements.

These customers present a whole new set of challenges, especially when it comes to backup. It’s certainly easy enough to replicate the data to an onsite NAS or similar, but that’s only protecting against deletion or hardware failure of the primary store.

So, you have a client with Terabyte upon terabyte of data. The first thing you need to do, is accept that unless they’re issuing Supercomputers to staff as standard, it’s going to take a while to properly process, compress, deduplicate, encrypt and transmit. Even more so if you only run the process at night while everyone is away. Less so if you run it over the holiday period. (There’s a really good piece of advice in there somewhere…)

We always recommend that our partners break the initial seed into at least 3 separate backup sets to ensure that if there is a server error for any reason, the backup will only have to re-process one third of the entire set. It also means that as we seed the backups to the server, you can kick off that particular backup set, let it do its first block check and be up to date while we process the rest of the data.

We’re always here to help. If you have a Big-Data question or problem, get in touch with us today and see how we can help.

This is usually where most of us jump the immediate and ‘obvious’ solution that we need more customers. More more more. Why not take a moment to think about how you could service your existing clients better? They know you, they trust you, and they will undoubtedly be looking to grow their business next year, thus allowing for a slightly increased IT spend.

So if you want to increase service to and revenue from your clients, what should you do? Don’t rush out and buy a crystal ball, consider some facts first. We are all very much aware of the prevalence of cloud computing, and some would say that Australian consumers have even reached ‘cloud-fatigue’ stage where they’re sick of hearing about it, and just want to take some kind of action towards it.

Gartner Vice President Rolf Jester forecasts total cloud spending in Australia for the coming year is to grow to 22 per cent to just over $3 billion.
Spending on Software as a Service (SaaS) will grow by 28 per cent to over $470 million. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) will reach $385 million, growing by 55 per cent,” he said.

Knowing this, it seems apparent that your clients are waiting to be introduced to cloud computing in some way, shape or form. Although it is possible they could say they want total virtualisation and all the applications be SaaS-based, it’s unlikely. Start small. Start with a cloud based backup solution and go from there.

Your clients already pay you a retainer for your monthly service hours, so the offsite backup will simply be another line on the monthly invoice. Our Backup Resellers are starting to notice that storage has become so cost effective, they no longer have to manage their clients down the nearest GB. Instead, they can offer a set amount of space, or unlimited space, at whatever rate they choose.

Now, what happens when we attach some figures to those facts? Suppose you are a small IT company with 50 retainer clients and only half of them say they want to go ahead with an offsite backup (the rest will come later!) So you backup their files, Exchange Servers and SQL Servers with an average data volume of 100GB charged at $50/month. That’s an extra $15,000 a year in revenue that requires no physical work other than a morning check of their reports. 7.5% Growth with no extra time spent onsite. Retail giants would KILL for a growth rate of 7.5%, yet you can achieve it almost by default.

Becoming a Corporate Backup partner is more than just signing up for some software.
We work with our backup resellers to ensure they have all the tools they need to deliver the service effectively, efficiently, and at a price that is competitive and profitable for them.

Australian consumers will spend $3 Billion on the cloud next year. Get your piece of the pie (cloud cake?) by becoming an Australian Cloud Backup Reseller with Corporate Backup.

You spend all day immersed in technical problems, using complex troubleshooting systems to establish Root Cause, followed by implementing fixes and upgrades.
Building and installing servers, running cables, setting up routers, switches and VPN’s is all part of your daily routine and I’m sure you’re extremely good at it.

However, what about when it comes to sitting down and talking to clients about the work you are about to undertake. Do you need to sell them some new hardware? Software? More service hours? Are you just as proficient at selling yourself and your services to clients as you are at fixing problems? The short answer for most IT guys is ‘no, probably not…’

Which brings me neatly to the point of this article: Corporate Backup is here to not only provide the software and storage that you and your clients rely on for disaster recovery, but also to help train and guide sales teams who need some assistance in getting their new service out to market.

When you partner with Corporate Backup as a reseller, of course you get the software, storage and service, but you can also opt for the marketing pack and ongoing assistance with your sales.

We have a number of successful Australian Backup Resellers, and over time it has become apparent that they all use a very similar system to get the product to be widely accepted by their clients within a few months of partnering.

1) They write offsite backup into their SLA and acknowledge that although all due care and attention comes with the service, they can’t guarantee that they can recover from a data loss without an offsite solution.

2) They first quote on a FULL system backup, including an initial hard drive seed, of all files, servers and databases. Obviously, if the customer doesn’t go ahead with the quote, you can then revert to backing up the most critical files i.e accounting software + day to day files, much more cheaply.

3) They all sign up with at least a fortnight left in our billing cycle to give them time to implement the system on their clients machines before being invoiced.

4) Customers are emailed and called about the service, and it is discussed during the next scheduled site visit with software ready to be trialed.

Point 4 is perhaps the one most often overlooked. Of course, as a business owners or managers, people want to make sure they turn a profit as quickly as possible so they delay the sign-up process by ‘waiting for the client to say yes’. It’s very difficult to sell something you don’t actually have, and your clients aren’t stupid. They will want to see it working, they will want to see a recovery, and they will want to see how well you know it’s functionality before they trust it.

Would you buy a house to live in, sight unseen? A car? A computer? Probably not. This is why our most successful partners sign up as early in the billing cycle as possible, to give them up to 5 weeks to sell to their clients before seeing their first invoice.

We make all of this information freely available to our Cloud Backup Resellers, because we want nothing more than for you to be successful as an IT business, as a Reseller, and as a rare hybrid person who can combine superior technical knowledge with great sales and business building methodology.

How does this relate to Australian IT providers? Read on.

Q2 is when businesses start making preparations for a number of reasons. Maybe they’re in retail and expect to go gangbusters leading up to Christmas. Maybe they’re a manufacturer, and will be busy for the same reason. Maybe they got a great tax return from 2011-2012 and are looking to reinvest and put that money to good use. Who knows? All we can tell you is this: When it comes to IT service providers implementing new services/hardware, Q2 is when it happens. Not literally of course, but in terms of dollars spent, proportionately October-December are the highest grossing months.

So let’s relate this back to you, the IT Company. You know that your clients are itching to spend some money. You also know that you haven’t yet implemented a reliable, powerful cloud platform of any description; despite the fact a few of your clients have asked what the cloud is all about. Put 2+2 together and it’s quite clear that now is the time to implement a new service, starting with cloud backup. It’s a toe in the water for your clients, it’s another income source for your business, and it will continue to work in the background with minimal management.

Timing is everything. Recent developments in the Corporate Backup software & service mean that there has never been a better time to get on board as a Cloud Backup Reseller.

“That’s all well and good” I hear you say, “but we’re still a business and this will cost money to get up and running”

Aside from being a party-pooper of biblical proportions, you almost have a point. Yes, business ventures cost money to get up and running, but here’s a little tip: We know about this already. We have removed all of the hurdles associated with taking on a new service so that you are left as free as possible to just get out there and sign up your clients. We give you up to 5 weeks free of charge during which you can use the software, seed backups and charge your clients. There are no contracts. There is no minimum storage amount. We give you unlimited licences.

The moral of the story is this: We’re all guilty of succumbing to the technical aspect of being an IT service provider. That is, hiding under people’s desks playing with cables and disappearing inside arrays of servers and comms equipment instead of taking the time to acquire customers and sell services in a methodical, business building way. If you know that the timing is great, and that there are clients wanting the service, and you know there are companies based here in Australia that you can partner with, and you know there is no commitment required, why wouldn’t you get started now?

After all…. If you’re reading this, chances are one of your competitors is too. Who’s ahead of the curve, you or them?

We here at Corporate Backup have a dream. A vision for an Australian Cloud Backup service that makes overseas providers null and void, and removes the need to run multiple platforms to achieve one task. Namely, creating backups both file based or image based, and storing them locally or on Australian Backup Servers with no fuss.

After a lot of testing we have finally released our Shadow Protect Module. Using our data centre as the Replication Target, our partners can transfer or seed their base and incremental Shadow Protect images to our data centre, where they will be consolidated and stored safely.

For a nominal monthly fee on top of the standard backup reseller module, partners have access to the Replication Target and pay the same rate for storage as they do for their file, exchange and SQL backups – all the way down to 8c/GB!

This is the first iteration of what will be an incredible new piece of Australian backup software, due for release early 2013. Shadow Protect integration is the first in a long line of integrating to allow connecting to other systems to make backup management a whole lot easier.

Looking for powerful, brandable, Australian cloud backup software? You found it.

Through our many partnerships, we hear a lot of information through the grapevine, especially from those who are leaders in their industries.
Recently, we were speaking to someone heavily involved in the world of finance, accounting and bookkeeping. She shared with us some information
that will have financial businesses scrambling for a cloud backup service in the next 6-12 months.

Parliament recently passed some legislation that removes the onus of responsibility for financial record keeping and statement submission from the client,
and gives it to bookkeepers and accountants. What this means, is that in order to avoid potential fines from the ATO, accountants and bookkeepers must
provide proof of Due Care in communicating any and all requirements to clients. Saving an email simply isn’t enough.

Using our software, a small number of renegades in IT & Finance are sharing financial records and documents via secure URL, and our servers are storing all the versions of each and every document. This is paving the way for what could be industry standard practice.

So, how does this apply to you, the IT company? Simple. If you have accountants and bookkeepers as clients, they are going to need this software.
The legislation is in effect as of July 1st, so over the next 6-12 months this is going to go absolutely gangbusters for any and all involved in the technology side of the financial industry.

As with all the information given to you, this leaves you with a choice. You can take action, and secure your piece of the pie, or you can play catch up after everyone else has made their move.

We all know the fundamental differences between local and overseas storage. By using an overseas provider, IT businesses can avoid the price objection by selling storage at a ridiculous price. In doing so they either making a small commission, or put a miniscule margin on it to keep clients from objecting.

The AUSTRALIAN marketplace will pay anything up to $10 PER GIGABYTE, for small backups. Any business owner who refuses to fork out $10/ month to at least back up their accounting file needs a stern talking to. Or a bigger IT budget…

If you feel that you can’t sell an automated, offsite backup solution to your clients at the current market rate, then we need to talk. We’ve helped countless small businesses overcome client price objections (among others) to provide their own brand of backup and in turn, make thousands of dollars a year in line with current prices.

The moral of the story is this: Until market saturation dictates lower rates, IT providers are doing themselves out of thousands of dollars every year by ignoring current market prices for Online Backup.

Listen to the Podcast here