November 2010 Online Backup Service Provider Survey Results
Here are the results of our Online Backup Service Provider survey that concluded on November 22, 2010. Some of the survey respondents were interviewed to provide more depth to our report.
The survey shows that most small Online Backup Service Providers service only Business computers (not Personal computers,) and store between five and fifty gigabytes of compressed data per computer. Because of compression the amount of data stored on the Service Provider’s drives is roughly equivalent to one third to one half the size of the data on the customer’s computer.
Service Providers usually charge for the native size of the data, the size of the files as they exist on the customers’ computers, pre-compression.
The per-customer data size stored with the Service Provider starts growing with new customers, then usually levels off as individual data retention policies start to decommission old files as newer versions are added to the data store.
Twenty percent of Service Providers have more than fifty paying clients. The top five percent have more than 1000 clients each. The biggest has more than 21,000 clients. Most Service Providers (53%) have between five and fifty paying clients.
The number of clients depends on how the Service Provider markets his service. Many prefer to maintain only a small number of customers, servicing a limited group that might be clients for other services such as general MSP services. These Service Providers usually charge the most, and offer the highest degree of service, which is usually personal on-site service.
Other Service Providers market their services on a wide scale through partners or direct to consumers, and have thousands of customers. These Service Providers usually charge less and offer only telephone, email, or online support.
How long have you been offering online backup services?
Forty five percent of Service Providers have been in business more than two years, with 20% of them in business from five years to more than 10.
| Less than 1 year | 29% |
| 2 – 5 years | 27% |
| 1 – 2 years | 20% |
| 5 – 10 years | 18% |
| More than 10 years | 3% |
How many paying clients do you have?
Twenty percent of Service Providers have more than fifty paying clients. The top five percent have more than 1000 clients each. The biggest has more than 21,000 clients. Most Service Providers (53%) have between five and fifty paying clients.
| 5 – 20 | 29% |
| Fewer than 5 | 27% |
| 20 – 50 | 24% |
| 50 – 100 | 15% |
| More than 1000 | 5% |
How many Free or Trial customers do you have?
Trial accounts do not convert to live accounts at a rate that most new Service Providers expect, so most experienced Service Providers do not offer trial accounts. Trial accounts are not often used for Business customers, and almost always used with Personal customers. This is consistent with other statistics which show most Service Providers avoiding Personal accounts.
| Fewer than 5 | 86% |
| 20 – 50 | 8% |
| 5 – 20 | 5% |
How many of the computers you back up are Business computers, and how many are Personal?
The vast majority of Service Providers service only Business computers. They are easier to service, generate much more profit, and stay with their Online Backup Service longer (an average of 3.5 years.) Some Providers service Personal computers as a convenience. Only a few Service Providers (5%) service Personal computers in large numbers.
| All are Business Computers | 60% |
| More than 90% are Business | 20% |
| Fewer than 10% are Business | 10% |
| More than 50% are Business | 8% |
What is the average amount of storage (compressed size) used by your Personal clients?
Of the Service Providers who service Personal computers, most store between two and ten GB of data per customer.
| I don’t service Personal | 50% |
| 2 – 5 GB per computer | 12% |
| 5 – 10 GB per computer | 8% |
| 10 – 20 GB per computer | 6% |
| More than 30 GB | 6% |
| 20 – 30 GB per computer | 5% |
What is your average monthly billing for a Personal computer? Add base monthly fee + excess storage fees.
Unless you have thousands of customers, the market for Personal online backups is not as lucrative as the Business market. Here are the raw results from the survey.
| I don’t service Personal computers | 50% |
| $10 – $20 | 15% |
| $30 – $50 | 12% |
| $5 – $10 | 8% |
| Less than $5 | 6% |
| $20 – $30 | 5% |
| More than $50 | 1% |
We adjusted the results for this question to remove Service Providers who do not offer service to Personal Computers. This resulted in the following numbers.
| $10 – $20 | 31% |
| $30 – $50 | 24% |
| $5 – $10 | 17% |
| Less than $5 | 13% |
| $20 – $30 | 10% |
What is the average amount of storage (compressed size) used by your Business clients?
This is a great question. This info can be used for planning expansion of your storage capacity. These gigabytes are compressed size, exactly as data files are stored on your RBS Server, which is typically 50% or less the size of the customer’s data as stored on his computer.
| 20 – 30 GB per computer | 24% |
| 5 – 10 GB per computer | 20% |
| 30 – 50 GB per computer | 15% |
| More than 50 GB | 13% |
| 10 – 20 GB per computer | 10% |
| Fewer than 2 GB | 8% |
| 2 – 5 GB per computer | 5% |
What is your average monthly billing for a Business computer, including Servers and Workstations? Add base monthly fee + excess storage fees.
Most Service Providers charge between $50 and $100 per month for each Business computer they service. If a customer has more than one business computer, these charges are per computer. Most Service Providers offer discounts on multiple computers.
| $50 – $100 | 41% |
| $25 – $50 | 27% |
| Less than $25 | 12% |
| $100 – $200 | 10% |
| $200 – $350 | 6% |
Remote Backup Systems provides brandable, scalable software and solutions to MSPs and VARs enabling them to offer Online Backup Services.
