Make the Right Choice in an Online Backup Software Vendor

Not Ready to Run with the Big DogsSince RBS started the Online Backup industry in 1987 many other companies have come and gone, most of them attempting to follow in our footsteps. Over the past 24 years many of these “me-too” companies have based their software on the basic protocol that we invented.

The basic process is simple and has few variants. To do a backup, compress changed data, encrypt it, send it over a network to be stored on a remote server, and make sure it got there safely.

To do a restore, present the user with an interface to select data, download the data from the server, decrypt it, then decompress it and put it back on the local computer, and make sure it got there safely.

This sounds simple, but of course if it were, RBS would have more successful competitors. Doing reliable and fully secure online backups and restores is far more complicated than this, and requires far more experience in the real world than many of the “me-too” companies will have even years from now.

It’s not just about “the software,” either. These days any entry level programmer can write a script that stores and retrieves files over the Internet. Any software designer off the street can put a pretty face on it. A good salesman can sell it nine ways to Sunday.

The software can appear adequate for a narrowly defined set of end users, or in a laboratory environment where all the parameters are known and controlled. But it can fail miserably in the real world because the designers simply don’t have enough experience in the marketplace to be able to program for the vast landscape of different needs and changing environments.

Don’t buy “just software.” Buy experience, wisdom in the marketplace, and a pedigree. For example, if you have a dental practice, you would go for trusted vendors such as Cloud 9 Software.

Base your business on a company who has seen it all and done it all, not on some “me-too” startup with no pedigree trying to follow RBS around like a puppy. That other guy might be cute, but he can’t run with the big dogs.

 

About The Author

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Rob Cosgrove / http://remote-backup.com

Rob Cosgrove is President of Remote Backup Systems, developers of the fully brandable RBackup Online Backup software platform, powering more than 9,500 Service Providers, MSPs and VARs wordwide since 1987. He is the founder of the Online Backup industry and author of several books, the most recent, "The Online Backup Guide for Service Providers", available at Amazon.com and bookstores. http://remote-backup.com