Credit: 147886879 © Maksim Shmeljov | Dreamstime
Australian businesses are struggling with the number of different security vendors they are having to engage with, says data protection and recovery provider Arcserve. They are looking to partners that can reduce complexity by delivering an integrated solution.
Over a third (37%) of organisations have had a ransomware encounter in the last year alone. The average cost to a mid-sized business is $239,000, so it’s no wonder curbing ransomware is one of the Australian government’s top priorities.
According to channel-exclusive data protection and backup provider Arcserve, ransomware attacks erode customer trust, with customers questioning whether the organisation had adequate security in the first place. Trust is hard earned but easily lost and can be harder to win back than the hard cost of recovering from a data loss.
The sudden shift to remote/hybrid working has heightened the challenge for CIOs to protect their organisation, with more staff using “BYO” devices at home that aren’t managed and may not be fully patched with up-to-date software and security controls.
Finally, businesses are having to navigate a growing number of vendors and products as they attempt to put together the pieces of the security puzzle to create an integrated information security strategy. In the long run, this leaves security gaps and data erosion as small oversights are made throughout the planning and implementation process.
Security leaders are aware of this: according to 2021 IDG Security Priorities Study, 90% say they believe their organisation is falling short in addressing cyber risks.
Unlock new revenue streams through business resilience support
Against the backdrop of sharply increasing security threats, particularly ransomware, there is great opportunity for channel partners to start earning new revenue streams, says Leo Lynch, VP of Sales APAC. Arcserve recently merged with StorageCraft delivering a strong Australian footprint.
Arcserve specialises in data protection and business continuity products, with some unique features. For example, its higher end products come with tier 1 Sophos security protection from an established antimalware vendor integrated so this doesn’t have to be separately sourced and implemented.
“This means customers get one-touch support – there’s no finger pointing. We also have products with Nutanix integrated – we’re the only backup and recovery vendor worldwide that has that in the enterprise space,” comments Leo.
Leo has a number of tips for channel partners looking to sell data protection and continuity products and services.
Firstly, look to sell the benefits of immutable storage, which is a backup system where backups cannot be changed once they are written. Ransomware scammers go for the backups first in an attempt to ensure a business has no recovery path, but with immutable storage this is impossible. The UK Government has recently mandated all government departments use immutable storage as part of their backup strategy.
Arcserve’s OneXafe product provides plug-and-play immutable storage in an easy to ship, space-efficient Next Unit of Computing (NUC) form factor. “Customers love it,” says Leo. “It has done incredibly well during the pandemic with the need to backup data that is now spread across multiple remote locations.
The OneXafe product is seamlessly coupled with OneSystem, a cloud based management service, which provides another layer of backup in a multi-layered backup system.
Secondly, look for opportunities to sell managed services to customers. The last thing any CIO needs is more complexity that needs to be managed by their internal team. Arcserve products are designed to be securely remotely managed by a vendor, taking the workload away from the customer. However, they are also designed with standard management dashboards that makes them scalable, replicable and easy to manage for a partner.
There is also a valuable services revenue opportunity to run recovery tests with customers. “The longer businesses are down or without their data, it is costing money, so understanding how long it will take them to recover their data will help them quantify the cost of a future ransomware breach to their business.
“Equally important, proving the recovery point they can get back to in terms the most recent good data is important for the business to understand. Backup efforts are for nothing if a restore process doesn’t produce up-to-date data.”
Leo recommends partners assist businesses with testing their recovery processes rigorously, which can lead to further sales opportunities for more capable backup infrastructure.
Discover how Arcserve is helping partners today protect against ransomware.
