Axcient : MSP Expands Backup Offers while Saving with Axcient Direct-to-Cloud

Phillip Long is the founder and CEO of Business Information Solutions, Inc. (BIS), a managed service provider (MSP) helping businesses in the Gulf Coast for almost 20 years. BIS provides full-service IT support, specializing in comprehensive IT solutions. For ten years, Phillip and BIS have relied on Axcient as their one and only backup provider.

As a long-time partner, Phillip sits on the Axcient Partner Advisory Council (PAC), comprised of MSP leaders who contribute feedback, suggestions, critiques, and insights regarding new products, and client and MSP needs. As a PAC member, Phillip is beta testing Axcient's latest innovation in business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR), Axcient Direct-to-Cloud (D2C).

Phillip recently shared his experiences with D2C as an endpoint backup solution for remote workers. He discusses the benefits of backup diversity, and the significant cost savings available with D2C capabilities.

Endpoint backup for remote workers

BIS has been focusing on endpoint protection in recent years because of the increasing trend toward remote work. Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and the spike in ransomware and other cyber-attacks further emphasized remote data protection, Phillip was conscious to get ahead of the issue. Relying on Axcient x360Recover for BCDR, Philip feels he can rest easy. 'Being able to backup everything into a single pane of glass, that's really what we need as MSPs to make ourselves more effective per employee. To me, backup is the ultimate security feature.'

Axcient D2C executes image-based backups of remote workers directly to the secure Axcient cloud, so you can recover any size file or system with similar recovery point objectives (RPOs) and recovery time objectives (RTOs) as appliance-based backup. All volumes on each endpoint are protected automatically.

Phillip thinks endpoint backup for remote workers is a revolutionary innovation in the industry. He emphasizes the cost-effective price point of D2C, and the ability of image-based backup to recover after a device is lost, encrypted, or anything else. Phillip says, 'Being able to restore to even dissimilar hardware is a total game changer. It makes [restore] easy and it's easy to add to the stack. As an MSP, I'm in a much better position because no matter where they save the file, no matter what happens, no matter what machine it's on, I can restore it quickly and have them back up and running.'

During a recent support issue, Phillip wished the client had D2C to get them back up and running almost immediately, versus the hours it took without D2C. A Microsoft update messed up the client's machine and it took four hours to fix the issue. Phillip explains, 'If I could have just rolled that thing back to an image, and popped it in gear, that would have been huge.' Not only did he have an upset client, but BIS lost hours of tech time and resources that will be avoided in the future with D2C.

Backup diversity for protection no matter what

Clients expect a range of options to fit their backup and recovery needs. Instead of MSPs suffering the unnecessary and costly consequences of vendor sprawl , Axcient D2C provides a variety of backup options with a single vendor. From endpoint and public cloud backup, to turn-key full service and hardware-free BDR - Axcient D2C can meet all your client requirements. Phillip explains:

'As we're migrating more people to the cloud, having that appliance on the cloud is expensive and it's difficult to get there sometimes. I like diversity. Even when we look at it from a security perspective, I'm looking for dissimilar products in my stack because everyone has a little different philosophy. In the same way, I like having my data in a good data center, and also having it replicated and backed up in another completely diverse data center. I think that's the way to win.'

He goes on to explain that some clients want to move everything to the cloud, but also want a local backup running all the time within their office. Phillip predicts as people get more savvy about backup, risks, and restores, they will recognize that nothing is fool-proof, so having some diversity is a good thing. Even the world's largest and most recognizable companies, including Amazon, Google, and Azure, have had major problems in their data centers.

Diversifying backup actually paid off for Phillip and BIS after a data center they partnered with went bankrupt, exposing poor security systems and processes. Fortunately, BIS was storing their data in another place the whole time. Phillip is thankful they thought proactively and could rely on Axcient for near-instant recovery. 'Had they [the data center company] fallen off the face of the earth, we would have just spun up to the Axcient Cloud and been okay. I always say, 'buyer beware.''

Best-in-class capabilities for significant savings

Phillip and BIS have the right perspective when comparing solutions by cost. It's not just the flat fee for the solution, but the total strain on your MSP including maintenance, stress, hardware, and licenses. In regards to D2C, Phillip says, 'The price point is good, you can add it to the stack quickly, and it makes our life easier. At the end of the day, time is money.' He goes on to say, 'What I really like about where Axcient has come with these products, is that they don't break that much and so we don't have a lot of cost. That's probably the biggest thing to me.' '…With all these images that we can run almost immediately, and get somebody access to, but not having the breaks - we don't have people spending a lot of time fixing.'

Another savings tool coming to x360Recover as part of the D2C rollout is AutoVerify (a term Phillip actually coined for Axcient!). Phillip describes the feature and how will help BIS save time and money.

'AutoVerify is a really key component that I like. And we didn't trust it for a long time. We've been manually verifying that it [AutoVerify] works and the image is able to start backing up. We were going through on a quarterly basis, and we've been doing that forever because backups are that important, and we're still doing it, but we haven't found any discrepancies. Whenever AutoVerify says that it will start, it starts, so that's a huge component from a time saving point. We're going to eventually trust you and stop doing the manual verification, which is going to save my guy 20 to 30 hours a quarter in the verification of backup. So again, that's another savings.'

Axcient D2C has officially launched and is available as part of x360Recover. If you'd like to learn more about these game changing features and benefits, demo the solution, or take advantage of a 14-day free trial (seriously, no credit card required), we'd love to know what you think as we continue to expand D2C capabilities.

About the Author:
Liz Mellem // Technical Copywriter, Axcient

Liz Mellem has been a freelance copywriter for over three years in the technology, education, and alternative medicine industries. She produces content, sales collateral, and email marketing campaigns that contribute to digital marketing strategies for sales growth and brand awareness. In her free time, Liz enjoys reading, exploring Austin, and Netflix with her cat, Harlem.