The MSP's Technical Guide To Providing Backup-as-a-Service

Every MSP should be looking for additional services that are easy to setup, simple to manage, achieve predictable results, and generate consistent revenue. Backup-as-a-Service is one of the logical “next steps” for every MSP that is already responsible for the care of their customer’s most critical systems. Some simply haven’t made the jump yet (e.g. the customer is still managing their own backups), while others just haven’t moved their management of backups to a recurring service model.

In either case, as you work to develop and define your offering, keep in mind the services you offer need to create value for both the MSP and your customer. It should also be noted that BaaS isn’t as simple as just choosing a backup solution and starting to create backups; there are many technical details that both determine what you can offer, and whether you are able to deliver.

This guide will provide you with a rather robust list of technical considerations that will help define how you plan on providing BaaS. Once you’ve decided how your BaaS practice will operate, these same technical considerations will impact the specific services that make up your BaaS practice, the details in your Service Level Agreement, and even your pricing model.

But, not every MSP is ready to make the jump; some are merely looking into BaaS and an option for their next service. So, before we jump into the aspects of BaaS that will craft your business’ service definition, let’s first level-set with why you should be selling Backup-as-a- Service.