Views from the Beta: Case Studies Reveal Real-User Opinions of Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud

Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud recently moved out of private beta and into public beta, making it available to any service provider or cloud distributor who is interested. This is the final step before the general availability (GA) of the product, slated for next month.

As with any new product launch, feedback from beta customers is tremendously important. For this launch, not only have we gotten feedback, but three beta participants agreed to do formal case studies about their overall impressions of Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud, its relevancy to their customers, and their experience.

We’ll summarize all three of these case studies here, but you’re welcome to download the full versions at the Acronis Resource Center.

Before diving in, it is worth taking a moment to review Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud: what it is, and why it matters to service providers and cloud distributors in the channel.

Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud is the unique AI-enhanced solution designed for service providers that integrates data protection with cybersecurity. This synergy empowers service providers with prevention, detection, response, recovery, and forensic capabilities in an easy and efficient way.

Enriched with next-generation, full-stack anti-malware protection and comprehensive, yet simple, endpoint management tools, it enables service providers to easily make cybersecurity a focal point of their offering.

And because it’s built on top of Acronis’ industry-leading backup and disaster recovery platform, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud simplifies onboarding, daily operations, and reporting, and combats advanced attacks with new use cases enabled by integration.

The private beta included customers that were global diversity. The participants featured in these case studies each have a unique approach to the IT channel in their respective markets:

• Founded in 2008, Union Technology Cooperative (UTC) is a worker-owned managed service provider (MSP) based in Middleton, Wisconsin that provides technology solutions to organizations. (Read the full UTC case study)
• Established in 1991, Zebra Systems (Zebra) is a cloud distributor in the Czech Republic focused on backup, disaster recovery, and security products. In 2003, the company acquired exclusive distribution and localization rights in the Czech Republic and Slovakia for the full portfolio of Acronis products. (Read the full Zebra Systems case study)
• Founded in 1997, Synapsys Systems is a specialized cloud distributor in South Africa and across the continent. The company has been the Authorized Acronis Distributor in South Africa and Africa since 2003, offering the entire Acronis portfolio through Acronis Cyber Cloud. (Read the full Synapsys case study)

The managed security services and vendors being used by these beta customers vary considerably and is quite representative of the market at large:

• UTC works with Symantec Cloud Endpoint Protection, Cisco Umbrella for DNS filtering, and Panorama 9 for remote monitoring and patch management.
• Zebra Systems works with GFI to offer its MSP partners hardware firewalls.
• Synapsys does not work with or distribute software other than Acronis, although some of its reseller partners offer third-party security solutions to their end customers, which they do not benefit from.

All three beta customers concluded that Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud will be relevant to their customers and, not surprisingly, each had a unique take on what would resonate with their customers and why.

Dennis McKernan, Director of Security at UTC, observed that “If our clients are using the remote access functionality (in Acronis Cyber Protect), they will be signed into the dashboard regularly and can see status updates and alerts about their machines that need a backup or applications that need patching.”

According to Štěpán Bínek, Product and Sales Manager at Zebra Systems, “Our MSP partners see a great opportunity for their own growth with Acronis Cyber Protect. They like a single solution the combines backup, anti-malware, and patch management – they can save time and money using one solution in one console. Other features that are resonating include continuous data protection and hard drive health monitoring.”

Synapsys Sales Engineer Nick Keene noted, “A lot of our MSP partners are only doing backup with Acronis, they use other vendors for cybersecurity… we are excited to be able to give them another revenue stream that can make their lives easier when it comes to security management.”

Each of the beta participants also offered their insights into how the solution was executed – from what it is trying to achieve to how the product was to work with.

McKernan noted, “Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud is smart to approach security with a data protection mindset because you are thinking of things that other vendors wouldn’t consider. There is a ton of opportunity with the product, and we are really excited about it. We have had great access to the Acronis product development team, and they have been great at receiving feedback and are actively working to make the product better.”

Binek added, “It is uncommon to have localization for such a small country like the Czech Republic, so this is a big advantage for us. The training from Acronis has been solid and the available web help is very useful. We have felt like part of the Acronis team during the beta. We have given honest feedback and Acronis has been very receptive to our input.”

Keene commented that “The user interface is very easy to manage and looks and feels just like Acronis Cyber Cloud. I really like the concept of the protection plan, how it can be adjusted for certain needs such as using Windows Defender, running continuous data protection, scanning for vulnerabilities, or leveraging the URL filters. You never want to recover from backups if you can avoid it, so the features found in the protection plans like anti-malware and hard-drive failure detection are a massive bonus, creating layers of protection around the core function of backup.”

All three beta customers see a compelling market opportunity for Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud.

For UTC, McKernan said, “There’s a real opportunity to introduce an integrated security product, especially one that offers remote access. Our goal with Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud is to provide this industry-leading protection for existing customers.” Additionally, he noted, “It would be great if we could combine our separate systems (Symantec, Cisco, Panorama 9) into an integrated solution, which is the direction Acronis is heading.”

Zebra Systems’ Binek noted, “We are very aligned to the vision Acronis has for one solution that will cover most parts of cybersecurity, and it makes sense to have one agent to cover all the necessary things that our MSPs and their end customers need to cover. For Zebra and our MSPs, we see Acronis Cyber Protect as a huge opportunity to grow – there is triple-digit growth potential in the next few years here.”

For Synapsys, Keene was quite bullish when he said, “It’s a great product. Having a unified product with a single agent and interface will make a big difference and a big splash in our market. It should be a game-changer.”

JOIN THE PUBLIC BETA: For more information about Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud or to request immediate access to the public beta, click here.