New Zealand-based MSP minimizes churn with Acronis Microsoft 365 backup with unlimited cloud storage
INTRODUCTION
Based in Christchurch, New Zealand, ZEAL Consultants is an IT managed service provider that serves organizations of all sizes, sectors and industry verticals including those in the private sector. ZEAL Consultants’ clients typically have anywhere from five to 300 active users and are challenged with protecting diverse IT environments. It is ZEAL Consultants’ mission to ensure clients are advised on all aspects of their technology setup in the workplace.
ZEAL Consultants’ team takes pride in their technical expertise, transparency and consistency to deliver best-fit solutions to clients. They find solutions that fit both their clients’ unique business requirements and budget. From consulting and delivering IT support to monitoring, reporting and maintaining IT, they use a proactive, hands-on approach to deliver comprehensive IT services.
KEY CHALLENGES
- Urgently needed a Microsoft backup solution after their current product was discontinued.
- Increased risk to client experience because of backup storage limitations.
- Lacked consistent account management and support from the previous vendor.
- Growing client concerns over cyber insurance and compliance adherence.
KEY REQUIREMENTS
- Must have a data center that satisfied New Zealand data sovereignty requirements.
- Robust cyber protection that did not disrupt margins and maintained flexible pricing.
- Centralized management for backup, disaster recovery and Microsoft 365 protection.
PROTECTED RESOURCES
- Up to 300 users and Microsoft 365 accounts.
- 92.75 TB in backups.
- 34.67 TB disaster recovery infrastructure.
KEY BENEFITS
- Gained consistent, reliable and personal support from Acronis.
- Reduced churn due to backup storage capacity exceedance.
- Saved time on optimizing pricing and service offering strategy.
The granular and client controls with Acronis are next level. It is beneficial from our standpoint because not all our clients have the same needs. We like to package offerings so that they are simple, but we also need flexibility where we can expand and scale as needed.
THE CHALLENGE
ZEAL Consultants used two data protection solutions to secure their clients: Arcserve OneXafe and Datto SaaS Protection for Microsoft 365.
After some disruption in the backup and recovery market, ZEAL Consultants learned that Arcserve would no longer provide its core cloud service offering. Arcserve’s solution had been integral to protecting ZEAL Consultants’ small and medium-sized business (SMB) clients.
Ricky Cunningham, Technical Director and Consultant at ZEAL Consultants, shed light on his experience: “Arcserve discontinued their SMB offering, so it affected a lot of MSPs. We were all scrambling to find a new solution. We also did not want to make our new offering exactly like the Arcserve one. However, we had to work with our price point, and we knew what fit.”
Additionally, ZEAL Consultants faced challenges with Datto Microsoft 365 backup, including encountering many hurdles in their partnership with Datto. According to Cunningham, it was difficult to get consistent, responsive and reliable support from Datto account management. Moreover, factors such as limited backup storage capacity made structuring their service offerings less flexible. Working with limited backup storage capacity meant ZEAL Consultants’ technicians needed to diligently monitor their clients’ backup storage usage — increasing operational costs. Consequently, if clients exceeded their capacity and it went unnoticed, ZEAL Consultants ran the risk of losing business.
ZEAL Consultants relied on multiple solutions and vendors to achieve protection across Microsoft 365, virtual and on-premises servers, workloads and diverse IT environments. Managing protection, strategizing pricing and developing a competitive service offering became difficult with multiple vendors in play. ZEAL Consultants’ team was eager to find a new solution that would simplify backup and recovery.
I can tell that Acronis cares about what we do in a competitive MSP environment and wants us to succeed by helping us with marketing and developing our offering strategy, which is something that other vendors do not always do.
THE SOLUTION
ZEAL Consultants asked for recommendations from channel partners and peers, and Acronis stood out. Cunningham and his team recognized Acronis as an established and award-winning data protection leader and decided to contact an Acronis representative. Cunningham recalled his first impressions: “Acronis and their account management team really understood the product offering and how we could strategize protection to get the price where we needed to be to cover our clients’ backup storage.”
Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud natively integrates backup, disaster recovery, cybersecurity and endpoint management in a single solution for MSPs. The consolidated approach ensures that ZEAL Consultants comprehensively protects their clients without sacrificing efficiency or margins. The company uses Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud with Advanced Disaster Recovery to secure all their clients’ critical data, including Microsoft 365, in a single console.
RESULTS
With Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud, ZEAL Consultants saves time on both the operational and business side, reporting a positive onboarding experience that has enabled their technicians to swiftly set up and manage protection for clients. Cunningham stated that the responsive and personal support from Acronis was starkly different than his experience with previous vendors.
“Our Acronis account manager, the Acronis team and our channel partners help us with any issues we have and were even available on weekends when we had support queries. They help us along every step of the way,”
Another benefit: Acronis offers free, unlimited cloud storage for Microsoft 365 backups with the purchase of Microsoft 365 protection. One core advantage is that ZEAL Consultants’ technicians do not have to continuously monitor their clients’ backup storage capacities. This frees up time while also eliminating the risk of clients churning due to exceeded backup capacity or increased costs to data storage.
The reliable and differentiated support from Acronis gives ZEAL Consultants peace of mind. Cunningham is proud of the technology partnership he and his team have built with Acronis and looks forward to expanding business across Microsoft 365-based services.