The Quick Q&A series features high-level conversations about why we love our partners and continue to recommend their solutions to clients.

We support a lot of great solutions on the IT services side of our business. As a full-stack data and IT consultancy, partnering with a solid and diverse cast of IT vendors is essential to serving our clients. Today, I wanted to focus on a specific vendor in a rather underappreciated yet essential category: Datto in the realm of data backup.

Few understand the importance of reliable data backup – that is, until the unthinkable happens. Whether it’s due to natural disaster, system failure or simple human error, nobody should experience the horror of losing vital data. Yet such scenarios are incredibly common, and it’s not until you experience one that the data backup, or lack thereof, comes to the forefront. The good news is that vendors like Datto and solution providers like InterWorks can help protect your data and keep your business running. To help me explain, I did a quick email Q&A with my colleague and Datto expert Todd Walls.

Q: What do we at InterWorks like about Datto’s technology?

Datto’s Backup Continuity Disaster Recovery solution (BCDR) is their bread and butter, and this is the technology InterWorks enjoys the most. We have had great success in medium- and small-business environments when presenting Datto BCDR. Our clients need to know their in-house data can be protected from loss or corruption. With Datto, we can provide clients an all-in-one package that offers business continuity, and the solution is not difficult to implement or maintain.

To explain a bit further, an individual BCDR solution looks like this: A given client has a small handful of servers that host critical data to their business. During implementation, a Datto appliance is placed in the environment and configured to back up the client’s servers. Once backups are up and running, the Datto appliance runs backups of all servers frequently, usually every hour, and data is copied to the Datto appliance for secondary storage. Now, in addition to storing data locally, the Datto appliance replicates data offsite to Datto’s cloud infrastructure. This creates two backup repositories: One is stored on site and the other is stored in the cloud. This enables the client to restore data quickly with the locally stored data while offering greater protection with the data stored offsite. In case of situations like natural disaster or theft, critical data is still safe in the cloud.

Second to the actual solution being great, Datto offers great support. Whether that is technical support or partner-related support, they have been very responsive to our needs over the years.

Simplified Security, Responsive Support

Q: Why and when would we recommend Datto to clients?

If clients want an all-in-one backup continuity solution for their in-house data, Datto offers just that without the frustrating complexity found in many other full-continuity solutions. For the cost of the unit up front plus a monthly fee, clients receive 24/7 support and a backup environment that is secure and reliable, providing easy access to their data if or when data loss occurs.

Ransomware attacks are another great use case for Datto. We have had several situations where Datto saved our clients from paying a ransom. There are other situations where the part of a client’s network that was protected by Datto was not of concern because the data was easily retrieved, while that same client had to pay a ransom for areas not protected by Datto.

In addition to BCDR, we often recommend another solution called Datto SaaS. This is Datto’s cloud-to-cloud backup solution. Most of our clients use Microsoft or Google services, which store data in their cloud environments. Primarily, I am talking about Office 365 and G-Suite, which store files and email.  Datto SaaS backs up the data from Microsoft and Google cloud environments to Datto’s cloud environment. The largest concern to clients with cloud storage is that data may be deleted accidentally, or corruption could occur. Without a backup solution in place, data is lost forever.

Q: What do our clients like about Datto?

There are several reasons. The biggest are:

• All-in-one feature set
• 24/7 Datto support
• For those who manage their own devices, the interface is user friendly.
• Portal accessibility. Clients can access their local device and cloud data all from a web portal.
• Fast Recovery Option for when servers fail completely. Datto appliances come with the option to turn a server backup into a virtual server. For example, if a physical server has a circuit failure and no longer functions, the most recent backup can be accessed on the Datto appliance. That backup is then used to create a new virtual instance of that physical server. The virtual server is an exact replicate of the physical server, and it can be turned on and used while the physical server is repaired. That means a business can continue functioning even though the production server died.

Q: What makes our partnership with Datto a good one?

Over 99% of Datto’s market is partner driven. This means that Datto has more focus on partners and what they need to drive solutions. We have just recently achieved Blue Diamond Partner status with Datto. This means that we are in the top 2% of all Datto partners globally. As a result, we are also assigned a designated Datto specialist who looks out for our needs and to whom we consistently report regarding what needs we may have.

As I mentioned before, Datto technical support is very responsive when compared to other vendors. InterWorks engineers have 24/7 access to technicians, and we can create tickets in the online portal during business hours (and after hours) so that a Datto technician can access Datto appliances remotely and resolve issues. Working with Datto support has also been great when managing our fleet of appliances. With detailed reporting, they have aided in focused efforts to properly manage inventory priorities.

Finally, Datto offers a lot of marketing resources and investment opportunities in marketing when applicable. A great example is an event like Innotech Oklahoma, one of the region’s biggest business technology conferences, where they represent Datto alongside InterWorks. That strong connection and partner association helps make those events a big hit.

Want to Learn More About Datto?

There’s much more we like about Datto than can be shared in a short blog post. If you’re interested in learning more about Datto as a data backup solution or simply want to talk it out with a solution provider that understands backup holistically, we’d love to chat with you.

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