Many who use traditional backup methods would switch to online backup if it were cost-effective
In April 2011, Carbonite surveyed more than 125 small businesses with between two and 20 employees to study their disaster recovery and data backup methods. The Carbonite-sponsored study indicated 48 percent of American small businesses with between two and 20 employees had experienced data loss, up from 42 percent when Carbonite surveyed small businesses in December 2010. The top causes of small business’ data loss included hardware/software failure (54 percent), accidental deletion (54 percent), computer viruses (33 percent) and theft (10 percent).
Although 31 percent of small business owners surveyed agree that backing up their company’s computers is a hassle that takes time away from running their business, the research indicated that physical devices were the most prominent backup methods used by small businesses. Specifically, external hard drives (41 percent), CDs/DVDs (36 percent) and USB/flash memory sticks (36 percent) were reported as the three most-popular ways SMBs back up data.
While many SMBs recognize that online backup solutions offer significant advantages over traditional physical-device backups – such as being automatic, continuous, offsite and requiring no extra equipment – the research indicates that those who do not backup to the cloud cited cost as the number one factor in their decision.
In response to SMB concerns over cost Carbonite last month announced the availability of Carbonite Business, which provides a low-cost, flat-rate, predictable pricing plan for small businesses, starting at $229 annually for an unlimited number of computers.
“We know from our experience working with small businesses over the past five years that they need an affordable, flat-fee pricing model,” said Peter Lamson, general manager of small business for Carbonite. “Too many online backup providers have priced online backup at a level that is simply not appropriate for the way SMBs budget. At Carbonite, SMB is in our DNA, so we worked diligently to develop a solution that now allows small businesses to enjoy the superior protection of Carbonite’s online backup protection, at a price that makes good business sense.”
Carbonite Business backs up an unlimited number of computers for a flat fee of $229 per year (with 250GB of storage included). Carbonite Business Premier backs up an unlimited number of computers and servers (with 500GB of storage included) for just $599 per year. Businesses can easily add supplemental storage packs as their backup needs grow.
This week I thought I would look at a report that I recently came across, the eBiz Review 2011. The report is produced by MelbourneIT and is about the small business community and their engagement with the web, e-commerce and social media.
It is particularly relevant for Carbonite given that over 30% of our customers are small businesses. It is also relevant because many of our resellers are in the web design industry and recommend services like Carbonite to ensure that their customer’s websites and information is protected.
The report researched over 2000 Australian small businesses at a time when we all now that they are really feeling the pinch. Whilst we are not in a recession, many businesses are struggling from month to month with consumer and business confidence a little uncertain at the moment.
It is hard to say why the web has received so much attention in the last 24 months. Customers aren’t anymore wiser about where to get a deal, they could have compared prices on the web 3 years ago and they could have purchased and did buy from overseas websites then. My feeling is that businesses are looking at themselves thinking how can I run my business more efficiently, what channels aren’t I doing well enough at and what are other industries doing that is helping them survive and even prosper during these times.
When they look at these businesses they see the web, they hear about social media and its impact on the way people are interacting today and they are saying, well I have an ordinary website that is more of a brochure-ware site today. Maybe if I made it a sales channel it could assist my margins and my profits.
Added to this the growth of smart phones and the general buzz around Apple and technology and you have everyone looking at the net as the savior and their last hope.
So what does the report say that could assist us to understand what small businesses are thinking of doing over the coming 12 months when it comes to their websites.
When asked which parts of the business they intended to increase or decrease investment in the next 12 months, the top three areas chosen for increased investment were website and internet (59% said they would invest more), marketing (54%) and computers and technology (53%). Technology, internet and marketing were the only areas of investment where a majority of eSMBs said they will increase their spend in 2011/2012
Social media is a topic that many including I go on and on about. I think the investment is worth it and the rewards follow the effort but it is early days in seeing just how powerful social media can be for a small business.
Last year’s eBiz report showed that 30% of small businesses where using social media to market their business. I think these figures are a little high personally. There is a difference between having a Twitter profile and actually marketing using social media. The 2011 report shows that the 30% is likely to get to 50%. Again this is a little unrealistic in my mind. Maybe 20% would be more believable.
While the number of eSMBs that don’t use social media has dropped, the reasons cited by those not using social media remain the same. Thirty-seven percent of those eSMBs not using social media still needed to be convinced of the benefits, with 36% saying they did not have the time to maintain it and 28% saying they believed social media was irrelevant for their business.
Group Buying is a very interesting one. This is one that will get much more coverage over the coming couple of years particularly as Facebook get into this market. Seems that only 5% of businesses see a benefit in offering their services using such a scheme. I think this reflects the lack of knowledge on how these schemes work and lack of case studies on how businesses have benefited from using them. It also shows a general reluctance to use discounting to build revenue.
The final area of the research focused on SEO, Search Engine Optimisation. Most small and large businesses are oblivious to this and what it means to their website and its success as an online channel.
When asked if they would pay to improve their search engine results, 31% of eSMBs said no, 32% said yes with the remainder sitting on the fence.
Most businesses simply don’t budget for SEO, thinking if I build a site some traffic will come. Question is, what traffic and what are they looking for when they arrive? Again, this is an education process and frankly for many small businesses it is likely to get very little budget and attention.
In conclusion, whilst the web seems to be given significantly more attention by small businesses, the lack of education and awareness of what lies ahead when it comes to social media, SEO and even group buying sites means that many small businesses will struggle to see results from their web presence. The web seems to changing faster than many small businesses can keep up.
I liken Insurance to backup. Whilst you can’t insure your data (I did look this up once and some policies gave did indeed give you a small allowance for lost data) you can secure it should the ultimate or even semi ultimate disaster occur by backing it up both locally and offsite.
This week’s post however isn’t so much about backing up your data, it actually has nothing to do with data at all. It does however have to do with securing your business and what can happen when you neglect such things. This story is a true story of a small business owner that I know personally who like most small business owners has always made enough to feed the family but never too much more. They have always owned a small business of some sort and technicalities like insurance have never been a big consideration.
The business is a fresh fish store in the northern suburbs of Melbourne (yes another relative of mine). They have been successfully (not overly) operating for over 10 years. The store has never been closed. With 2 part owners, any holidays that they have taken they have been able to balance missing staff by urging an older child the help out for a few weeks. Typical family business.
About 6 – 8 weeks ago, the shopping centre they were in caught fire. The damage was extensive enough to require further investigation by the insurance company and other authorities. Whist all of this was going on the businesses in the section that was damaged had to be closed. Centre Management first assured them it was a couple of weeks. It would all be over and then they could get on with what they did, making a living.
Turns out that the section of the building that was damaged also had Asbestos throughout it. In order to complete the repairs, the asbestos had to be removed. This saga has now been going on for close to 8 weeks (if not longer). This small business has not been able to operate for this period. They have had no income. Worst still is that they had no insurance to cover the lost income. This means that the bills associated with living have continued but the income to cover the bills hasn’t.
Small Business Insurance
Centre Management might not be charging them rent for the period that the store has been shut but it is little consolation when their income has reduced to ZERO and their customers have been sent elsewhere to buy their fresh fish. Surely most of them will return but will they all? If they find prices cheaper at their new supplier they might just stick around.
Taking a quick look at Business Insurance policies out there, a basic retail store policy would have covered there guys in this event. NRMA for instance (Google it and came up first), has a retail store policy which would have covered them in the following events:
- Fire, storm and other defined events (including malicious damage) – this is common cover for a small business. It’s an obvious choice for fixed premises to cover equipment or stock.
- Business interruption – you are covered for loss of profits if your business is disrupted by damage to your business property caused by specified events.
Here are some case studies that NRMA have on their site: http://www.nrma.com.au/business-insurance/case-studies.shtml
I am not sure what the cost of this insurance would be. Dare say it would be a couple of thousand per year but given this small business has been out of work for close to two months, surely it would have been worth it. Once and if they are able to get over this event and restart the business again, insurance is likely to be one of the first things they look into.
When it comes to backup disasters, it tends to follow the same pattern. My computers are new, and I have a system to store it all locally. Then one day it stops working or a disaster strikes and you lose it all. The IT technician comes and tells you about offsite backup and you wonder why you never invested in it from the beginning. Then you do. It could have however have all been easily avoided. Yes hindsight is great but somethings are common sense or atleast should be.
I grew up in a small business family. My father ran a dental practice for 40+ years with my mother at his side managing his administrative needs. Sometimes after school my brother and I would help out with filing (not our favorite thing as a teenagers, but it was needed and we were expected to pitch in). When I was 12 years old or so, my father’s office building was devastated by a flood. Furniture, carpets and equipment were destroyed.
Fortunately, his patients’ medical records, the lifeblood of his business, were soggy but intact. Today, he would not have been so lucky. The same records that in my father’s day were on paper and film are now 100% digital. Digitals files on computers, hard drives or other devices are lost when disaster or office theft occurs. And his business, and by association our family, would have endured extreme hardship.
With this personal history in mind, I am pleased to announce that Carbonite has launched a new and better way for small businesses to back up their invaluable data…Carbonite Business.
Carbonite Business was developed specifically with small businesses in mind, and reflects the input that small business owners across the country have provided to us as we conducted extensive research and interviews over the past year.
What we heard most from small business owners along the way was that they understood and wanted the superior data protection and security that online backup solutions such as Carbonite offer…but that they needed it to be simple to manage and priced in a way that fit their budgets and justified the switch from their current approach to backing up.
Carbonite Business now allows small businesses to take advantage of the benefits offered by online backup protection, at a price that just makes good business sense. For as little as US$229 per year, or well less than a buck a day, small businesses can now back up their entire business.
Among the specific benefits that Carbonite Business offers small businesses are:
- Automatic and continual backup of your business’ important documents, spreadsheets, presentations, videos, photos, music, and other data files.
- Flat-fee annual pricing plans that allow you to back up an unlimited number of PCs and Macs for one simple price (and, unlike competitor products, with zero “per computer” charge).
- External Hard Drive backup.
- Safety & Security via Carbonite’s software encryption, which encrypts files before your data even reaches our secure Data Centers
Anytime, Anywhere Access to your backed-up files from any browser, iOS, Blackberry, or Android mobile device.
- An easy-to-use online administration console that provides you—or your office manager—a complete view to the backup status of each computer and the ability to grant remote access permissions on a user-by-user basis.
- U.S. based customer support via online chat, email, or phone…from 8:00am to Midnight (EST), seven days a week.
- The peace of mind that goes with working with Carbonite, a leader in online backup who has already backed up more than 100 billion files–and successfully restored over 7 billion files to customers who otherwise would have lost their important data forever.
Carbonite Business includes all of the above features, and includes 250GB of data protection for just US$229 per year. For small businesses looking to back up a server, our Carbonite Premier solution provides server protection and includes up to 500GB of data protection. Both solutions also offer small businesses the option to add additional backup storage “packs” in 50GB or 100GB increments.
Visit Carbonite.com/business to see how easy it is for you to try Carbonite Business risk free. We offer a no obligation, 30-day free trial period…with no need to even enter credit card information until you decide to buy. Use offer code “launch” when you sign up for the free trial and you’ll get 2 free months when you decide to buy.
If you have questions about Carbonite Business or even want some help getting 30-day free trial up-and-running quickly and easily, you can also call our Carbonite Business team at US number (877) 334-7621. In just minutes, we can have you backing up your business.
We hope that our new Carbonite Business solution will help you to keep your critical business data safe…and – whichever solution you choose for your own business – appreciate your time and interest in Carbonite.
Best Regards,
Pete Lamson
General Manager
Carbonite Small Business Group
I am not one for acronyms let me tell you. Having worked in various companies and industries over the years, I have wasted parts of my brain to storing so many silly acronyms for systems and depts and everything else.
Anyway several (many, many) years ago I was told about KISS. I had no idea what this person was talking about. As a marketer and experienced product manager I felt a little foolish. I did look it up and found out that it was the acronym for Keep It Simple Stupid. As I said it was many years ago.
This week I read two interesting articles that bring me back to this principle. The first is a blog post on the MYBRC website. I often leave comments on his blog because the topics are small business related, talk about relevant issues that Carbonite clients are interested in and are basically interesting. This week’s was about the closure or demise of Borders. You can read it here.
My take on it all was how important it is to stick to what you do best and not try to be everything to everyone. This is particularly relevant for a technology service like Carbonite. You see software providers are notorious for overloading their software. The list of possible enhancements grows each week. The loudest customers get theirs to the top and the product and development managers spend months working out how to effectively deliver each enhancement.
Once out the new features are used by 5% or less of customers. They usually result in some interface changes that confuse the other 95% of loyal customers and make them look at alternatives.
As a Product Manager it is like being stick between a rock and hard place – do you continue to evolve the product or stick to the basics which made it so successful. Thankfully it seems Carbonite to date has chosen the later and has gradually improved the service without making it do everything that the competitor offers do. It has also placed significant resources into support which many of our competitors haven’t.
I hear and read a lot about Drop Box these days and how popular it is with the technology sector. No doubt it is a great product and good luck to them but there is no reason why Carbonite needs to follow in this path just so that comparison sites and the cream of the technology world can recommend it.
If you really want to use the features that Drop Box offers has then simply use Drop Box.
Carbonite has focused on the KISS principle because so far it keeping it simple made it one of if not the leading consumer online backup provider in the US and the rest of the world. The formula works.
The second article I read was a comparison of Carbonite versus Mozy, Yet another one. The recommendation was to use Carbonite but not because it was technically better. The reasons where because it was simpler with less in it and because it offered you support both paid and free.
They were the key reasons and they are absolutely right. On many occasions I have had customers call asking why they should buy via Australia when they could buy the service direct via the US. Or customers comparing Carbonite with Mozy Free (2GB) or Carbonite with Drop Box free (2GB). I always come back to the point that if you are not confident with a computer than these free services are not for you. If your PC fails and you don’t know how to start retrieving your data then what are you going to do if the service offers no support. It is free for a reason. Pay something for the service so that you can get support. Furthermore buying a local service means that you can atleast call and speak to someone during normal hours.
Anyway, that is me for the week. I hope Carbonite continues to focus on the KISS principle and therefore stays lean and mean.
