Disaster And Recovery

Are you putting your customers' business at risk? That's the question our cover report this week about the disaster recovery business asks each and every one of CRN's 100,000-plus readers.

STEVEN BURKE Can be reached at (781) 839-1221 or via e-mail at sburke@cmp.com.

CRN Senior Editor Joseph F. Kovar, who has followed the storage market for nearly a decade, examines the new services and technology priced to provide customers of every size and shape with disaster recovery options. What's so exciting is that companies such as Compellent Technologies, Data Domain and FalconStor have helped pull disaster recovery from the rarified, high-priced world of SunGuard and Comdisco and put it in the hands of the bread-and-butter solution providers delivering end-to-end IT solutions to small and midsize businesses.

"No excuses" is what this disaster recovery revolution is all about. Any VAR that is not selling a disaster recovery solution to each and every client—no matter their budget—is putting that client at risk. If we have learned anything from the Sept. 11 attacks or Hurricane Katrina, it is that bad things can happen to anyone. But even if you think it is unlikely that your customers could be hit by a terrorist attack or natural disaster, things like regulatory issues, compliance and fiduciary responsibilities have taken away every excuse for solution providers not to protect their clients. At the end of the day, selling disaster recovery solutions is a lot like selling life insurance: You wouldn't put your family at risk by not buying a good term life insurance policy. And you shouldn't be putting your business at risk by not investing in a disaster recovery plan.

As a VAR, you are a damn fool not to protect yourself and your clients. In that spirit, our print package includes a look at how VARs practice what they preach by implementing disaster recovery solutions to protect their own business. Also be sure to go to www.crn.com for disaster recovery sales tips and a poignant lookback from CRN Emerging Markets Editor Jeff O'Heir at how VARs in New York, five years after Sept. 11, are bringing disaster recovery solutions to customers.

Most people don't like to acknowledge that disaster could strike their business at any time. Unfortunately, disasters do happen, and it is up to VARs to make sure their clients can recover at a moment's notice. There's no excuse to do otherwise.

Are you putting your customers at risk? Let me know at (781) 839-1221 or via e-mail at sburke@cmp.com.