Data Deposit Box has introduced a new pricing plan that will cut into the margins of reseller partners. However, Toronto-based provider of online backup solutions insists lower prices for storage will ultimately attract new customers for its channel partners.
Under the new plan, customers
will pay full price for storing up to 1 GB of data – one cent per megabyte, or about $10 per GB a month – after which a 70 per cent discount kicks in. Under the previous cost structure, customers had to back up 100 GB before the discount began.
Peter Carroll, chief technology officer for Acpana Business Systems Inc., which owns and runs Data Deposit Box, said resellers and customers like the simplicity of its online backup software. Once a customer downloads the backup application from the Data Deposit Box Web site, it sits on the desktop and automatically backs up to changes to pre-selected files.
It’s only natural, Carroll said, to have a pricing plan that is easy to figure out.
“In line with the simplicity, we want to have a simple rate plan as well,” Carroll said.
“If you look at most of (the competitors) in this space, they price it based on what we call ‘buckets,’” Carroll said. “You’ve got to figure out how much space you need and you have to live within that space, and as soon as you exceed that there’s a procedure you have to follow to expand that. Some of the feedback we get from our (reseller partners) is that that just it drives customers nuts,” he added.
James Keenleyside-Richter, a project manager with reseller Nerds on Site, said he and other Nerds consultants don’t have a problem with the reduced rates. In fact, he’s confident the lower rates backup rates introduced by Data Deposit Box will open doors to new business.
“(Nerd consultants) were never looking to make a big buck on it originally,” he said. “For us, it’s another value-added service and it’s another foot in the door. Are we looking as individual technicians to make a lot of money on it? There was never a lot of money to be made on it, unless you had a lot of accounts.
In addition to the reduced rates, customers will now be able to install the Data Deposit Box software on as many PCs as they wish. This is significant for small and medium-sized businesses, who along with residential clients, form the core business of Data Deposit Box.
“The way we look at it the customer is the actual business and the more PCs you install it on the more you’re going to back up, so why don’t we just let you install it anywhere you want?” Carroll said.
“If you take us and compare it to other people in our space, as soon as you apply the small business model with multiple PCs, we’re usually half to a third the price sometimes,” he added.
Keenleyside-Richter, meanwhile, believes the new price model will help Nerds on Site attract more residential clients who would otherwise be put off by the price and hassle of backing up.
“At this price point, we can reach residential people who don’t properly backup and wish they did but don’t have the time and energy for it,” he noted. “This solution is so simple for us. That’s one of the big advantages – you set it and you don’t even worry about it.”