Datto Drive Q&A ft. Andrew Stuart Managing Director, Datto Inc. EMEA

Q1: “What can you tell us about Datto Drive? What exactly can we expect from this product?”
Andrew: “Datto Drive is a new File Sync and Share (FSS) offering from Datto aimed at small to midsized businesses. Datto Drive was built leveraging OwnCloud, a powerful FSS solution for businesses and through Datto’s partnership with OwnCloud, and we’re offering File Sync and Share through the channel at a very disruptive price. Since we’ll be utilising Datto’s own 200 plus petabyte cloud, we’re able to pass savings down so that Datto Drive is offered to SMBs at a significantly lower price compared to Box and Dropbox – £10 per month for one terabyte of storage per organisation with unlimited users. We’re shaking things up in the FSS market and giving SMBs a feature rich FSS product at a highly attractive price.”

How much data can a 1TB hold? Click here to view an infographic:
One TB of storage infographic

Q2: “Datto is known for being 100% channel-focused. Will you be offering Datto Drive direct to consumers? Is so, how will this affect the business model?”
Andrew: “Datto Drive will be offered through Datto’s partners, Managed Service Providers (MSPs). Datto is aiming to market Datto Drive to every SMB in the UK. With the initial launch, Datto is going to create some serious demand for our MSP partners by giving away one million Datto Drive accounts to businesses for free for one year. The businesses who sign up will be routed to local MSPs. The plan is to boost SMB leads to our partners. As partners are our main focus, we see Datto Drive as truly benefitting the channel strategy by helping them continue to grow their businesses by offering a solid FSS solution.”

Q3: “What are the details around the “one million free Datto Drives” promotion?”
Andrew: “Upon release, Datto Drive will be free to the first one million businesses that sign up. Each business can claim a terabyte of free storage, for an unlimited number of users. We wanted to create excitement around the launch of the new product, and thought a price tag of free was a great start.”

Q4: “So after the first year, what happens? How does pricing work for the SMBs using Datto Drive?”
Andrew: “After a year, each business that signs up will be assigned to a local MSP. They will have the option to continue using Datto Drive for £10 per month, per domain for the first terabyte. We will never charge per user, just by domain. This pricing model differs from other File Sync and Share providers who traditionally charge by the user and are more expensive for SMBs wishing to use FSS.”

Q5: “Will there be additional versions of Datto Drive?”
Andrew: “Yes, Datto Drive will also have premium versions which provide businesses with more storage as well as access to Datto’s award-winning 24/7/365 support and other configurable options.”

Q6: “There are a lot of players in the File Sync and Share market. What differentiates Datto Drive?”
Andrew: “It’s true, the File Sync and Share market is a crowded one and File Sync and Share products are looked at currently as a commodity. Datto is taking a different market approach by offering disruptive pricing which is ideal for small businesses. When small businesses look at the current File Sync and Share options, there are services out there that cost £11 per user, per month. This can add up quickly, for example an SMB with 35 employees will be paying £385 per month. Whereas, Datto is offering enterprise-grade File Sync and Share at just £10 per month per domain, which is significantly less expensive. Datto has a unique history of disrupting established markets, and we’re doing it once again, offering a less expensive, innovative, reliable product. Datto has been successful doing this in the business continuity/disaster recovery market and we’ll look to do the same in the File Sync and Share space.”

Q7: “Datto is known for its Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery products. How does a File Sync and Share product fit in?”
Andrew: “It’s really an evolution for Datto in how we protect the data of small businesses. Datto’s mission is Total Data Protection, or protecting data no matter where it lives. The volume of data that businesses have to deal with is exponentially increasing. At Datto we protect data on-prem, in virtualized environments, in SaaS applications and now even at the file level. With Datto Drive, SMBs have a seamless, cost effective way to protect file data by hosting it in the Datto cloud.”

Q8: “How is Datto Drive integrated with Datto’s backup products?”
Andrew: “To start we host the data in Datto’s secure 200 plus petabyte cloud. Those interested in FSS, who also use Datto’s BC solution SIRIS, also have an option to store data on a local Datto SIRIS device. For partners and their customers who want to have that local copy of their data, that’s possible since ownCloud capabilities are on Datto’s SIRIS, which means FSS data is available even when the internet is down. From the Datto Partner Portal, Datto’s MSP partners have a simple overview of data stored on-prem or in the cloud via Datto Drive.”

Q9: “Datto has been expanding its global presence quite a bit lately with new offices in Australia. Can we expect Datto Drive to be offered around the world?”
Andrew: “At the moment UK Datto Drive is being stored in Iceland so it’s compliant with EU data laws. We have data centres in US/Canada, in Australia, and soon opening one in Singapore, so yes, we will be soon be making DD available worldwide. To facilitate this, foreign language versions will be available shortly too.”

Andrew Stuart

About Andrew Stuart

Andrew is Managing Director of Datto’s EMEA business and brings over a decade of experience in the IT industry. Andrew was instrumental in Datto’s expansion into EMEA and has a unique background, as he has worked both on the vendor side and as a Managed Services Provider.

Prior to Datto, Andrew was Managing Director for both Clark Integrated Technologies and most recently, Paradeon Technologies, which he founded to distribute emerging technologies like Datto to the UK channel.

Andrew is based in the European headquarters in Reading, Berkshire, UK.

We sincerely thank Andrew for this interview opportunity.

— BackupReview.info 

 

 

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