Databarracks stands proud as an emblem of simplicity in an industry renowned for making things complicated, according to Managing Director Peter Groucutt.
The 'Databarracks' name signifies clearly the function of the organisation, which is to provide DR, backup and infrastructure services from UK-based ex-military data centres. Just as transparent is the channel engagement philosophy behind its partner programme which strips down traditional modes of operation to their most basic components, claims Groucutt. For this reason it's called the Partner (de)Programme, designed to unravel confusing complexity and red tape, and was rolled out in February 2014.
"Databarracks launched the Partner (de)Programme to shake things up," stated Groucutt. "We think traditional partner programmes don't work. It's called the 'de-programme' to highlight its different approach, stripping out all of the red tape traditionally associated with partner schemes. We don't ask partners to complete 100 hours of training or become gold certified before we work with them. We treat them all equally and adapt our approach to fit the partner rather than force them to fit into a predefined category."
Groucutt would rather work with a handful of trusted partners who share his beliefs and who understand the cloud than 500 partners who 'just don't get it'. "This programme is about providing personalised partnerships that support the strengths of the individual," he commented. "Access to resources, support and market development funds has been streamlined to make the whole process of acquiring and executing on new business much simpler."
The de-programming initiative is not a one-off event, its launch set the scene for another disentangling move made two months ago when Databarracks launched a new, and simpler, pricing game plan for the channel. This unscrambled model is designed to make procurement of disaster recovery much easier for resellers and end users. "When evaluating suppliers and buying a DR service there are a number of different factors that need to be considered," added Groucutt. "Understanding how the service is priced shouldn't be an arduous task, but many pricing models can make things over-complicated.
"We have been guilty of this ourselves, so we streamlined our DRaaS pricing model. The costs are fixed and on a per-server and per-terabyte basis, and the model is completely transparent. What you see is what you get, so it's much easier to gain buy-in from other key stakeholders. A big part of selling cloud services and maintaining relationships with customers is about building trust. By providing a pricing model that works and is honest you create lasting relationships built on trust."
Groucutt established Databarracks in 2003 with two other directors. They saw an opportunity for automated backup at a time when bandwidth first enabled businesses to backup over the Internet without a requirement to purchase additional connectivity. But their biggest turning point came five years ago when Databarracks made the move from a pure play backup provider to offering disaster recovery and infrastructure solutions, as well as more diverse services such as AWS consulting. "We were early to cloud computing, before backup was called 'cloud backup'," noted Groucutt. "We wanted to build on our expertise and the strong reputation we had earned within the industry."
The shift to cloud computing has also redefined the role of resellers and SIs. Many of them are transitioning from significant hardware sales to reduced, but ongoing recurring revenues based on cloud services. "Many have resisted this evolution but developments like Office 365 are starting to catalyse the transformation," commented Groucutt. "In some cases cloud computing brings the risk of disintermediation, so the challenge for resellers is to add value in different ways, be that consultancy, management or becoming a broker of cloud services."
In these times of great technological change and advancement Groucutt is particularly excited by developments in the use of hyper-scale clouds. "It's not just AWS dominating that space any more, Azure and Google are also investing and innovating," he said. "In the future we expect to see organisations deploy a combination of on-premise IT and cloud solutions from local and niche cloud service providers like us, combined with hyper-scale clouds such as those from Amazon or Microsoft."
The scale of Databarracks' achievements to date belie its size and UK focus in the context of a global market. So much so that it was named in Gartner's first Magic Quadrant for Disaster Recovery as a Service earlier this year, a rating that Groucutt counts as a 'huge accomplishment' for the company. "Compared to many of our competitors in the disaster recovery area we're considered a fairly small organisation," he stated. "As a UK-only provider, we were ecstatic to be recognised in a report that is globally revered. It's proof that our hard work and drive for simplification is paying off."