DCIG: Acronis offers MSPs clear advantages over StorageCraft

For MSPs, finding any solution to build your services around isn’t the hard part — there are many options available. Choosing the right one can feel like a much trickier prospect.

Analyst firm Data Center Intelligence Group (DCIG) recently carried out a detailed comparative evaluation of Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud and StorageCraft Cloud Services. We encourage service providers in the process of selecting new solutions to consider the findings from this third-party report.

The DCIG provides reputable and actionable analyses of cloud, data protection, and data storage technologies — empowering those in the channel to make informed decisions about the solutions they choose to work with.

In their latest report, titled “A Comparison of How Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud and StorageCraft Cloud Services Meet MSPs’ Baseline BCDR and Cybersecurity Needs,” the DCIG lays out their perspective on what today’s service providers must consider when selecting a comprehensive data protection solution — and examines how two popular options stack up against one another:

What constitutes effective data protection? The answer has broadened, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the surge of ransomware attacks that have dominated the news over the last year. MSPs must continue to deliver services that handle clients’ basic backup and recovery needs, but proactive anti-malware protection and rapid disaster recovery have become new mandates as well.

The DCIG’s report underscores the importance of being able to protect data against cutting-edge cyberthreats, particularly ransomware — which often targets backups explicitly — and to restore it quickly should disaster occur. Other important capabilities, including solutions’ ability to perform vulnerability assessment and patch management in order to further the goal of complete cyber protection, are also explored.

The more customers an MSP has, the more types of operating systems and hypervisors they need to support. In this report, the DCIG compares both Acronis’ and StorageCraft’s ability to secure data on popular desktop and server OSes, as well as commonly used hypervisors, cloud platforms, and even mobile devices. Integrated protection of all data, applications, and systems creates a more hardened cybersecurity environment.

Additionally, this report explores specific requirements that MSPs with larger customers may need to address, including the enablement of near-zero RPOs and bandwidth-minimizing deduplication for remote work environments. Service providers should consider the importance of such advanced data protection features and turn to solutions that can deliver them.

MSPs rely on professional services automation (PSA) or remote monitoring and management (RMM) software to help optimize daily operations. It’s thus important that any new solutions will integrate smoothly with their existing tools and minimize the management burden.

The DCIG reviews the depth of both Acronis’ and StorageCraft’s compatibilities with popular PSA and RMM software — including both current and announced, upcoming integrations. Additional automation features and their benefits are also covered.

Decisions around which solutions to adopt can be make-or-break for service providers in this modern cyberthreat landscape. While there are a number of options that enable even newer mandates around data protection, simply meeting these baseline needs is not truly sufficient — understanding the nuanced differences between solutions, and adopting those that deliver an edge over the competition, is key to success.

The DCIG’s analysis in this regard is both comprehensive and insightful. We encourage MSPs who are weighing both Acronis and StorageCraft to consider the information contained in this report when making a final decision.