The Business Challenge

Suncoast Business Technologies (SBT) began as a managed service provider and a reseller. A few years later, SBT set its sights on cloud computing but had to virtualize its data center first. Always a forward thinker, SBT chose VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V. The next step was finding an all-inclusive backup solution.

Kevin Baylor, Director of Business Services at SBT, said Veeam® Availability Suite™ was the obvious choice.

“Veeam is a rock-solid solution,” he said. “We wanted something we could count on, and many years later, we’re still counting on Veeam. Our customers expect 24.7.365 Availability, and that’s exactly what Veeam delivers.”

When one of SBT’s reseller customers suffered a data center disaster, Baylor recommended the company deploy Veeam on site for local backup and transfer backup copies off site. The customer agreed but had one requirement: The offsite copy had to be stored in a cloud repository out of state. The customer and SBT reside in Florida, which is prone to hurricanes and tropical storms.

“We had to find an out-of-state cloud provider—and fast. We only had 48 hours,” Baylor said. “Our challenge was finding one that would deliver 24.7.365 Availability and let us maintain control of our customer relationship.”

Baylor checked the Veeam Cloud & Service Provider (VCSP) directory and found several candidates, including SingleHop.

“SingleHop pulled through for us—in less than 48 hours,” Baylor said. “They gave us access to a solution architect as well as sales support, and we retained total control of the customer relationship.”

SBT’s customer connects to SingleHop’s cloud via Veeam Cloud Connect, a free, encrypted link built into Veeam. Backup copies are transferred daily to SingleHop’s cloud so SBT can provide Backup as a Service (BaaS) when necessary. Disaster recovery as a Service (DRaaS) is available if the customer’s business requirements change.

The Veeam Solution

Veeam and SingleHop helped SBT solve a customer’s problem, expand its portfolio of cloud services and grow revenue. Within the first three months of offering BaaS and DRaaS, SBT’s revenue increased by 10 percent.

“Veeam and SingleHop make it very easy to add highly scalable, secure cloud services,” Baylor said. “Now we have a 360° cloud offering, making our business a one-stop shop for customers.”

SBT’s competitive advantage is 24.7.365 Availability, and Veeam and SingleHop helped extend that advantage to the cloud.

“Our customers require 24.7.365 Availability,” Baylor explained. “They don’t care how we do it—just that we do it.”

SBT’s customers operate global businesses and offer on-demand services, including insurance, disaster restoration and heating and air conditioning. They won’t tolerate downtime because it’s detrimental to their bottom line. The customer who inspired the search for SingleHop loses $15,000 each hour of downtime.

“Our customers are always on, so we have to provide always-on IT solutions,” Baylor said. “Veeam and SingleHop enable us to provide BaaS and DRaaS cost-effectively.”

Baylor said he priced virtual private networks (VPNs) before contacting SingleHop. One year of SingleHop’s cloud services cost less than one month of VPN.

“Veeam and SingleHop provide an inexpensive insurance policy for our customers, and the setup is cost-effective for us too. There’s very little technical management once Veeam Cloud Connect begins transferring backup copies to SingleHop’s cloud. It’s a set-and-forget system that saves us 20 hours each month, giving us more time to focus on new business.”

The Results

• Extends 24.7.365 Availability to the cloud
  “Knowing we can offer customers a reliable and secure cloud repository is the biggest business benefit of working with Veeam and SingleHop,” Baylor said. “Having a 360° cloud offering makes our portfolio of services even stronger—revenue increased by 10 percent in a very short time. Veeam and SingleHop complete the cloud picture for us.”
• Eliminates downtime and protects the bottom line
  Offsite backups and replicas provide the highest level of data protection and redundancy. Veeam and SingleHop help SBT safeguard their customers’ mission-critical assets.
• Makes enterprise-level BaaS and DRaaS affordable
  “We’re seeing a growing interest in Baas and DRaaS because you can’t put a price on 24.7.365 Availability,” Baylor said. “When you deliver that level of Availability affordably, you become indispensible to your customers.”