When time-consuming tasks related to managing backups start to drain an MSP's time, there are two ways to respond: accept the status quo or seek a solution to take control.
For Olivier Martin, Strategic Partnerships Manager at ited, that solution is Backup Radar.
As a Technology Service Provider (TSP) and IT Consultant for small and midsized businesses (SMBs) based in Montreal, Quebec, ited found Backup Radar while looking for operational improvements for the company.
ited leverages its team of over two hundred employees to deliver one-stop-shop service for its clients, from project management to deployment and network security.
Ited was motivated in part to adopt a backup monitoring platform because they didn’t only want to sell products but sell solutions. The manual processes took too much time and effort and led to failed backups not sending any alerts.
Martin said he has seen cases where a backup error has led to lost data because it was unreported by the system. When the client needed their data, it wasn’t there.
“With Backup Radar we were able to fill the gap or fix it before something bad happened,” he said.
“It’s like a silent hero working at night. It’s helped a lot to prevent many, many catastrophic situations.”
Identifying backup issues before they become problems
With so many clients, one of the obstacles Martin saw at ited was the effort required to have a global view of all the backups they manage. Backups are complicated, he said, because of the multiple software solutions used to back up the data, and so interpreting and monitoring that information can be challenging.
Backups are the most important and foundational part of IT services, but managing all of the alerts from the various backup solutions in use has become a mess.
In the past, backup alerts were set up through an SMTP server, but due to misconfigurations or other errors, there would either be too many emails or notifications would stop sending entirely.
This created a stressful situation where staff didn’t know if no alert meant that nothing was wrong or if error messages weren’t being sent at all.
That’s where Backup Radar comes in.
Time to create a better process
The Network Operations Center (NOC) handles backup monitoring and the myriad of tasks related to network monitoring for servers and workstations. There's a lot to juggle, day-to-day.
Martin said that Backup Radar has given back the NOC team time to immediately handle alerts and fix problems. Because of the time crunch with other work, it used to take two to five days to address an error or alert. But now, the monitoring is automated, so they have more accurate notifications and more time to fix problems.
Leveraging backups to quality for insurance
Backups are also an important element of cyber security. As the industry matures, we are seeing massive adoption of cyber liability insurance. Businesses want to protect their data and assets and be covered in the event of a security breach.
Backups standardization and management are a core part of the cyber liability insurance application and qualification processes. So having an automated and accurate monitoring system that works quickly is a massive benefit for organizations looking to get insured.
Martin said that insurance companies often ask about backup availability, whether the applicant performs recovery and restoration simulations, and monitoring processes. Backup Radar has been able to be proactive about managing backups instead of reacting to problems, which has helped its work with clients getting insured.
This is important because the criteria for insurance qualifications are always getting more intense.
Building a better backup process
Backup Radar has become integral to productivity of its NOC team and initiatives in becoming a solutions-oriented organization. Not only has it saved them time, produced better outcomes for backup service, and helped with insurance qualifications, but it has also saved them money.
By avoiding data loss, they build stronger relationships with clients. Clients are now more likely to renew long-term contracts with ited, keeping the businesses revenue flow consistent and sustainable.
It’s even helped the ited employees who now have more time in their day to accomplish meaningful work without having to spend several hours per week manually monitoring backups. Now ited can be a hero to their clients and employees, all while achieving their business goals.
Want to learn more about how Backup Radar can help your MSP? Some of the benefits include
- Comprehensive ticketing
- Customizable dashboard
- Always see “no result” backups
- Staff time used more efficiently to generate new revenue
- Significantly improved service ticket response
Impact of Backup Radar on ited’s Backup Management Process
| Aspect | Before Backup Radar | After Backup Radar |
|---|---|---|
| Backup Monitoring | Manual and time-consuming; prone to oversight | Automated, streamlined, and proactive |
| Alert System | SMTP-based; frequent misconfigurations, noise, and missed alerts | Centralized and reliable alert system that catches misconfigurations |
| NOC Team Efficiency | 2–5 days to address backup issues due to overload | Immediate response to alerts; more time for higher-value tasks |
| Alert Accuracy | Too many false positives or complete silence due to errors | Accurate, actionable alerts with reduced noise |
| Backup Visibility | Fragmented across multiple software systems | Unified global view of all backups |
| Risk of Data Loss | Higher due to missed alerts and delayed responses | Lower due to proactive detection and response |
| Client Trust & Retention | At risk due to backup failures and data loss | Strengthened through reliability and proactive service |
| Insurance Compliance | Difficult to demonstrate standardized and monitored backups | Simplified compliance with automated, verifiable systems |
| Employee Morale | Staff overloaded with repetitive monitoring tasks | Empowered to focus on strategic, meaningful work |
| Business Outcomes | Reactive, inefficient backup process | Proactive, solutions-oriented, cost-saving approach |
