Cloud-based data protection specialist Spanning Cloud Apps announced a partnership with cloud backup and data access provider Mozy to embark on a co-marketing plan. Spanning, which offers a Google Apps backup solution, will co-promote its technologies with Mozy to offer businesses a data backup and recovery solution catering to the needs of the two customer bases.
The collaborative marketing agreement is designed to promote each company’s cloud backup products to their respective customer bases and cooperate on future product development opportunities. The two companies will also kick off a co-marketing, sales and promotional initiative beginning in April 2013.
“We are excited to be collaborating with Mozy,” Spanning CEO and founder Charlie Wood said in a statement. “This relationship is a strategic extension of Mozy’s disk-to-cloud backup capabilities and a validation of Spanning’s technology. Millions of businesses are moving to Google Apps for core business applications. These same organizations, many of which are already Mozy customers, have multifaceted cloud and on-premise servers that require advanced backup and data protection. This agreement is a tremendous opportunity for both organizations to comprehensively address a dynamic and rapidly expanding market.”
According to a recent Aberdeen Group survey, one-third of cloud computing users have suffered data loss. At the same time, 80 percent of survey respondents reported some form of software as a service (SaaS) application in their organization.
A similar report from PwC suggested that as software companies continue to pursue new markets and business models by introducing SaaS offerings, pricing management is a crucial factor that determines success or failure.
“This market collaboration is a strategic fit for Mozy as more companies seek to back up laptops, servers and cloud applications—all to the cloud,” Russ Stockdale, general manager of Mozy, said in a statement. “We both offer market-leading technologies and can connect our missions to provide businesses with the solutions that are right for their organizations.”
A 2012 survey of small and midsize businesses (SMBs) from Mozy found a third of midmarket companies allow employees to select their own method of backup for their data at work, essentially passing the buck when it comes to data protection.
Of those businesses that do data backups regularly, the survey found the most prevalent methods are those that can most easily be lost, stolen, deleted or destroyed, such as external hard drives (53 percent use them) without some type of online backup connection, company servers (36 percent) and USB thumb drives (31 percent).
“Mozy and Spanning share a core market focus,” Jeff Erramouspe, chief revenue officer of Spanning, said in a statement. “Businesses are leveraging the cloud in increasing numbers and in new ways. To support business continuity and avoid losses, backup and recovery technology is essential.”