Data Protection Services: Avoiding the "Pay Me Later" Trap

In the world of data protection, choosing the right vendor can be a critical decision. Imagine you were in the market for a car and one dealer offers you a fantastic deal upfront — but down the road, you're hit with unexpected costs for essential features. Sounds familiar, right? This bait-and-switch tactic is unfortunately not limited to car dealerships

Let's set the stage: In the past, data protection involved dealing with multiple backup and tape solutions vendors. But as technology evolved, hardware and software integration became the norm. Today, many data protection solutions are offered as hardware/software combinations. This might seem convenient, but it can also leave you vulnerable to price manipulation.

Here's the problem: Vendors often offer reduced prices initially to get their products in your environment, only to surprise you with substantial expansion costs later. They may even undersize your initial capacity, banking on overly optimistic data deduplication numbers. A prime example of this practice is seen in Rubrik, a vendor that has gained notoriety for undersizing their customers, putting them at risk of future capacity shortages.

Right-sizing

The story I recently encountered involves exorbitant customer-facing expansion costs, far more expensive per terabyte than the initial sale, courtesy of Rubrik. They're understandably upset, but now have a difficult choice to make: switch products again, only 18 months after their last change, or pay up.

Growth and Expansion

So, what can you do to protect yourself from such practices?

• Be aware that incredible discounts can signal future expenses.

• Ask questions and request a written commitment regarding expansion costs.

• Confirm if offsite storage is included in the costs.

• Evaluate the scalability of the solution for adding more employees and data.

• Be aware of security features with separate cloud subscriptions, especially if they are free only for the first year.

• Put the onus on the vendor for reasonable pricing and express a desire to avoid future sticker shock.

• Remember that choosing the cheaper option today may result in higher long-term costs.

• Understand that data protection is a long-term investment and prioritize making the right choice upfront to avoid unexpected expenses later.

Off-site Storage

After all, in data protection, you can either pay for it now, or pay for it later.

Druva’s 100% SaaS solution enables you to cut ties with expensive, clunky hardware and the hassles of managing software patches and upgrades. You only pay for the storage you actually consume in the cloud, and there are no surprises. The best part? Customers typically see savings of up to 40% vs. our legacy, on-premises competitors.

See for yourself — check out our TCO calculator and get a custom report of what you could save by making the switch to Druva.