Cloud Excellence Awards 2022
"Winning the Computing Cloud Excellence Award from Computing, a long-standing and trusted voice to the sector, recognises and supports our position as a reliable and dependable service provider to the channel. No doubt it will help us solidify an exciting pipeline of business for the years ahead."
The rapid acceleration of cloud computing initiatives over the past two years has been one of the biggest developments in the field of technology. Speed and scale made possible by the cloud are unheard of for most businesses today. The pandemic has unequivocally demonstrated that cloud computing actually offers greater speed, agility, and resilience under even the most challenging conditions.
Computing's Cloud Excellence Awards recognise the very best of the UK's cloud industry, from the most innovative and compelling products and vendors, through to the top use cases from end-user firms.
This year's winners were announced at a live awards ceremony on Thursday, 22nd September at One Whitehall Place, London, where AssureStor won the Cloud DR and Continuity Product of the Year.
After the awards we talked to Stephen Young, Director at AssureStor, to find out what the win means for his team and the organisation.
Young has been a business owner and entrepreneur focusing on technology start-ups for over 30 years. His IT experience covers infrastructure, software development, data centres, service and support, IT governance combined with the disciplines to build a business, management, finance and business development.
Stephen is working with AssureStor on the next stage of the company's development as one of the fastest growing providers of cloud-based disaster recovery, data resilience and backup in Europe. Leveraging his depth of knowledge, and years of exposure to the sector, he is confident he can help AssureStor to become a leader in its field.
Computing: Why is cloud important to the modern world?
Stephen Young: Essentially, and amongst other things, cloud allows for scalability, agility, flexibility, rapid deployment and cost efficiency within modern business. These benefits mean different things to different businesses but getting a service to market quickly with predictable costs and a well-defined management layer is an outcome that can be achieved when implemented effectively.
In a business environment where there is an ever-increasing urgency for IT departments to deliver services to the business promptly and reliably, organisations have continually sought to adopt systems and technologies that deliver on these requirements.
Cloud delivery of services has matured to an extent that most requirements can now be delivered in this manner giving organisations the agility and scalability required. When deployed and correctly managed, cloud services can also provide an organisation with a manageable and predictable cost model.
AssureStor's DRaaS platform sits comfortably within the cloud framework and provides any organisation, small to large, a scalable solution delivering reliable protection for their business. For MSPs reselling the service, AssureStor's cloud platform provides them with a low risk, low cost, rapid entry into DRaaS and cloud backup delivery.
How did you feel when you heard that your entry had won?
Winning was validation that the vendors we have partnered with, and our method for providing disaster recovery and cloud backup services, was recognised for its unified use of these best-of-breed products delivering an unparalleled and reliable platform.
We are also conscious that we compete with some very large, well-established providers in the DR and backup space and so securing the award in such company was particularly satisfying for the whole team at AssureStor and we take it as reinforcement of our own credentials. Size and legacy years in the business isn't always the winning formula!
What do you think made your entry stand out?
As Zerto's sole Aggregator Partner, AssureStor has a unique offering for our channel partners with a full 360-degree service able to accommodate virtually any requirement or environment encountered. This comprehensive portfolio places our channel partners in an unmatched space where they can combine services and address each individual client's need.
AssureStor resellers take assurance in that they are offering the best in data recovery solutions, complemented by our distinct management and support layer, with minimal financial outlay, rapid deployment with immediate revenue streams.
What does the win mean for your team, and your organisation? How will it help you?
Due to our commitment to a channel only approach, our services, delivered exclusively via partners, often means that AssureStor remains in the background and is rarely recognised as the ultimate service provider. For AssureStor and the team it is great recognition amongst peers in the sector that, while silent, our services are protecting some of the most significant organisations and infrastructures in Europe.
Winning award from Computing, a long-standing and trusted voice to the sector, recognises and supports our position as a reliable and dependable service provider to the channel. No doubt it will help us solidify an exciting pipeline of business for the years ahead.
What does the future hold for your organisation - what are the priorities for the next 12 months?
We continue to build our relationship within the HPe ecosystem as Zerto's only global aggregator empowering MSPs to fast track their adoption of Zerto technology as their foundation for new and innovative DRaaS platforms.
Excitingly, as the reach of our service increases, and as we attract larger MSPs and resellers with greater international coverage, we have initiated advanced planning to open a new data centre presence in Germany allowing continental resellers to offer AssureStor services within the European Union. This will be a template for further expansion as we come to the attention of resellers in North America, Africa and the Middle East.
