Symantec Managed Backup Services could be the best thing you do this year

I'm impressed with Symantec's vision and execution plans for their Managed Backup Services.

Here are some highlights from the description on their web page:

Symantec Managed Backup Services provide comprehensive 24x7 management of your backup and recovery operations under strict SLAs allowing you to focus on your core business priorities while retaining ownership of your backup technology. Meet internal and regulatory requirements at manageable costs by uniting Symantec’s award-winning managed services and leading data protection technologies.

Day-to-day operations are supervised by your Service Delivery Manager who also provides a centralized and transparent view of your operations through daily and monthly reports summarizing SLAs, storage capacity, and key issues identified during the period.

For customers, it shifts the responsibility from backup execution to audit and recovery testing/execution. Think about it - if you don't spend time managing the details of backup anymore, you can invest those resources into making sure backup is working correctly - something that is often overlooked until a disaster occurs. Not only that, but customers can invest more time on recovery testing and planning.