Leveraging Vendors’ Strengths Having top-quality hardware and software systems in place is critical to selling data protection services, Palisano said.

To host cloud-based backup services for its clients, Lincoln

Archives invested significantly in hardware and software platforms. Palisano put a lot of effort into finding the right backup and recovery software vendor, seeking advice from PRISM colleagues, and meeting with vendors’ chief executives.

“I vetted potential vendors very rigorously before we selected the one we did,” Palisano said. Almost every other day, the vendor e-mails him news releases, updates, and announcements of awards received—information Lincoln Archives uses when talking about cloud backup with clients and potential customers.

Forays into new technology can be intimidating, concedes

Palisano, but are necessary to success. “By not doing anything,” he said, “you risk becoming irrelevant.” n

inFocus | Fall 2014

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