He runs IT for an online sales site (product does not really matter), that sells their service to anyone for $40 an ad. The web-ads run for four weeks. Many times (on the order of hundreds per year) the client’s product does not sell and they renew their ad months later for an additional $40 fee. In order to retrieve the original data for the renewal (text and pictures), the IT department needs to retrieve old backup tapes and search for the ad information, which usually takes about 2 to 3 hours.
The two things that got my attention here were the renewal revenue( $40) and the costs( 2 to 3 hours of an IT person’s time at $35-$60 an hour). When this guy finished telling me this story, I asked him how much money he wasted with this procedure. He had not honestly given this much thought. Why would he? Why would any of us in technology roles? Unfortunately, when I got my MBA I stopped thinking like an engineer, so his story ‘screamed’ $30 to $60 net loss to me. I jokingly suggested to this guy that his company would be better off financially if they ‘paid’ people $20 NOT to renew their ads! My wife does not get my sense of humor either. I like to think this customer found an alternative solution that’s profitable.
Anyway, with FalconStor CDP this same recovery procedure, text and pictures, would take less than ten minutes and result in profit as opposed to loss. No need to trust me on this claim, download the product for a free 30-day trial onto a virtual server - http://tinyurl.com/238wdfu
