Every year, Canalys releases a series of Leadership Matrix reports. These are designed to benchmark vendors in a number of channel and technology areas, using over 20 separate metrics to determine which vendors are performing well in their respective areas. The global managed backup and disaster recovery matrix for 2023 shows seven Champion vendors, vendors that have performed well in both technology and managed services delivery capabilities in the channel.

Congratulations to the Champions!

Seven vendors have been crowned Champions in the 2023 Canalys managed BDR Leadership Matrix: Acronis, Arcserve, Barracuda, Commvault, Datto, N-able and Veeam. Five of these vendors, Acronis, Arcserve, Commvault, Datto and Veeam, retained their Champion status from the previous edition of the Canalys BDR Channel Leadership Matrix, which is an impressive achievement.

Champions demonstrated the highest levels of excellence in channel and technology capability over the last 12 months compared with their industry peers, as rated by channel partners and Canalys analysts.

Vendors cannot rest on their laurels, especially during these challenging times

Key metrics used in the Leadership Matrix include ease of doing business, channel investment, and channel marketing capabilities. During more difficult economic times, it is not uncommon for vendors to cut back on their channel investments, such as account managers and marketing development funds.

However, it is usually more financially prudent to maintain higher levels of channel investment during downturns as it allows vendors to differentiate and gain stronger partnerships with their channel ecosystem, particularly as these resources have a direct impact on the ability of channel partners to retain existing customers and win new ones, something which is much harder during a crisis.

As we move forward into the second half of 2023 and the start of 2024, many partners and vendors expect further difficulties in the market. If the current Champions are to maintain their status in the Leadership Matrix it is important they keep investing in their channel ecosystems and help partners to grow their managed backup and disaster recovery businesses.

Definitions and criteria for inclusion in the Canalys managed BDR Leadership Matrix

Canalys defines backup and disaster recovery (BDR) as technology (hardware or software) that creates exact copies of data across one or multiple platforms and/or applications for the purposes of restoration in the event of loss, theft or encryption.

The Canalys BDR Leadership Matrix focuses on vendors active in the MSP channel. The minimum qualification criteria for vendors are at least US$100 million in annual BDR revenue, they must sell to MSPs, and 50% of revenue must come from the channel. 

Read more about our methodology and previous winners here.