There's a lot of vendor hype about backup and recovery solutions. It's an important decision and you don't want to recommend the wrong software for your business.
What questions should someone ask before purchasing backup and recovery?
Help your peers ask the right questions so that they'll make the best decision.
Backup software can be divided into two groups; file-level backups and image-based backups. Avoid solutions that require both methods to recover a system. I would avoid any company that uses a file-based backup for the simple reason that recovery of a server is going to be cumbersome. Image backups take a copy of the whole disk and then tracks the changes for the following backups. Image backups allow for simple recovery of an entire server, most can restore individual files but make sure to ask.
Some of the questions you will want to ask the vendor depends on your needs and the environment. In all cases, I would want a clear understanding of how to manage the system. For example how does setting up the backup job work and do you have to do it for each server? Have them show you the restore process for files and full systems how many steps and how long does it take? Is there a feature that will replicate off-site or to a cloud service that you can recovery your servers in the event of a disaster? Is the user interface easy to use and understand? Can you restore to dissimilar hardware or virtual environment? Can it back up workstations from the same interface? Do you have to buy an additional server and Windows OS for the backup system? How long has the vendor been in business?
Full disclosure, I work for StorageCraft. StorageCraft has a great product called ShadowXafe that can scale from the small to large companies, check it out.