In January, Bob Chaput transferred the IT consulting customers of his young firm, American Technology Group (ATG), to Advanced Network Solutions (ANS), simultaneously announcing a new focus on establishing himself figuratively as "Mr. Backup" -- a market leader in disaster recovery, business continuity and data-protection services.

At the center of Chaput's new strategy would be reselling LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service. ATG provides LiveVault's tapeless InSync Server Backup and Recovery. (Chaput column on data losses, Nash. Bus. Journal, June 10, p. 27. Also, LiveVault live web seminar is set for July 12, details here.)

Discussing ATG's repositioning, Chaput explained recently that after more than two years' aggressive marketing of services to small- and medium-sized businesses, he came to believe that the majority of such enterprises were locked in a "break/fix mentality." Few, it seemed, were prepared to budget for sustained professional services for infrastructure development, maintenance and security.

The result: An environment of perpetual crisis, with little "annuitized" recurring revenue, a business difficult to value and a lot of "ambulance-chasing." For a man who in the course of 15 years had worked his way up from programmer to vice president of GE Information Services (Rockville, Md.), it was no way to live. And, it certainly wasn't what Chaput had in mind a few years earlier when he said, No thanks, to yet another relocation offer from then-employer Johnson & Johnson's healthcare consulting division, for which he served client American Healthways, among others.

In December 2004, Chaput transferred to ANS an IT services businesses Chaput says was profitable and which had served 150 customers. He reduced ATG's staff from seven to two and began exclusively marketing LiveVault from ATG's Brentwood office.

Chaput had sought the LiveVault partnership after scrutinizing a half-dozen backup and recovery firms. He says he chose LiveVault, with a reported $25 million in annual revenues, because of performance data; management; and, LiveVault's partnership with IBM Global Security Services. LiveVault is backed by venture capital firms and by Iron Mountain.

Finally, Chaput is in a business with potentially steady income and customers who can be set up with software installation and a reboot, and who buy services by the gigabyte. Five months into the newly aligned business, Chaput says he has 25 customers and is looking for momentum to grow ("the pipeline is very robust," he says). He's marketing to such associations as Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association and Tennessee Hotel and Lodging Association, offering a royalty or discount program for association members. Chaput has simultaneously begun marketing in Miami, Fla., where he recently purchased a condo.

Continually refining his marketing and his "Mr. Backup" persona, Chaput recently retained a local advertising firm to study rebranding ATG, and he hasn't ruled-out changing the company's name.

Chaput holds Masters and Bachelors degrees in mathematics from Clark University and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, respectively. He holds a number of Microsoft certifications.

(##)