How Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS) is Used by Hitachi America, Evolutio, AECOM, Business Cloud, and Redland City Council: Case Studies

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With the rising number and severity of cyber attacks and growing data regulations, it is vital for most companies to consider and adopt an external backup-as-a-service (BaaS) solution for data backup maintenance and recovery. 

See below for five case studies on how companies across industries are employing backup-as-a-service solutions to solve their data backup challenges: 

1. Evolutio

Madrid-based Evolutio has a network of 6,100 virtual machines (VMs) spread over 5,600 kilometers and three data centers as well as assistance from over 1,000 experts. 

Evolutio recently employed Office 365 for all of their infrastructure requirements. A tightly secured and backed up Office 365 was the organization’s primary responsibility, and they wanted to ensure the operation with optimized resources and minimal downtime. 

“We know that sooner or later, things like accidental deletion or machine malfunction are going to happen. We needed a solution that would allow us to recover data easily and quickly,” says Alain Rodriguez, head of services management office, Evolutio. 

Evolutio then hired Commvault, a software solution for data backup and recovery. The solution also ensured compliance requirements with regulatory authorities, with an extension of up to five years. 

Moreover, Evolutio previously had to rely on raising tickets for backup as soon as a data breach was detected. With a backup-as-a-service provider, the company can now directly grant backup access to users, so they can recover credentials without much intervention from technical staff. 

“Now if something is lost in Office 365, users can just click and recover,” Rodriguez says. This is a big change from how it was done before. We were able to recover all the data and get back to operational status in less than one day. Our business continuity was virtually uninterrupted.” 

Industry: Cloud security 

Backup-as-a-service provider: Commvault

Outcomes:

  • 20% annual CapEx reduction in backup management by reducing infrastructure upgrade costs
  • A unified platform to manage all data needs rather than deploying multiple integrations across the network 
  • 360-degree protection to not only Office 365, but 1,200 mailboxes and SharePoint Results. 
  • Efficient handling of 2 PB of data, with minimal to zero annual maintenance costs 

2. AECOM

AECOM mostly works with global governments to manage, design, and build public infrastructure. The management firm is 87,000 employees strong with a diverse portfolio,from smart cities and sanitation to highways, ports, telecom, and transit systems. 

AECOM needed a backup provider to manage their Salesforce customer relationship management (CRM) system, where thousands of sales data, project details, contacts, future opportunities, expression of interest (EOI), and employee details are stored and updated regularly. 

AECOM deployed OwnBackup to create corruption-free backups on larger scales. With OwnBackup Smart Alerts, AECOM can get regular updates on when a breach is detected. In case of an attack, AECOM can investigate data malpractices with OwnBackup’s Compare and Visual Graphs. 

“The backup product has enabled us to get more agile with our development program,” says Jake White, IT project manager, AECOM. “We can now take a slice of our data, ensure all of the relationships are maintained, and put it into a sandbox that a developer can work on without impacting other parts of a project.”

Industry: Construction 

Backup-as-a-service provider: OwnBackup

Outcomes:

  • Customized backup solution created per departmental needs with options to create off-site backup avenues 
  • Integrations with ERP, HR, and custom applications to improve cohesion 
  • Shift to daily backups with minimal downtime from weekly ones to create a faster recovery point objective (RPO)
  • Parallel sandbox seeding with data management 

3. Hitachi America

The American subsidiary of the electronics giant Hitachi had a network of over 2,000 PCs without any viable backup. 

Moreover, the only used manual solution uses encrypted hard drives for restoring data, adding another layer of difficulty for users. 

“If a PC went down, we were often unable to restore the data. When users would alert us to lost data, we either directed them to search through Microsoft 365, or we’d ship them an external hard drive. We also had no way to easily migrate data on PCs for newly acquired companies or do a PC refresh,” says Lennox James, senior IT manager, Hitachi America. 

Hitachi engaged Druva, a BaaS provider, to automate cloud backups and create a recovery infrastructure from scratch. 

“If a PC is broken down, we leverage Druva to seamlessly migrate data to a new device,” James says. “We can refresh endpoints for provisioning, ensure endpoint backup and data governance for 2,000+ PCs as well as for device migration and cyber resilience.”

Industry: Electronics

Backup-as-a-service provider: Druva 

Outcomes:

  • Shift to a cloud-native and secure endpoint backup solution from manual recovery practices 
  • Added ability to wipe data in case a disaster strikes or a device is lost or stolen
  • Enhancing business productivity through eDiscovery and Data Resiliency Cloud 
  • 24×7 protection of 2,000+ endpoints 
  • Net 20% reduction in support tickets; a step toward creating lean teams 

4. Business Cloud 

Business Cloud offers endpoint security, shared contact and password management, and managed cloud recovery, among other services. 

Business Cloud needed a remote monitoring and management (RMM) solution that requires minimal to no human support for maintenance so the team can focus on serving clients. 

“At Business Cloud, our goal is to provide concierge-level white-glove services to our customers,” says Evan Oberman, CTO, Business Cloud. 

“Ninja enables us to provide this exact type of high-touch, high-level service. We’ve created an audit policy in Ninja that strips out any automation but gives us all the information we need to highlight vulnerabilities and identify areas of improvement.”

With NinjaOne’s backup functionality, Business Cloud simplified ticket submission, extended support over iOS and Android, and remote access to clients via its end-user sharing model. 

“With reports, we can easily highlight the value we bring to clients, by showing them how their devices are vulnerable and how misconfiguration and hardware issues contribute to productivity loss.” 

Industry: Business technology 

Backup-as-a-service provider: NinjaOne

Outcomes:

  • 3x growth across the service delivery vertical 
  • Faster patch management and remote monitoring 
  • Faster response time via a NinjaOne agent and endpoint protection
  • 4x increase in client endpoints, from 250 to 1,000 within the first few years of installation 

5. Redland City Council 

Redland City Council serves a population of 150,000 in Australia with duties to deliver sanitation, water, and other municipal services. 

The council has captured citizen data on hard drives for years, thus hampering operational efficiency. 

“We see our data as an incredibly important asset. We need to have a cradle-to-the-grave view of it across the organization, so we can use it to make better decisions for the residents and businesses in our community. By using our data effectively, the possibilities are endless. We can improve internal efficiency, deliver strategic benefits, or drive greater economic, community, and environmental value,” says Glynn Henderson, CIO, Redland City Council. 

Moreover, manual backups triggered one of the worst attacks Redland faced over the years, leading council heads to rethink their data management strategies. 

“Having a backup solution is like an insurance policy against ransomware,” Henderson says.

Redland hired Rubrik to automate all backup avenues and centralize in one place. This idea received support especially as most employees shifted remote and required off-site access to data all day.

Rubrik’s backup solution helped Redland increase concurrent users on virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) to from 70 to 250 overnight. 

“Like most other organizations, we’re frequently being asked to do more with less,” Henderson says. “We started off supporting 350 desktops 20 years ago to more than 1,200 today, with no increase to the infrastructure team behind it all. At its core, we needed backups, restores, and data protection to be simpler for the infrastructure team to look after. Now, it’s not only simpler, it’s on autopilot.” 

Industry: Government

Backup-as-a-service provider: Rubrik 

Outcomes:

  • Simplifying deployment to offer quick time-to-value results 
  • Automated backup and instant disaster recovery
  • Minimal drive failures with 24×7 support options 
  • Increased protection against ransomware attacks 
  • Open data access to city residents to edit, manage and regulate the flow of information 
  • Reduced VM launch time from two days to half a day
Avya Chaudhary
Avya Chaudhary
Avya Chaudhary is a contributor to Enterprise Storage Forum and Datamation. Previously she was an engineer with a history of experience working with NGOs and civil societies.

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