As Sandy Alexander, a multi-platform, multi-channel marketing-communications company, continues to evolve and grow, the company's IT infrastructure is faced with a unique set of challenges. Justin Fredericks, Infrastructure and Systems Manager, is responsible for overseeing every aspect of the company's IT operations, including Google Workspace, VMware, databases like Microsoft SQL, and file servers.
One of the biggest challenges that Fredericks faces is managing the company's data protection strategy. With the company's primary storage consumed as storage-as-a-service, and with the migration to AWS, the need to protect data has become more critical than ever. The company's core business applications are spread across four data centers, and protecting this data required multiple solutions across every location. The company previously used Quest Software's Rapid Recovery but found a number of difficulties, especially when it came to off-site backups.
In addition, when an employee leaves the company, Fredericks is faced with the challenge of reusing licenses while also preserving the employee's data. Google Workspace retains a departed employee's data for a limited time, after which it is deleted permanently. This causes problems when a controller asks to see files or emails from former employees, as this data is simply no longer available.
Protecting All Workloads and Facilitating Backup and Recovery Through a Single Pane of Glass
To address these challenges, Sandy Alexander turned to the Druva Data Resiliency Cloud, a powerful data protection platform that allows Fredericks to protect all Google Workspace users. He's able to preserve users' Gmail and Drive data, which means that if an employee leaves, there is a copy of their data available, even if their license has been reassigned.
According to Fredericks, "I don't think there's anything out there like Druva that lets me back up all those different things through a single pane of glass. It just makes everything so easy." Following deployment, the team has scaled its use of Druva and now houses 370 TB of data within the platform to ensure Sandy Alexander is resistant to ransomware and downtime.
Fredericks is always working to improve Sandy Alexander's security posture, and the company's partnership with Sycomp, a global technology and enterprise solutions provider, has been a huge help. The partnership has supported and managed the company's AWS investment, and Sycomp introduced the company to the Druva Data Resiliency Cloud.
With Druva, Fredericks can now automate backups and eliminate manual processes that used to take 10 hours of the team’s time weekly. The company's SOC2 and HIPAA audits, as well as its HITRUST i1 assessments, are much easier to pass, and IT feels much more prepared in the event of a data breach.
What’s Next?
Looking back, the Druva Data Resiliency Cloud has been a game-changer for the Sandy Alexander team, allowing the company to protect its critical data, manage backups more efficiently, and simplify compliance audits. With the platform's powerful features and easy-to-use interface, Fredericks and his team can now focus on the company's core business operations, knowing that their data is always protected and recoverable.
Want to learn more about how Sandy Alexander was able to overcome their data protection challenges? Read the full case study to see how the Druva Data Resiliency Cloud helped them improve their data management and security posture.
