Expel protects endpoints and critical SaaS applications data, like Salesforce and G Suite

Expel’s security operations center (SOC)-as-a-service offers 24×7 security monitoring and response for cloud, hybrid, and on-premises environments. It uses the security signals its customers already own so organizations can get more value from their existing security investments. Expel connects to customer technology remotely through APIs, not agents, so its SOC can start monitoring a customer’s environment in a matter of hours. This allows its customers to get back to focusing on the most strategic security priorities that are unique to their business.

The deputy chief information security officer (CISO) for Expel joined the company in its infancy and built its entire infrastructure from the ground up with a cloud-first mindset. One of the CISO’s core requirements was to leverage the cloud to deliver business agility, enable collaboration, and support a distributed workforce.

“Security should be baked into the technology — this allows us to put our people’s needs first. We implemented cloud identity provider Okta, and needed to find a data protection solution that integrated with it to protect Mac endpoints and software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications,” said Expel’s Deputy CISO David Stoicescu.

But when David’s team evaluated traditional on-premises solutions they found limitations. “We wanted a unified platform to manage different workloads and SaaS applications like G Suite and Salesforce,” he added.

With a mobile workforce, Expel needed a solution that would enable the IT team to remotely manage backups and restores from an online management console.

David’s top priorities for a solution to manage Expel’s endpoints and SaaS applications were security, reliability, and support. The team did a proof of concept with Druva, and, said David, “From a third party vendor risk perspective, Druva knocked it out of the park. As a security company that’s our top priority, and Druva exceeded our security expectations.”

Single Sign-On (SSO) was a key requirement to eliminate tedious manual management processes of backup solutions. Druva’s solution offers great Mac compatibility and robust user and identity management via SSO and Okta integration, which Expel uses.

When Expel’s team rolled out Salesforce, the trust that David had in Druva and that Expel’s chief revenue officer (CRO) had in David’s team enabled them to immediately begin protecting critical sales operations data with Druva inSync. The CRO clearly saw the value of using Druva to manage the company’s revenue and customer relationship data, even agreeing to pay for the licenses over a brief Slack conversation with David.

Druva’s customer support team impressed David with its quick response and resolution. “In the very beginning we had an issue and I put in a request with Druva Support. Instead of getting an email back from the support team, someone called me within five minutes,” he said.

With Druva, David estimates that Expel is saving $200,000 annually with cloud-native data protection as compared to if they had used a traditional on-premises backup solution. Cost savings come from the fact that his team of seven doesn’t have to buy and manage servers or maintenance plans, pay for off-site replication, or worry about downtime. And, his team can easily manage Druva, as it doesn’t require specialized training.

As Expel grows, its employees require new endpoints from time to time, and device refresh used to take around six hours per employee. Now they’re able to do the migrations 33% faster because they can rapidly recover the entire snapshot from a backup to the new device, as opposed to manually copying and installing the original applications, data, user settings, preferences, etc.

Regarding data protection for SaaS applications, David says, “Our CRO and I know that the business impact of not protecting SaaS applications data like Salesforce is high. Druva inSync enables us to maintain sales operations efficiency in case of Salesforce data loss. It minimizes the risk of data corruption, accidental deletion, or insider threats.”