From Server Room to Cloud: Visit Baltimore's Journey to Data Security with Druva

Visit Baltimore, a private, not-for-profit 501(c)(6) membership organization, is the official destination marketing organization for the City of Baltimore. It generates economic benefits for the region by attracting convention, group, and leisure visitors. It also works to provide a positive experience for all guests.

Donald Lilley, Director of Technology and Business Intelligence at Visit Baltimore, faced significant data management and security challenges before implementing Druva. Visit Baltimore's IT infrastructure relied on an aging on-premise system with multiple physical servers. This setup was not only inefficient but also presented a significant single point of failure risk. Maintenance was cumbersome and scalability was severely limited.

Lilley states, “Since I have been with Visit Baltimore, we came from a very antiquated system of five or six servers in the MDF. And then, when we transitioned and moved to a new building, I wanted everything to be hosted and to eliminate as much hardware as possible in our server room. This would keep it clean and essentially lessen our physical touch points.”

Prior to Druva, Visit Baltimore relied on Microsoft's native capabilities, which offered limited data retention (90 days) and lacked comprehensive security features. The on-site file server offered minimal protection against ransomware or other malicious attacks, leaving the organization exposed to significant data loss risks.

High employee turnover, especially within the sales team, created challenges in managing data access and ensuring consistent backups. The lack of streamlined processes made it difficult to quickly grant or revoke access to sensitive information, increasing the risk of data breaches and compliance issues.

The final factor pushing the organization to make its transition to the cloud was when a critical incident occurred and the organization's primary file server was encrypted. This rendered all data inaccessible and underscored the urgent need for a robust and secure backup and recovery solution, highlighting the inadequacy of their existing security measures and the vulnerability of on-site data storage.

As a non-profit organization, Visit Baltimore operates with limited resources. It needed a cost-effective solution that wouldn't strain its budget while still providing comprehensive data protection and recovery capabilities. Many competing solutions offered expensive packages including services the team didn't need.

Visit Baltimore implemented Druva's cloud-based data protection solution. This provided a secure and scalable platform for backing up and recovering critical data, including Microsoft 365.

• Secure Cloud Backup and Recovery: Druva's cloud-based architecture eliminated the vulnerabilities of the on-premise system, providing a secure and scalable platform for backing up and recovering critical data. Immutable backups offer protection against ransomware and malicious attacks.

• Streamlined Data Access Management: The solution simplified data access control, enabling efficient management of permissions and minimizing risks associated with employee turnover.

• Cost-Effective Solution: Druva's flexible pricing model and pay-as-you-go structure aligned with Visit Baltimore's budgetary constraints, avoiding the need for expensive, all-encompassing packages offered by competitors.

Seamless Implementation: The implementation process was quick and efficient, minimizing disruption to daily operations.

The most significant benefit Lilley highlights is the increased confidence in data security, especially against ransomware attacks. This is a direct result of Druva's robust security features, including immutable backups. The fear of a ransomware attack crippling their operations was a major driver in choosing Druva, and the solution delivered on that promise. The peace of mind this provides is invaluable. “I think the greatest benefit of using Druva is the confidence, specifically against things like a ransomware attack. As a small business, we know we’re a key target.”, said Lilley.

Additionally, Druva's access control feature provides a sense of security against potential data loss or destruction by employees leaving the company. This is a significant benefit, especially given the high turnover in the sales department. This makes it easier to grant and revoke permissions as needed. This is particularly beneficial given the high employee turnover at Visit Baltimore.

Lilley described the implementation process as "pretty painless and seamless," deploying with no hardware to install, provision, or manage. This ease of implementation minimized disruption to daily operations for their already lean team.

Lilley estimates a time savings of six to eight hours per data recovery. This is a substantial improvement compared to the previous system, where data recovery was an all-day project. This translates to significant cost savings and improved operational efficiency.

The minimal time spent on Druva maintenance frees up Lilley and his team to focus on other critical tasks.

"I believe that Druva’s customer-first mindset is the differentiator. And not just for large enterprises, but also for smaller organizations like mine. Additionally, I appreciate how innovative Druva is. It’s clear that they continuously update their technology to stay aligned with industry developments."