International Advocacy Organization De-Risks Data With DR Solution
Client
A politically active international advocacy organization often referenced in national publications. Due to personnel turnover, the non-profit had just recently brought in new talent to run their IT team. The new Head of IT Operations, and primary point of contact for ARG, was still becoming acquainted with the organization’s current technology state.
The partnership began with ARG management of the client’s voice and data network, gradually acquiring additional ARG-recommended solutions over time. The non-profit’s relationship with their Managed Service Provider (MSP) was making it difficult for them to achieve any sense of IT clarity, particularly regarding ticket resolution and support. The client’s existing IT initiatives were becoming increasingly more disruptive to their business operations.
Challenge
In the time that the new Head of IT was getting her arms around what was in place within the client’s technological universe, a critical issue surfaced that could have resulted in catastrophic failure. The client discovered a blinking red light coming from their servers, leading their MSP to conclude that the servers were failing. The MSP then informed them that they needed to purchase new, and expensive, hardware. Knowing very little about what systems and data resided on the MSP-managed servers, the client immediately reached out to their dedicated ARG Consultant, Ryan Robertson, in hopes that he’d be able to provide an alternative analysis and a more convenient solution.
Solution
Dedicated ARG resources Jim Begley, Director of Cloud Solutions, and Matt West, Senior Engineer, contacted the client to further understand the situation and identify an interim plan. The client’s ARG team decided that they needed to take a closer look and accurately determine the state of the client’s hardware to offer the right solution.
The team concluded that the servers were still operational though the data was at risk. In order to avoid any data loss or downtime and provide the client with more time to make an informed decision on their infrastructure moving forward. ARG suggested Managed DRaaS (Disaster Recovery as a Service), which would backup all the client’s critical data and allow them to stand up their environment in the cloud and not lose productivity in case of hardware failure. The client’s specific requirements and the urgent need for quick resolution led the team to bring in valued ARG partner, Sky Data Vault, who was able to dispatch the next day to backup their environment and mitigate the risk associated with their servers failing.
Results
Less than 24 hours after the initial discovery, the client’s environment was fully protected, and their data was backed up to the cloud. The Managed DRaaS solution solved a problem that could have critically impacted their business, removed the requirement for a huge CAPEX, mitigated the risk of an attack on their data inherent to being a politically active nonprofit, solved a problem that could have critically impacted their business, and bought them time. Now they can fully evaluate their current situation and determine the best way to move forward.
Conclusion
The client is grateful to have peace of mind knowing that ARG was able to keep them up and running and at a reasonable cost. The new Head of IT is getting a handle on her infrastructure and has the time to plan for the future. Following the event, she sent her ARG team a note stating that for the first time since discovering the blinking light, she could finally sleep well at night knowing that their environment is fully protected.
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