Backup Managed Service Project Success Story

Background

In the ever-evolving landscape of data management, organizations face growing challenges in maintaining and managing backup infrastructure. Recognizing the need for a more efficient and cost-effective solution, our organization launched the Backup Managed Service project. This initiative aimed to outsource our backup requirements to a vendor, leveraging a Pay-As-You-Use model where costs are based on the amount of data backed up. By transitioning to this managed service, the organization sought to alleviate the burden of infrastructure maintenance and realize significant cost savings.

Project Scope and Objectives

The project had the following key objectives

Outsource Backup Services: Transition the organization’s backup requirements to an external vendor.
Implement Pay-As-You-Use Model: Adopt a pricing structure where costs are incurred based on the actual data backed up, measured in GB.
Reduce Infrastructure Maintenance: Eliminate the need for heavy infrastructure maintenance within the organization’s data center.
Achieve Cost Savings: Avoid costs associated with infrastructure refresh and ongoing maintenance.

Implementation

Vendor Selection and Engagement

Objective: To choose a reliable vendor capable of delivering managed backup services with a flexible pricing model.
Approach: Conducted a thorough evaluation of potential vendors based on their service offerings, cost structures, and reputation. Selected a vendor offering a Pay-As-You-Use model.

Benefits:

Access to specialized backup expertise and technology.
Flexible and scalable backup solutions tailored to organizational needs.

Pay-As-You-Use Model Deployment

Objective: To implement a cost-efficient pricing model where expenses are based on actual data usage.
Approach: Transitioned to a usage-based billing model, where the organization is charged per GB of data backed up.

Benefits:

Cost alignment with actual usage, avoiding over-provisioning and unnecessary expenses.
Greater financial predictability and control over backup costs.

Application Monitoring Deployment

Objective: To track and monitor unmanaged communication channels.
Approach: Implemented application monitoring tools to continuously track the deployment and usage of unapproved communication channels.

Benefits:

Reduced risk of unmanaged applications being used for corporate communications.
Enhanced ability to detect and address compliance issues proactively.

Infrastructure Decommissioning

- Objective: To remove heavy infrastructure maintenance responsibilities from the organization’s data centre.
- Approach: Decommissioned on-premises backup hardware and migrated backup operations to the vendor’s managed services.

Benefits:

Reduced need for in-house infrastructure maintenance.
Lowered costs associated with hardware upgrades, repairs, and management.

Cost Savings and Efficiency Gains

- Objective: To achieve cost savings through the elimination of infrastructure maintenance and refresh expenses.
- Approach: Utilized the vendor’s managed services to avoid the capital and operational costs of maintaining and refreshing backup infrastructure.

Benefits:

Significant cost avoidance related to infrastructure refresh and maintenance.
Enhanced focus on core business activities by offloading backup management responsibilities.

Key Achievements

Successful Outsourcing

Realized substantial cost savings by adopting the Pay-As-You-Use model, which aligned backup costs with actual data usage.
Avoided significant expenses related to infrastructure refresh and maintenance, freeing up budget for other strategic initiatives.

Infrastructure Simplification

Effectively reduced the complexity and overhead associated with managing backup infrastructure within the organization’s data centre.
Improved operational efficiency by leveraging the vendor’s expertise and technology.

Enhanced Scalability and Flexibility

Gained the ability to scale backup services in line with data growth, without the need for additional investment in physical infrastructure.
Benefited from the vendor’s ability to provide flexible and adaptable backup solutions tailored to changing organizational needs.

Conclusion

The Backup Managed Service project has been a resounding success, delivering on its key objectives and providing significant benefits to the organization. By outsourcing backup requirements to a vendor and adopting a Pay-As-You-Use pricing model, the organization has achieved substantial cost savings, reduced infrastructure maintenance responsibilities, and simplified its data management operations.

This project underscores the value of leveraging managed services to enhance operational efficiency and financial management. The successful implementation of this project demonstrates the organization’s commitment to optimizing its IT infrastructure and focusing on core business activities while ensuring reliable and cost-effective backup solutions. The project’s success serves as a model for future initiatives aimed at leveraging external expertise and innovative pricing models to drive efficiency and cost savings.