Personal Group

When Personal Group staged a data recovery rehearsal in 2010, the company expected a full restore within 72 hours. Instead, the recovery was still incomplete after three days. At the time, Personal Group had a backup and disaster recovery service-level agreement (SLA) in place with a managed service provider (MSP). It was only when put to the test that the agreed-upon recovery times were proven unattainable, and that’s when this leading provider of employee benefits and insurance knew it needed a better, more efficient, reliable backup and recovery solution to safeguard its data.
After a thorough investigation by Personal Group IT Director Matt Rogers, the choice was clear: a new MSP—ADAM Continuity—and an EVault® cloud-connected™ backup and recovery solution.

Slow Recovery Times Threaten Reputation
Established in 1984, Personal Group, based in Buckinghamshire, UK, now serves more than 450 clients with a variety of insurance, employee benefits, and business support services. They deliver responsive, innovative answers to myriad challenges faced by their clients, and take pride in their legacy of outstanding service and support.

Rogers says, “A customer admitted into hospital may need to make a claim in order to cover a wide variety of expenses. We have an objective to deliver that claim payment within 48 hours of approval. If our systems are down and the data inaccessible, we risk failing our customers.”

Recovery Speeds the Sticking Point for Most Backup Solutions
With 3.5 TB of data at stake, Personal Group had stringent criteria for its next-generation backup and recovery solution: reliable and flexible remote backups, a secure environment for physical data storage that conformed to legislative requirements, and the ability to meet strict recovery time objectives—24 hours for tier one service, and 72 hours for all others.

While Rogers and his team found plenty of companies that promised to meet the first two points, none could provide the recovery speeds Personal Group required. “It’s not about how good your last backup was, it’s about how long it takes to recover that data,” says Rogers.

Finally, Rogers contacted ADAM Continuity, an EVault reseller and MSP. The company’s recommended EVault technology, along with Adam Continuity’s Ship to Site solution, met each of Personal Group’s backup and recovery benchmarks. Rogers was also impressed with the end-to-end solution’s extensive multiplatform coverage for Windows and VMware environments as well as IBM, Sun, HP-UX, and Linux. This was more than just a backup solution—it also enabled Personal Group to fully recover their systems onto suitable hardware were any systems to encounter any type of failure.
Ian Burleton, Head of Technical Solutions at ADAM Continuity, played a decisive role in the formation of the reseller’s relationship with EVault. Says Burleton, “When we first came across EVault we were impressed not just by the solutions but by the customer support, response times, and general service levels. We were confident when recommending EVault to Personal Group that it was the right solution for them.”

EVault Solution Passes the Test
Personal Group was up and running shortly after signing up for an EVault cloud-connected backup and recovery solution: within a week, backup and restore tests were successfully run and completed at the company’s recovery centre. The fully managed service keeps Personal Group informed daily of actionable items; any issues are resolved the same day whenever possible.

Rogers says, “Thankfully, there were no problems during the installation process and haven’t been any since. ADAM Continuity runs a proactive service, advising and resolving any issues that occur before we’re even aware of them. It’s been an entirely positive experience.”

Faster Data Recovery Leads to Tangible Productivity Gains
Since the EVault solution has been installed, Personal Group has achieved its desired 24-hour recovery time goal. Rogers says, “It has saved us so much time and money. We’re clawing back over 20 hours of support time each month, which is now being channelled internally. There isn’t a single negative thing we can say about the solution!”

And if Rogers could offer advice to other companies in similar situations, it would be, “Shop around—do as many trials as you can. Never take vendor promises for granted. Get them to prove to you they can do what they say they can, especially when it comes to data recovery. Most systems can back up consistently, but recovery is what counts. As a decision-maker, it’s what you’ll be judged on in time-sensitive situations.”