CASE STUDY
Despite this being almost two terabytes (TB)
in database size, the team could restore
the portal service shortly because Veeam’s
solution enabled them to load an image
while the full restore proceeded smoothly
in the background. As a result, users were
barely aware of any issue and could carry
out all functions without major impact.
Similarly, most similar services for IKK Group
companies, has been streamlined thanks to
Veeam. “Whereas our old solution took days
to restore data and demanded considerable
time and effort from our IT team to
address errors, Veeam’s has transformed
this experience,” said Mansour. “End users
don’t realise things are happening and their
experience remains seamless.”
Equally beneficial has been the relationship
that the IKK Group’s IT team shares with
Veeam. From its very first engagement, the
commitment and expertise of Veeam’s
regional team was evident to IKK Group’s
centralised IT team, which appreciated its
ability to deliver dependable, 24/7 support.
Given that they no longer spend long times
addressing issues or following up on support
tickets, Mansour states that the efficiency
of his IT team has ‘increased’. Systems
admins have seen an ‘improvement’ in
their ability to deliver Business Continuity
and availability of services and annual data
restoration downtimes have dropped. “The
beauty of Veeam is that when you come
in in the morning, every light is green. So,
you’re assured that backups are taking place
smoothly,” he said.
The IKK Group’s centralised IT team has
been quick to turn the new solution features,
and the rapid access to quality support
and expertise it receives from Veeam,
into an opportunity to focus on initiatives
and enhancements that deliver business
values. One such avenue has been the
strengthening of data and storage security.
“Veeam is working with us to implement
best practices and enhanced features
for data protection. This will enable us to
greatly strengthen our resilience to possible
malwares, which are very significant threats
to any business,” explained Mansour.
Under direction of the group’s Chairman,
Sheikh Hassan Al Kabbani, and the corporate
management, leaded by IKK group’s CIO,
Zohdi El-Saadi, the centralised IT team is
currently preparing an offsite backup centre.
During the transition, the group has been
utilising (as a pilot phase) cloud storage
option to manage data migration through
the cloud. “Veeam’s compatibility with the
offerings from major cloud vendors has meant
that integration is seamless, allowing a rapid
and effective data migration,” said Mansour.
On completion of this project, the group
may expand its offsite backup facility into
a partial Disaster Recovery (DR) site based
on management needs and decision.
“Today, Veeam is one of the pillars of our
service availability and Business Continuity
strategy. If the corporate management
decides to establish a DR site, we shall use
it as an opportunity to extend our
relationship with this reliable technology
provider,” said Mansour.
The results
Increased efficiency, enabling the
system engineers to focus on highvalue
initiatives
By reducing backup and recovery process
time, errors and issues, Veeam’s solution
enables the IKK Group’s IT team invest
efforts and time into enhancement projects
that deliver major business benefits. This
includes implementing production and
backup data security best practices and
access control strengthening to mitigate the
threat of malware and cyber-risks.
Introduced instant recovery and cut
restore times
Recovery of large terabyte (TB) sized VM
servers in short time is now possible, services
are restored in minutes as backup images
can be instantly loaded while the full restore
smoothly executes in the background. This
delivers a seamless experience for thousands
of users, across the group’s entities, who rely
on the availability of data and services to
carry out their job functions.
Proved 30% more cost effective than
legacy solution
Instead of basing fees on TB, Veeam
pioneered the per-socket licensing model in
which costs only grow as the IT environment
grows. With the IKK Group’s environment
expanding as its business grows, Veeam’s
licensing model has proved to be 30% more
cost-effective than the previous solution. •
“With Veeam, it isn’t just its solutions but
also its support that can boost customer
satisfaction – you get 24/7 support for
incidents whenever needed. If we had to rate
Veeam’s regional support, that would be a
five-star service most of the time; still we are
eager for better co-operation and success
stories with Veeam’s team in the future,"
Mansour said.
GOING THROUGH PARTNERS AND FACING
LONG DELAYS WAS NO LONGER VIABLE
FOR US. IT WAS TIME FOR A CHANGE.
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