Haufe Group accelerates its transformation journey with Commvault and Metallic

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Challenges

  • Required consolidation of multiple backup and storage solutions to minimize the risk of data loss
  • Needed a SaaS-based backup solution to protect Microsoft 365 data and support growing business in online solutions

Solution

  • Deployed existing Commvault® Backup and Recovery with NetApp to back up and store various workloads in their on-premises environment
  • Added Metallic® Microsoft 365 Backup to protect mailboxes, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Teams, OneDrive and Azure Active Directory

Results

  • 35% less time spent managing backups •
  • Up to €20,000 reduction in hardware costs per year
  • Protected up to 2,000 mailboxes, 6,100 SharePoint sites, 4,100 Teams, and Azure Active Directory without adding storage capacity
  • Freed up time for developers to focus on product development
  • Ensured data availability and supported the expansion of digital product portfolio by using a unified and scalable data management solution

Industry

Technology

Location

Germany

URL

https://www.haufegroup.com/en/home

Benefits

  • 35% reduction in time Microsoft 365 backups
  • Up to €20,000 reduction in hardware costs per year
  • Protected up to 2,000 mailboxes and OneDrive users, 6,100 SharePoint sites, 4,100 Teams, and Azure Active Directory with Metallic

“Commvault and Metallic just work seamlessly together. We can focus on developing more innovative solutions to support the business instead of backups.”

– Alexander Keller Team Lead | Haufe Group

“The Metallic service was setup and running within hours.”

– Alexander Keller Team Lead | Haufe Group

“With Metallic, we just consume the service and don’t need to worry about availability and scalability. This has saved us 35% of our time in managing backups and cut hardware costs by up to €20,000 per year.”

– Alexander Keller Team Lead | Haufe Group

About Haufe Group

The Haufe Group is a leading integrated corporate and workplace solution provider. It supports sustainable corporate development and designs the transformation processes in software solutions, content and vocational training. Over the past 70 years, the Haufe Group has evolved from a successful publishing house into a comprehensive corporate services solution provider that employs around 2,300 people at 13 locations. With strong product brands such as Haufe, Lexware, Haufe Akademie, smartsteuer or Steuerbot, Haufe Group offers services to a range of businesses, including enterprises, small-to-medium-sized companies, and self-employed.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for cloud solutions and e-learning products grew more than ever. Haufe Group wanted to ensure its data in the cloud is safe and secure, and minimize disruption to business operations. “

Commvault and Metallic just work seamlessly together. We can focus on developing more innovative solutions to support the business instead of backups,” said Alexander Keller, Team Lead, Haufe Group.

The Challenge

Due to the centralization of IT years ago, Haufe Group inherited various backup solutions such as Symantec NetBackup, Veritas BackupExec, and Veeam Backup, from different IT departments. It also used tapes and other storage products in the data center. With the strategy of consolidating storage products to NetApp, Haufe Group wanted to do the same with its backup solution. Its ultimate goal is to simplify data management and ensure data availability.

In addition, digitalization had quickly transformed Haufe Group from a publisher to a software development company with focus on providing cloud solutions. This prompted the business to adopt cloud-based technologies such as Microsoft Office 365. To support the expansion of its digital product portfolio, it was critical for Haufe Group to look for a suitable Backup as a Service (BaaS) solution to protect its data in the cloud.

The Solution

Over five years ago, Haufe Group consolidated multiple backup solutions into Commvault Backup and Recovery and integrated with NetApp to protect various workloads in the on-premises environment, such as SAP databases, Microsoft SQL Server, Common Internet File System, and VMware virtual machines.

Since the company’s software development transformation, Haufe Group adopted a range of cloud solutions, including Salesforce, ServiceNow, AWS, and Microsoft Office 365 for its online applications and services. The company wanted a BaaS solution to back up and recover data in Microsoft Office 365. After evaluating various solutions, including Keepit and Veeam Backup, the company decided to perform a proof of concept with Metallic Microsoft 365 Backup, due in part to their positive experience with Commvault.

“Metallic Microsoft 365 Backup came out on top for its performance on One Drive, SharePoint Online, Teams, and Azure Active Directory, and met all our business requirements,” said Keller. “We were also familiar with Commvault, so it was an easy transition.”

With support from Commvault’s Customer Success Manager and engineers, Haufe Group was able to quickly minimize and resolve issues during the implementation and ensure a smooth transition to Metallic.

The Results

Thanks to Commvault, Haufe Group has fully automated the backup and recovery process of 500 terabytes of data in the on-premises environment and gained resilient ransomware protection. Through the integration of Commvault with NetApp, developers can nearly instantly recover the snapshots of 1,500 virtual machines, which were used for testing and development. The flexible storage options embedded in Commvault also enabled the company to back up data to disk instead of tapes. This helped to ensure the security of data and support product development.

With the transition to Microsoft 365, Haufe Group added Metallic Microsoft 365 Backup to safeguard up to 2,000 mailboxes, 6,100 SharePoint sites, 4,100 Teams, and Azure Active Directory without adding storage capacity.

“The Metallic service was setup and running within hours,” said Keller.

Using Metallic Microsoft 365 Backup eliminated the need to manage servers and storage, enabling the IT team to address more critical issues and focus on more strategic priorities, such as providing better customer service.

“With Metallic, we just consume the service and don’t need to worry about availability and scalability. This has saved us 35% of our time in managing backups and cut hardware costs by up to €20,000 per year,” said Keller.

It is also important for Haufe Group to show its customers that the backup data is in Germany. By using Metallic Microsoft 365 Backup, the company has the ability to use its own encryption keys for the data.

“If we put the data in the cloud, we guarantee to our customers that it’s encrypted and only we have the key for that,” Keller added.

On a final note, Keller said, “Metallic does a great job for Microsoft 365 backups. The free testing environment also gives you the opportunity to test all the features and gain confidence that it’s the right solution for you.”