Sesame Bankhall Secures Data with Online Backup from Backup Technology
Independent financial adviser network Sesame Bankhall has selected Backup Technology, a UK disaster recovery provider, to supply Asigra’s backup and recovery software, in order to meet FSA guidelines and secure customer data.
Background
Sesame is the leading provider of support services to 7,500 financial advisers across the UK. Some of the services provided include compliance and regulatory support, access to the latest product research, training and development technical seminars, preferential PI terms and access to cutting edge technology that allows advisers to write business more efficiently.
To provide these services, Sesame must gather and hold confidential company data from each financial advisor, such as financial and personnel information, making secure backup and disaster recovery a vital part of its business offering, as any data loss would have a detrimental impact on its customers and even breach privacy laws.
Sesame has four main sites across the UK: Manchester, Hatfield, Oxford and Cheltenham, and to manage the huge volumes of data from all of these sites, has 160 servers handling 30 terabytes of data.
The Challenge
In the past, Sesame relied on a legacy tape backup system, which was time consuming, vulnerable to damage, theft or loss and impossible to secure completely. Given the personal nature of data being handled by Sesame, it was vital that it was encrypted when being backed up, which the tape based system was unable to offer, leaving the data open to risk.
Previously, each office was responsible for its own data backup tapes, and Sesame required physical transportation of these tapes between sites, using a courier service, which was not cost effective on a long term basis, given their distant proximity. In addition, this had a negative impact on the company’s carbon footprint as so much travel was required. Sesame needed a way to manage all of these disparate back up systems centrally, so that just one IT manager would be responsible, in order to save time for its other IT teams across the country.
With the tape system, Sesame found that back-up failing due to tapes not being changed was a regular occurrence, and they often did not even save all data in the first instance. Sesame is governed by the FSA, which requires that regular testing of back up and disaster recovery procedures is documented. Previously, each server was running independent software, making checking the logs a manual process. This meant that the company had FSA tests due to incomplete results caused by the time delays of the tape based system.
“Sesame is ever expanding as more and more financial advisors join our network. As such, the level of data that we need to back up is also expanding, which made a tape based system unwieldy and not as secure as it needed to be; the margin for error was simply too great. We needed to shift to a different and more reliable model that would also leave us with more time to focus on core activities instead of spending time on what is a basic task that can easily be automated.”
The company was looking to increase the speed of its backup and recovery, as well as being able to guarantee a 100% success rate in retrieving lost data. It also needed to introduce encryption, due to the information commission’s recommendation to improve data security, given recent public data losses by other organisations.
The solution
Sesame selected Backup Technology, the UK’s leading online backup and disaster recovery provider, to provide Asigra software to centralise and remotely back up more than 17 terabytes of data from the regional offices across the UK.
The solution was purchased in early 2007 following a detailed design and proof of concept, and was rolled out immediately. As Sesame already operated its own data centres it was decided that the Asigra solution remain within the Sesame Network and be jointly managed by Backup Technology and Sesame’s IT staff.
The results
Integrating the four previously disparate backup systems into one reduces the complexity of the backup and recovery process making it much easier for Sesame to handle its data. The centrally managed Asigra system makes it simple to control its regional sites, ensuring that data security is standardised across all locations.
The new system provides a cost effective and efficient means of guaranteeing that no data will ever be lost due to system failure and all information can be recovered, without holes. Files can be restored in a matter of seconds as opposed to requesting off-site tapes and waiting for them to be loaded before restores can take place.
Sesame no longer requires the services of a courier service, which not only saves money, but also decreases the company’s carbon footprint as travel is not required anymore.
Sesame can now adhere to FSA guidelines by providing more comprehensive reports as evidence of successful backup and DR testing.
“Using Backup Technology’s solution we can now monitor the status of the back-up to check it is all going to plan, and daily reports are sent to the administrative office, so we can keep the necessary records. This gives us the pace of mind that in the event of data loss – for whatever reason – we can be guaranteed that everything is recoverable.”
“As the largest Financial Services Network in the UK, Backup Technology is very proud to work with Sesame. In choosing our solution Sesame have been able to increase efficiency, save money, perform regular Disaster Recovery tests and exceed the Regulatory Compliance standards set out by organisations such as the FSA. After using our Asigra solution for a number of years, we are delighted that Sesame has also decided to recommend our service to their 7500 members. As Sesame have audited our infrastructure and processes their members can now take advantage of our fully automated, secure online backup service to ensure they also adhere to FSA regulations and best practices.”
Going forward
Sesame’s network is made up of smaller independent financial advisors (IFAs) and they in turn need to keep their own data secure, in the same way that Sesame now does. Being smaller organisations, they too have tended to rely on tape based systems, leaving them open to the problems Sesame also previously experienced.
To counter this, Sesame will be offering its customers a framework backup system, using a proven data backup system; provided by Backup Technology. This provides IFAs with an easy way to ensure they protect consumer data properly and the peace of mind that their information is safe and securely held in the event of loss.
“Online backup is an excellent insurance policy for IFAs with sensitive financial information on file. With Backup Technology’s solution in place, Sesame and its customers are guaranteed the peace of mind that it can always achieve a 100% recovery rate on any data lost through system failure, safeguarding the organisations.”
