Case Study: Trowers & Hamlins
Trowers & Hamlins
Trowers & Hamlins
international law
Trowers & Hamlins is an international law firm offering clients the full list of legal services, with offices throughout the UK, Middle East and Far East. With over 150 partners and approximately 830 employees, the firm undertakes work around the globe.
The firm was looking for a backup solution that was quicker, more successful, more manageable, and ultimately more cost effective than their existing tape-based methods.
After an extensive review of the market, Trowers & Hamlins chose Backup Systems Ltd. to provide an unlimited, all-in-one managed backup service.
Challenges
Time Wastage
Trowers & Hamlins found that their existing backup solution was becoming increasingly more expensive and time consuming.
Spending approximately half a day per week on administrating the backup processes, Trowers & Hamlins struggled to complete this process within the “Dark Hours”
of 11pm to 8am.
IT staff were preoccupied with the unrewarding task of backup administration, meaning less time to dedicate to strategic IT work focusing on business benefits.
The firm was looking for a backup solution that was quicker, more successful, more manageable, and ultimately more cost effective than their existing tape-based methods. After an extensive review of the market, Trowers & Hamlins chose Backup Systems Ltd. to provide an unlimited, all-in-one managed backup service.
Unexpected Costs
Trowers & Hamlins faced unexpected costs when an audit identified that their existing supplier had not licensed their backup software correctly, leaving them in danger of facing a substantial bill that fell outside their budget.
The legal partners, as shareholders in the business, understandably need to see tight control on IT spend.
Heavy File Usage
As an industry with extensive file usage, Trowers & Hamlins found that the millions of small files saved on their servers often slowed their backup system down.
Solution
Enterprise Backup Solution
Backup Systems provides Trowers & Hamlins with a managed service for the Backup and Restore of their physical and virtual server environment. This includes file servers, databases – SQL Server and Exchange backup, & VMware for backup of virtual machines (VMDK Files). Highlights include:
- Significant reduction in
the time taken to administer the backup process – from
1/2 a day per week to 1 hour per month - Substantial cost savings when moving away from a corporate supplier (and their complex licensing cost structure) to the simplicity of Backup Systems pricing model
- Improved customer service – in the event of any failure, Backup Systems is working to resolve it, usually before the IT staff at Trowers & Hamlins are even aware of it
Results
Trowers & Hamlins now receive daily emails from Backup Systems providing regular status updates and notification of any issues that have been resolved, or may need addressing. Backup Systems Managed Service has substantially reduced the need for Trowers & Hamlins involvement in the backup process.
The Backup Systems solution has enabled a simple method for file restoration, while the move from tape to disk has meant that file level data is easy to find. In addition, virtual machines can be restored in as little as two to three minutes!
As a growing legal firm with a continuously growing data set, it is inevitable that there will always be more data to backup and more target servers. Trowers & Hamlins will regularly review with
Backup Systems, who are committed to delivering a future-proof solution.