United Way saves 75% on off-site backup through switch to MozyPro
“We use Mozy as a disaster recovery solution because it makes sense to have something off-site that is far away from the office.”
Managing off-site backups proved to be a hassle for United Way of the National Capital Area (UWNCA) until their previous backup provider discontinued the service and recommended MozyPro. Now the non-profit organization saves 75 percent in off-site backup costs while increasing their administrative control of the service.
With the help of an extensive volunteer network, United Way of the National Capital Area impacts the community by raising funds to achieve bold goals related to health, education, and income. The annual campaign disperses tens of millions in funds to more than 900 non-profit partners certified by UWNCA that provide health and human service programs to Greater Washington area residents.
“We generate a lot of information from the various volunteer groups that donate their time and money,” said Derrick Brown, Senior Systems Administrator for United Way of the National Capital Area. “In addition to protecting the normal administrative data we produce, we’re responsible for keeping our donors’ financial contributions and personal information safe.”
With hundreds of volunteer groups and more than 50 employees, one of Brown’s tasks is to maintain accurate backups of the more than 600 gigabytes of data spread across six servers in the United Way of the National Capital Area office.
“Losing campaign data for even a few days could ruin our organization’s core initiatives,” Brown said. “We’ve always had several backup systems in place, but they were either a hassle or too expensive to maintain.”
A strong advocate of off-site backup, Brown said the main disadvantage with their previous off-site backup solution was that it wasn’t accessible by the United Way chapter. They had no administrative rights to their backups, and they had to contact the provider for anything other than a simple in-client restore. Eventually, their backup provider decided they didn’t want to offer the service anymore.
“They had become a MozyPro Reseller and recommended we use the service,” Brown said. “At that time, the only people who I knew used it were home users. But the more I looked into their business solution, MozyPro, the more great things I read; MozyPro is being used by a number of colleges and universities, and if they can trust Mozy, then I can, too.”
After testing and competitive bids from several backup providers, Brown ultimately followed the recommendation of his previous provider and signed up for MozyPro.
“We use Mozy as a disaster recovery solution because it makes sense to have something off- site that is far away from the office,” said Brown. “Compared to the solution we used previously, MozyPro saves us close to $900 per month while increasing our administrative control of the service.”
That’s a 75 percent savings over their previous solution, which cost $1200 per month to back up all six of their servers. In addition, MozyPro now provides United Way of the National Capital Area the added benefit of an automated solution with on-demand administrative access.
“I don’t need to contact our service provider now if I need a restore done or need access to my account,” Brown said. “I can do everything online, but it’s so automatic that I don’t need to do anything.”
Backups run automatically when the servers are idle, typically during non-business hours. On the few occasions in which Brown has needed to restore a file or two, restores worked seamlessly right from his office.
“We also use NTBackup, but the files can become corrupt and it’s hard to retrieve data,” Brown said. “In addition, NTBackup doesn’t allow for file versioning. Since Mozy did, it made it easier to restore the files right away.”
Between file versioning, online account management, and daily email notifications on the non- profit’s backup status, switching has proved to be a smart business decision for Brown.
“I would never recommend a below-par product for a multi-million dollar company,” Brown said. “Mozy is an excellent disaster recovery plan.”
About United Way of the National Capital Area
The UWNCA is the largest non-governmental health and human services fund provider in the Washington metro area and has been bringing together people and resources to improve lives for more than 30 years. Working with community organizations, local governments, and businesses, UWNCA’s eight regional councils – located in the District of Columbia, Northern Virginia, and Southwest Maryland – respond to critical community needs. For more information about UWNCA, visit http://unitedwaynca.org.