North Star Pharmaceuticals selects Synology cloud-based hybrid backup to meet management and budget requirements while maximizing backup performance

Data management had been an expensive and difficult task at Polaris, but one which was essential in order to meet regulatory compliance. Backing up data was inefficient, manual, and required significant work at user endpoints. Without an automated process, it was time-consuming and expensive for Polaris to maintain data security and data compliance.

Implementing any new local backup system at Polaris' cGMP-certified facilities would require separate certification and present a significant time and investment. Polaris was also looking for a solution that would not strain existing IT resources, would be easy to operate, and could be fully automated. Critically, Polaris was also in search of a solution that offered a high level of cost-effectiveness in the face of growing data capacity, usage, and archival requirements.

After evaluating various solutions, Polaris' IT team found that Active Backup for Business (ABB) delivered the stability, efficiency, and automation they needed in a cloud backup platform. It was also able to accommodate the growing volumes of employee email data, a key requirement for Polaris, while C2 Backup for Business's intuitive management and flexible scheduling features would meanwhile reduce the burden on existing IT staff.

With multiple devices and data sources in play, Polaris needed a solution that could centralise management and streamline backups: Active Backup for Business delivered on both fronts.

Polaris Pharmaceuticals had two primary data backup requirements. Firstly, the organisation must retain multiple versions of data and store them in multiple destination endpoints to ensure more secure protection; secondly, the biggest problem with previous backup solutions was their poor backup performance, so improving backup speed is a major focus for Polaris Pharmaceuticals this time.

Starting with protecting data on local devices, Polaris Pharmaceuticals primarily utilises the built-in licensed-free backup solution called Active Backup for Business (ABB) on Synology NAS. ABB, as a single backup platform, excels in centralising the backup of various devices deployed within Polaris Pharmaceuticals, including Windows PCs, virtual machines, physical servers, and more. Through a unified management interface, ABB easily schedules backups for these cross-platform endpoints, simplifying backup tasks and resolving the complexity of configuring the old system.

In addition, ABB features incremental backup and global deduplication technology, which only backs up changed data and determines whether the data has been backed up before. If the data already exists on the backup destination, there is no need for redundant backup, thus accelerating the backup process and efficiently utilising storage space.

Read more | How enterprises can build a complete backup architecture through Synology solutions

Furthermore, Polaris Pharmaceuticals has another backup requirement for Microsoft 365 Exchange. Previously, employee departures often led to incomplete data handovers and accidental cloud data loss. Therefore, they needed a backup solution for SaaS services to reduce hardware expenditure, automate backup scheduling, and meet off-site backup requirements. In this case, C2 Backup for Business is the best solution.

How does C2 Backup for Business ensure data security with the highest standards?

Firstly, Polaris Pharmaceuticals utilises C2 Backup for Business' automatic backup feature to schedule daily backups of all email data for accounts within the same domain. Each backup task is enabled with multi-versioning and custom retention rules, significantly simplifying IT personnel management costs.

Moreover, the subscription model of C2 Backup for Business is straightforward and transparent. Polaris Pharmaceuticals only needs to subscribe to the existing backup usage without any hidden costs. Unlike many other cloud backup providers, C2 Backup for Business does not require additional purchases of sufficient cloud storage space based on the number of individual Microsoft 365 accounts. C2 Backup for Business’ cost efficiency allows Polaris to forecast and manage backup expenses with confidence.

Not only does C2 Backup for Business fulfill expectations regarding IT management and costs, but Polaris Pharmaceuticals, being in the healthcare industry with high demands for protecting various information security and privacy, finds C2 Backup for Business to be the best choice. It is specifically designed to safeguard the data security, confidentiality, and integrity of enterprises. C2 Backup for Business adopts a reliable and trustworthy underlying infrastructure, storing backed-up data in facilities certified by ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II, with strict physical and access security measures.

Additionally, considering the frequent data breaches due to compromised login information or various human errors, C2 Backup for Business pays attention to account permissions. Polaris Pharmaceuticals can ensure that only authorized personnel can access and retrieve data from the Synology C2 Backup for Business platform, complemented by multi-factor authentication (MFA) to ensure the highest level of security for accounts. If any abnormal activities are detected on an account, C2 Backup for Business can provide detailed login records to simplify the investigation process. Furthermore, C2 Backup for Business has an audit log feature that allows administrators to monitor all client activities in real time, including file access, transfers, or downloads, providing comprehensive insights into the behavior of each user.

Read more | Learn more about C2 Backup for Business to assist enterprises in centralised data protection

Synology's comprehensive cloud-to-local data protection solution meets the demands of enterprise hybrid architectures

After using C2 Backup for Business to back up M365 emails, Max mentioned, "As a cloud-based backup solution, C2 Backup for Business has improved the traditional method of relying on IT personnel to back up emails." The previous backup method was very inconvenient, requiring downloading user emails and storing them on traditional hard drives. Additionally, this unencrypted backup approach posed a risk of data leakage. By adopting C2 Backup for Business' cloud backup solution, once the backup plan is set up, the system runs automatically, encrypts and archives data online, significantly simplifying the workload for IT personnel and easily protecting more than 200 Microsoft 365 service accounts.

Finally, Max pointed out that Synology offers a comprehensive cloud-to-local backup solution, which includes secure and reliable encrypted connections, flexible and customisable plans, and simplified complex configurations, reducing the burden for IT personnel. The solution also provides administrator operation records and audit logs, which can be used to support audit department reviews. "It meets our enterprise's requirements for hybrid cloud off-site backups, ensuring data security without any worries."

• Full Compliance with Regulatory and Audit Standards: The solution meets all data protection and retention requirements necessary for cGMP and industry regulations.

• Lower IT Overhead Through Automation: Automated backups and centralised management significantly reduced the workload on IT staff, helping control staffing costs.

• Eliminated the Need for Costly Backup Hardware: With cloud-based and scalable storage, Polaris no longer needs to invest in expensive on-premises backup infrastructure.

• Reduced Ongoing Software Licensing Costs: Transparent and usage-based subscription pricing helped Polaris avoid unnecessary licensing fees and overprovisioning.