Backup doesn't have to just be insurance

I’ve heard from 100’s of people over the years that backup software is like insurance.  If you lose everything, you need that backup so you can recovery your loss (data).  Backup software is the last line of defense if something goes wrong.  But like home or car insurance, nobody likes to pay for insurance.  You know you need insurance, but nobody likes paying for it, especially if you never use it. 

But imagine for a moment if you paid for insurance and it saved you money.  Imagine if it could help you make money!  Imagine if it could save you time!  Imagine if it could help you do things faster!  Imagine if it could help you transform your life! Imagine if it could help you be more successful.  Imagine……. Well we know that insurance will never do that in your real life, so now try to imagine that insurance can do something other than just being insurance.

It doesn’t mean that your backup and recovery software (insurance) shouldn’t help your business do every one of those things I mentioned.  Backup software hasn’t really changed much in the past 30 years.  We take data in its original format and copy it somewhere else and put it in a new format.  Then when we need to access or recover data, we have to copy it from the old format and put it in its original format.  It takes time to restore your data, hopefully it isn't sitting on a tape that has failed. Then your insurance protection is worthless.

Most backups have to run on rolling schedules, performing recurring full backups and incremental or differential backups between those full backups.  Repeating over and over, sometimes failing and having to run again. Backups over time take longer to complete.  Sometimes those backups never complete.  The amount of data we create just keeps getting bigger and it takes longer and longer to complete.  Eventually an organization can’t even back up the data any longer.  That data has just gotten to big.  When this happens, our insurance doesn’t cover our data any longer. The insurance we paid for can’t protect the largest of our most critical data. 

Well with Actifio, our founders Ash Ashutosh and David Chang, knew there should be a different and better way to protect data.  It should be faster, easier, and solve the 21st Century data explosion problem.  Actifio takes a different approach.  We don’t copy data from one format to another.  We incrementally track and copy changed data at a block level in the applications native format.  This allows the data that Actifio protects to be 100% usable, mobile and available anywhere and anytime.  Actifio protects data based on application level SLA’s and retains data based on business needs.  Actifio doesn’t restore (copy) data, we instantly mount the data either at the primary data center, a secondary data center or even in the cloud. 

Once Actifio makes these copies, the real magic occurs.  No longer are our backups just insurance for your organization.  With Actifio a business can be transformed and manage data making it available and useful to solve problems.  

1. Copied data is available for instant recovery.   – Save Time
2. Replicate the copies for disaster recovery. – Save Money
3. Create virtual copies for development – Do things Faster
4. Bring applications to market faster than competition – Make Money
5. Move applications to the cloud – Reduce overhead costs

I get asked a lot what Actifio does. Actifio does so much more than just backing up and protecting data. Actifio is more than just insurance. Actifio manages your Enterprise Data as a Service.  Actifio enables the business to use data in multiple ways to solve problems, enable solutions, transform process and ultimately save time and money.

Learn more about how Actifio works by downloading the How it works document.