The municipality of Bnei Brak boosts responsiveness when it cuts data restore times by 99% with Veeam

The business challenge

As one of the most densely populated regions in the world, the city of Bnei Brak is a bustling metropolis that is home to more than 200,000 people. Residents depend on the city’s municipal government to provide the services that keep everyday life running smoothly, from carrying out road repairs to issuing official documentation such as certificates of ownership. To deliver on this responsibility, the municipality of Bnei Brak relies on access to data via business-critical systems.

“Technology has enabled us to introduce new self-service options for citizens,” said Josef Korngut, Chief Information Security Officer at the municipality of Bnei Brak. “These include a portal to send and receive documents and an emergency call number for urgent requests. To deliver these services and more, our employees must be able to pull up relevant information from our IT systems as needed.”

The organization decided it was the right time to address limitations with its existing data protection solution. For example, the municipality’s IT team found it was spending too much time waiting for backups to complete, re-running failed backups and restoring data requested by users.

“Each morning, I would check to see which backups had failed overnight so I could fix them,” said Josef Korngut. “Some backups could take as long as a few days to complete. If an employee asked us to restore an email they had accidentally deleted, it could take a couple of days to get back to them, which could translate into delays to citizen services. To work more efficiently as a municipality and protect our data, we made it a priority to find a new solution.”

The Veeam solution

The municipality of Bnei Brak selected Veeam Backup & Replication to transform its approach to data protection. The organization tried out the technology using the free community edition, before opting for an Enterprise Plus license.

“From the start, it was clear that Veeam technology is extremely simple to use,” said Josef Korngut. “Veeam Backup & Replication includes innovative features that would support a more comprehensive data protection policy at the municipality while saving us time on management. Essentially, it would allow us to do more with fewer resources.”

Working independently, the municipality deployed the Veeam solution. The organization now backs up systems frequently, with less critical systems backed up daily. Using Veeam ONE, the IT team monitors its IT environment to optimize data protection.

“In total, we use Veeam to protect many terabytes of data, retaining one copy locally and another on tape,” said Josef Korngut. “Veeam worked perfectly with our existing IT environment, which includes multiple virtual machines. We didn’t have to make any configuration changes; instead, we were able to set up our new data protection policy quickly and easily so that it just works, and we now have instant visibility through Veeam ONE.”

The municipality has built a close relationship with Veeam, helping the organization get the most out of Veeam technology to deliver maximum value to Bnei Brak’s citizens.

“The Veeam team are always there when we need them,” said Josef Korngut. “Ultimately, Veeam technology is the right answer to all our data protection needs. By enabling us to use our resources more effectively, Veeam helps us make the most of public funding.”

The results

• Cut backup times by more than 99%, from days to minutes, minimizing the risk of impact on operations
  “Before, for example, backups started in the early hours of Sunday wouldn’t finish until Tuesday,” said Josef Korngut. “With Veeam, they’re finished in 20 minutes, which is a huge improvement and helps us protect service continuity.”
• Increased backup success rate from 50% to 100%, ensuring all municipal data is protected
  Using Veeam technology, the municipality of Bnei Brak safeguards against data loss.
• Enables single files or emails to be restored in minutes, supporting a more responsive service for citizens
  “Previously restoring a file or email was a major undertaking,” said Josef Korngut. “With Veeam, we can restore data more than 200 times faster than before. By getting information to citizenfacing employees sooner, we accelerate their responses and increase satisfaction with our services.”