Policy Management Improves Backup SLA and Drives Down Costs

Organizations can improve service delivery, increase customer satisfaction and more easily charge for backup services by consistently monitoring SLA success rates and reviewing whether the policies in place support the optimal SLA outcomes, according to experts at Bocada Inc., provider of data protection management software and creator of the Data Protection Service Management (DPSM) model.

Ongoing policy review is a critical piece of the overall data protection service management process.  Whenever a policy is modified, either inadvertently or on purpose, IT administrators should be able to view a report with details on what change was made and when it was made. Tracking policy changes is essential, as changes can have a significant impact on the success of backup jobs and recoverability. The ability to drill down to better understand the impact of any change on the backup success will help ensure any corrections that need to be made can be done so immediately.

Regular policy management enables organizations
to address many data protection challenges
in order to meet the following goals:

Improve recoverability

• Ensure retention rates meet RPO goals
• Identify unintentional ‘inactive’ policies

Help meet SLA goals

• Determine if policies support business requirements
• Standardize on policies to ensure SLA success

Enhance communication
with internal/external customers

• Review policies as part of service catalog/SLA negotiations
• Publish policies and SLA results

Provide audit trails
for compliance and change management

• Track historical records of changes
• View the impact of policy changes

Reduce overall costs

• Identify ‘over-protected’ clients consuming excess capacity

Developed in partnership with enterprise customers and service providers, the Bocada DPSM model is an ITSM-like actionable methodology targeted at enhancing the delivery of data protection services. As the second step in the DPSM delivery model, the Policy Management module enables users to evaluate existing policies to ensure they support the goals of the business, identify redundant policies, ensure proper retention rates and track all policy changes.  This phase exposes areas where policies and processes can be modified to better ensure success, recoverability and IT business alignment.

"Customers need to ensure that their policies are effectively supporting the business goals of the company as they relate to recoverability, compliance, SLA adherence and capacity management," said Nancy Hurley, CEO of Bocada. "Since policies dictate how data is being protected, it is critical to monitor them closely and ensure that they are configured as expected. By consistently monitoring SLA success rates with Bocada Prism and reviewing if the policies in place are supporting the optimal SLA outcomes, organizations can improve backup SLA success, drive down costs and improve overall data protection results."

Bocada customers include Fortune 500 companies in diverse industries including financial services, technology, consumer goods, and telecommunications.