The largest U.S. franchise operator reduces backup costs by 50% with Zmanda Pro

Business Challenges

As the largest franchisee operator in the US, manages 2,900+ units, in their one branch alone, they oversee over 470 individual locations, each with different systems, hardware, and network profiles, creating significant IT management challenges:

• Increasing Complexity: Each newly acquired store comes with non-standardized systems and minimal uniformity, increasing the complexity of managing backups across the organization.
• Legacy Systems and Poor Connectivity: Some locations still use outdated DSL connections with minimal bandwidth, while others run on legacy hardware, making reliable backups difficult to achieve.
• Data Storage Costs: High storage costs due to redundant data from hundreds of locations across the franchise created the need for better efficiency and data deduplication across all stores.
• Disaster-Prone Locations: Many stores are situated in areas prone to natural disasters, necessitating a robust and fast disaster recovery solution.
• Limited IT Resources: With a small IT team managing hundreds of stores, they needed a solution that was easy to deploy, could be remotely managed, and was easy to automate to free up time for critical operations.

How Zmanda Pro Solved the Problem

1. Seamless Remote Installation and Configuration: Using Zmanda’s bulk deployment and registration tool, agents were installed remotely across all 470 locations of this customer. This allowed agents to be deployed and backups to be configured with a click of a button – all without the need for individual store visits, saving significant time and reducing operational effort.
2. Significant Data Deduplication and Cost Savings: Zmanda’s advanced deduplication technology significantly reduced the customer’s backup data across all locations, bringing the total storage requirement to under 6TB for over 470 stores. As a result, they were able to retain a full month of hourly backups at the same cost that previously only allowed for a week of daily backups.
3. Reliable Backup for Poor Connectivity Locations: Zmanda’s customizable backup policies were designed to handle stores with poor internet connectivity and older hardware, ensuring smooth and reliable backups without timeouts or failures.
4. Fast Disaster Recovery: Zmanda’s disk-image backup capabilities ensured that Flynn could recover disaster-affected stores in less than two hours. This feature minimized downtime and allowed stores to resume normal operations quickly, safeguarding business continuity.
5. Comprehensive Reporting for Peace of Mind: Stakeholders received detailed reports, providing real-time updates on backup status across all locations. These reports ensured transparency and provided the customer’s IT admins with peace of mind, knowing that their data was protected and easily recoverable.
6. Freed-Up Administrative Resources: With automated and reliable backups in place, their IT team could redirect their focus from troubleshooting backups to modernizing hardware infrastructure and onboarding new stores, leading to greater operational efficiency

The Impact

The franchise operator’s locations now benefit from reliable backups, reduced costs, and a disaster recovery plan that works quickly and efficiently, even in locations with poor connectivity or legacy systems. With Zmanda, Flynn has been able to focus on expanding its business without worrying about data protection or storage costs.

Next Steps

With Zmanda Pro in place, this franchise operator is now well-equipped to handle further store acquisitions and manage its growing network of locations. Their IT team plans to leverage Zmanda’s advanced features, such as real-time backup verification and automated restore testing, to continue improving backup reliability and disaster recovery across all its stores.