Davidsons Development: Building Resilience with Covenco’s Backup and Disaster Recovery Solutions

Protecting critical data is paramount for businesses like Davidsons Development, a UK family-owned house builder with a rich history of success. This Backup & Disaster Recovery Case Study explores how Davidsons Development partnered with Covenco, a leading provider of data management services and IT infrastructure solutions, to implement a robust backup and disaster recovery (DR) strategy. This comprehensive solution delivers near-instant recovery from reliable replicas and ensures complete data protection with air-gapped backups, adhering to industry best practices.

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About Davidsons Development: A Legacy of Building Excellence

Davidsons Development boasts a distinguished heritage spanning over three generations. The company has been synonymous with exceptional home construction across the United Kingdom, and their success story is marked by steady growth, with over 5,000 homes built and an annual turnover exceeding £244 million.

A Well-Orchestrated IT Department: The Backbone of Operations

A well-organised IT department serving over 350 staff supports this impressive growth trajectory. Davidsons leverages a hybrid network environment, with on-premises infrastructure seamlessly integrated with Microsoft Office 365 for email communication. Their cloud-based document and file-sharing solution uses SharePoint and Azure, with a total storage capacity of approximately 10TB.

Jonathan Hough, Head of Group IT and Security, and Nick Costello, Network Services Manager, spearhead the IT department. Their combined experience of over 35 years in IT management translates to a strong commitment to best practices. This dedication is evident in their pursuit of ISO 27001 accreditation and certifications in Cyber Essentials and Cyber Assurance.

“We aim to provide customers with the ability to failover to their Veeam Cloud Connect Replication servers within minutes in the event of any unplanned downtime, this gives them a reliable way to continue their business while the impact of an attack is assessed in a controlled manner.” Gurdip Sohal Sales Director at Covenco

A Call for Action: Reevaluating Backup and Recovery Strategies

A thorough review of Davidsons’ backup and recovery strategies revealed vulnerabilities that posed significant risks. “We had shifted away from Covenco as a backup provider in 2020,” Jonathan Hough acknowledges. This decision, driven by cost-saving measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, exposed the business to emerging and increasingly sophisticated ransomware threats previously underestimated.

By 2023, the threat landscape had evolved considerably. The existing backup solution lacked reliability, potentially leading to lengthy data recovery processes in the event of a ransomware attack. “Our previous providers offered a solution that was, at best, a minimum viable product,” explains Jonathan. “It simply wasn’t adequate for our evolving needs.”

The Need for a Comprehensive Hybrid-Cloud Solution

Davidsons’ reliance on a hybrid-cloud environment presented a distinct challenge. They required a solution capable of protecting diverse data, including Office 365 information, CAD files, accounting data, and legal documents stored in a 10 TB Azure cloud file-sharing solution.

“We were looking for a one-stop shop for backup and disaster recovery,” elaborates Nick Costello. This solution had to provide near-instant recovery from reliable backups while also offering immutable, air-gapped backups to comply with our 3-2-1-1 data protection principles for optimal operational resilience.” This search for a comprehensive solution ultimately led them back to Covenco.

Covenco: A One-Stop-Shop for Backup and Disaster Recovery

Covenco’s service package perfectly aligned with Davidsons’ requirements. The solution integrates seamlessly with Veeam Backups on Cloud Connect, a reliable backup platform that creates ransomware-protected, ready-to-restore copies of all business data. These backups are secured within the Covenco Data Centre behind a dedicated customer firewall, further enhancing security.

Veeam’s unique Insider Protection feature adds another layer of defence by rendering these backups immune to permanent deletion, even by malicious actors. Additionally, Covenco’s service includes a fully immutable and air-gapped Tape-Out solution, providing an offline, offline-storage option for an extra layer of protection. This automated backup-to-tape functionality ensures that Davidsons always has a complete, unalterable archive of all their data, even in the event of a catastrophic disaster. While tape backups traditionally have slower retrieval times, they offer unparalleled security as viruses or human manipulation cannot compromise the data.

The Veeam Data Platform: A Foundation for Data Protection

Covenco’s solution leverages the power of Veeam’s Data Platform, recognised as the leading solution for hybrid cloud backup in hybrid and multi-cloud environments. This robust platform empowers Covenco to safeguard, manage, and control customer data across any infrastructure, ensuring complete data protection regardless of location or platform.

Building Confidence: The Benefits of the Covenco Solution

Davidsons Development’s partnership with Covenco has yielded significant benefits, empowering them to operate with greater confidence and peace of mind. Here’s a closer look at the key advantages of the implemented solution:

Near-Instant Recovery:  Covenco’s solution prioritizes rapid recovery times. By leveraging reliable replicas, Davidsons can restore critical data near-instantly, minimising downtime and ensuring business continuity during an outage or attack. This swift recovery capability translates to reduced operational disruptions and safeguards business productivity.

Comprehensive Ransomware Protection:  Ransomware attacks are a constant threat, and Davidsons’ previous backup solution lacked adequate protection. Covenco’s solution addresses this concern head-on. Combining Veeam Backups on Cloud Connect with a dedicated customer firewall and Veeam’s Insider Protection feature creates a multi-layered defence against ransomware attacks. This robust protection ensures critical data remains secure and readily recoverable even if a ransomware attack infiltrates the system.

Immutable, Air-Gapped Backups: 
The 3-2-1-1 data protection principle emphasises storing multiple backups in different locations. Covenco’s air-gapped Tape-Out solution aligns perfectly with this principle. By creating a completely isolated, offline copy of all data on tape, Davidsons benefits from an additional layer of security.  This air-gapped backup is an insurance policy, ensuring that even if online systems are compromised, a complete copy of the data remains secure and unalterable.

Scalability and Flexibility: 
Davidson Development is a growing company whose IT infrastructure needs to adapt accordingly. The Covenco solution, built on Veeam’s Cloud Connect Data Platform, offers exceptional scalability and flexibility. This allows Davidsons to scale their backup capacity seamlessly as their data storage requirements evolve. Additionally, the platform’s ability to manage and control data across diverse environments ensures compatibility with any future IT infrastructure adjustments.

Reduced IT Burden: 
Managing complex backup and recovery processes can significantly drain IT resources. Covenco’s solution alleviates this burden by providing a comprehensive, managed service. This frees up Davidsons’ IT team to focus on other critical tasks, improving overall IT efficiency.

Enhanced Security Posture: 
Covenco’s solution significantly strengthens Davidsons’ overall security posture. The combination of robust backup functionalities, air-gapped storage, and advanced security features safeguards their data from a wide range of threats, including ransomware attacks, accidental deletion, and hardware failures.

A Strategic Partnership for Long-Term Success

The collaboration between Davidsons Development and Covenco is a testament to the value of a strategic partnership. Covenco’s in-depth understanding of Davidsons’ specific requirements, coupled with their expertise in data management and disaster recovery solutions, resulted in a tailored solution that effectively addresses their evolving needs.

“The solutions provided by Covenco and Veeam have alleviated an enormous burden of stress on us and the business,” concludes Jonathan Hough. “We feel confident that the solution will continuously flex to meet challenges that we all face in IT.”

Davidsons Development’s success story showcases the transformative power of a comprehensive backup and disaster recovery strategy. By prioritising data protection and partnering with a reliable provider like Covenco, companies can operate with greater resilience, minimize downtime, and ensure business continuity in the face of unforeseen disruptions.

Looking Ahead: A Commitment to Continuous Improvement

Davidsons Development and Covenco are committed to continuous improvement. By staying informed about emerging trends and threats and proactively adapting their IT infrastructure, they can ensure that their data remains secure and readily accessible, allowing Davidsons Development to focus on what it does best: building exceptional homes.