Commvault GO 2017: How Endpoint Data Protection as a Service Helps Small IT Teams
It’s a nightmare for any IT department and for any employee: a company-issued laptop is lost, stolen or hacked, and all of the data on it vanishes or is held hostage.
Such a scenario could lead to a data breach, but it doesn’t have to, and IT teams can take steps to protect data on users’ devices. Commvault launched Endpoint Data Protection as a Service this week to simplify and streamline the backup and recovery of corporate data stored on laptops, desktops and other devices.
The Software as a Service offering, unveiled on Tuesday at the Commvault GO 2017 conference at the National Harbor near Washington, D.C., reduces the need for on-premises infrastructure and support to manage data protection for endpoints.
The new offering, which is fully managed by Commvault in the cloud with 24/7 customer support, also will allow users to recover their data themselves from a cloud-based administrative console. That will free up time and resources for IT teams, which is especially beneficial for small and medium-sized businesses with small IT staffs.
Protect User Data on a Multitude of Endpoints
With the new Endpoint Data Protection as a Service, IT administrators can automatically and securely back up data residing on a desktops, laptops and other devices, reducing the risk of data loss from breaches or if a device is lost or stolen. The subscription service combines data encryption with backup and recovery, and Commvault says it will provide all necessary software, facilities, personnel, processes, 24/7 support, reporting and oversight needed to protect covered endpoints.
The offering has built-in security settings that allow users to encrypt files and folders, track geolocation and securely wipe data from lost or stolen laptops.
Additionally, users can add on several services that enhance the offering, including Commvault Endpoint Search, which the company says in a statement “provides secure visibility and control over endpoint data for compliance and litigation purposes with integrated full-text search and reporting from a consolidated pool of endpoint data.”
Commvault is also offering Commvault Secure File Sharing as an add-on service, which enables users to securely store, access and share files from virtually anywhere, at any time, on any device. The service delivers required visibility and control over company data-sharing practices.
Small IT Teams Can Benefit from SaaS Endpoint Data Protection
For many organizations, endpoint data protection is an afterthought, since IT admins are often very focused on protecting applications and databases, says Lance Shaw, director of solutions marketing at Commvault. “They forget the C:\ drive on the laptop sitting in whatever city a user is in, and the corporate data that is out there,” he says, noting that companies can also lose track of devices when employees leave the organization.
The self-service nature of the SaaS offering means that users can get easy visibility into data in endpoints and can also recover data quickly. Users can quickly recover their data without having to log a ticket with an IT help desk, Shaw notes. That means IT teams don’t need to spend the time recovering data for individual users and can focus on more important tasks.
IT admins can set up Endpoint Data Protection as a Service even if they are not existing Commvault customers.
However, Shaw notes that if businesses are using Commvault for data backup and protection for their on-premises environments or workloads, they can use and extend the same access and protection policies for devices covered by the SaaS offering.
