Modernizing Disaster Recovery for Compliance Without the Cost

Client Snapshot

Client: Financial Services Firm
Industry: Asset Management
Size: ~50 employees
Services Provided: Backup & Disaster Recovery redesign, Cloud DRaaS migration

CLIENT OVERVIEW

This Chicago-based financial services firm manages nearly one billion dollars in client assets. Reliability and business continuity are central to both operations and compliance. During investor due diligence, the firm is often asked to demonstrate its Disaster Recovery capabilities. As such, maintaining a tested and actionable DR plan is not just a technical requirement, but a competitive necessity.

THE CHALLENGE

The client’s DR infrastructure was aging, expensive, and increasingly fragile. Their DR environment consisted of two old VMware hosts and two SANs hosted offsite. Most of the hardware had been repurposed from the production environment and was no longer reliable. Disks were slower, switches were outdated, and support costs were mounting.

The DR process was also complex. It relied on a vendor-specific SAN replication process and required multiple hours and specialized knowledge to bring systems to a usable state. Testing was so time-consuming that it was only done once per year, requiring a full day and multiple technical resources.

SERVICES DELIVERED

Temple IT replaced the legacy DR setup with a modern, cost-effective solution using Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud combined with on-site NAS storage. The new solution included:

Automated cloud-based DR with single-click runbooks
Monthly automated DR testing for confidence and compliance
On-demand failover of individual servers to the Acronis cloud
On-site NAS backup appliances for fast recovery and cost savings
Elimination of expensive datacenter hosting for backup infrastructure
Support for both physical and cloud-based workloads including Microsoft 365

This solution not only removed vendor lock-in but also reduced operational complexity and improved testing frequency.

RESULTS

The client now has a modern, low-maintenance DR strategy that meets both compliance requirements and operational expectations. Key benefits include:

Reduced DR recovery time from hours to minutes
Lower total cost of ownership by removing aging infrastructure
No more dependency on legacy SAN vendor or physical DR datacenter
Confidence in monthly tested backups without manual effort
More secure, flexible, and auditable DR capability for investor reviews

Temple IT’s approach modernized their recovery posture while significantly reducing cost and complexity.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

At Temple, we sell solutions not products. Our team of experienced senior engineers have over five decades of combined experience working with IT solutions in all capacities. We provide our clients with the most efficient business solutions to fit their individual needs, from managed IT services, and networking infrastructure to cybersecurity. Our work is backed by honesty, accountability, and forming long-lasting trusted relationships.