About Sebata

Sebata is a leading provider of integrated technology solutions, enterprise management systems and multidisciplinary professional services to municipalities, public entities and provincial government.

The Company provides data backup for local governments’ financial data and, as such, helps to prevent data loss and protect the integrity of this information.

The issue

The data required to operate and document the day-to-day financials of local government is mission-critical and highly confidential. Understandably, in the event of data loss, it is crucial that normality is restored and this function is operational as quickly as possible.

In the world of government service delivery and daily operation, real time access to stored data and backups is non-negotiable.

This access needs to be expedient, secure and user friendly – personalised as if the backups were stored on users’ local machines.

Any prospective data backup solution would have to facilitate this access.

A solution

Attix5, a global provider of data protection software and cloud solutions, provided its offsite backup solution, Attix5 Pro.

Riaan Schlebusch, ICT resource manager at Sebata, explains how Attix5 emerged as a solution provider and expert services partners.

He says his relationship with Attix5 dates back to 2008 when he joined Sebata as an IT technician at the company’s Kimberly office.

Schlebusch mentioned ease of deployment, simplicity of systems and speed of backup a value-adds.

He describes Attix5 as perfectly suited to meet the requirements of a tight regulatory environment that demands data is kept secure and regularly backed up.

In addition, it has enabled minimum downtime in the case of a disaster, and ensures that data is secure whether backed up on premise or off-site.

As Schlebusch explains, it is the software’s VirtualRestore feature that has given impetus to Sebata’s value proposition to clients.

VirtualRestore provides real time access to backups. It is as simple as selecting a backup folder from within Attix5 Pro and clicking the Virtual Restore button which will mount the backup as a virtual drive on a local machine with the data immediately accessible, requiring no additional storage.

One main benefit of this feature is the ability to test and audit backups without having to actually transfer files or databases to a temporary local drive.

Customers who back up multiple branch locations to a single headquarter can now access aggregated data for data mining purposes which is a massive time and resources saving.

A secure connection is made to the backup, which can be located on the cloud or on the local area network, and only the data required to access requested files and databases is transferred, facilitating the instant access to backups with no delay.

The Results

Heidi Weyers, General Manager, Sales at Attix5, says the solution is an ideal fit for local government. “In the event of data loss, instant recovery is simply a mouse click away. In addition, critical data is protected automatically and sent offsite, completely secure and encrypted, and in the event of data lost, can be recovered instantly.”

The provision of this solution has helped establish a strong relationship between client and service provider, one based on mutual trust and commitment.

Open discussion and constant input is encouraged, which facilitates an environment in which queries and issues are dealt with quickly and effectively.