As the COVID-19 crisis continues to grow, we hear from our customers, IT managers, the demands placed on them to ensure strong business continuity and disaster recovery plans.
Legacy hardware can be a hindrance in those plans, especially during these times. This doesn’t have to be an ongoing worry: We can help you break free from this trap…and we can do it remotely.
Martin Novak, IT Manager at Professional Target Marketing (PTM), needed to protect one of the company’s main assets. A large database of customer information was mission-critical for the company, and Martin knew he needed to ensure business continuity and put a strong disaster recovery (DR) plan in place. Based in Toronto, PTM is a marketing firm primarily servicing the pharmaceutical industry.
We sat down with Martin to find out the “hows” and the “whys” he got to the DR plan he ultimately put in place.
Tell us about your company and why it was a priority to get a DR plan in place
PTM, formerly Formedic Communications, helps pharmaceuticals target health care professionals (HCPs) as part of their go-to-market strategy. With ongoing work with a dedicated team of data professionals, we continue to update our growing database of HCPs and their information that is stored in our Oracle database. We use that information for marketing campaigns on behalf of our clients with their consent. So, essentially, the customer database forms the “bread and butter” of what we do. If it’s gone, our main asset is gone.
I knew I needed a strong DR plan and it was up to me to find it.
What were the different options you looked at before choosing Stromasys?
At that point, most of our production VM servers were backed up to the cloud. Except, I had an OpenVMS system running on two Alpha servers. OpenVMS was being used as the critical application server being used to update data in our Oracle database. I knew I could buy another Alpha server used, set it up in a cold location and create a connection. But then, I would still be dealing with hardware and I would still have to back up the data in the cold location both locally and then remotely back to our head office. This would also require additional hardware for the local backup. It wasn’t a good long-term plan for DR…and I would still have hardware including a new backup device for local backups!
How did you find Stromasys?
In a January 2019 Oracle seminar, they were looking for beta testers to migrate VMS systems to the Oracle cloud. Stromasys was recommended as an expert in migrating away from hardware to the cloud, and Stromasys already had experience in migrating to the Oracle cloud.
How did the implementation plan go?
As this was my DR plan, I had a lot of questions about back-up. But the Stromasys team, particularly Greg Reut, was patient, helpful, and extremely responsive. Greg even wrote a script for me for the back-up plan. And it didn’t matter when I would email him, he would respond promptly. I never had to wait long. I felt like I was in good hands with Greg and the whole team.
How has the Charon solution helped with your overall IT strategy?
I finally have a real DR solution! The alternative still had hardware in the plan, and it was expensive. I feel confident with Greg and the Stromasys engineering team, and I’m sleeping at night knowing there is a business continuity plan in place. The customer database, our “bread and butter” is protected.
Are you facing challenges with your legacy system? Contact us today for a free consultation of our Charon software solution or to migrate to the cloud.
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About the Contributor
With Professional Target Marketing (PTM) for over 15 years, Martin has consistently introduced time and cost savings measures while implementing new technology to improve business functionality. To name a few, he has been responsible for evaluating and implementing new accounting and CRM systems, new Internet technologies, server virtualization plans, and updated database infrastructure. Previously, he served as a Senior Consultant at Evron Computer Systems and attended the University of Waterloo in Ontario. He currently lives in Toronto, Canada.