Brussels – 14 November 2023 – WESTPOLE Benelux, provider of IT services and hybrid solutions for digital transformation, is launching what they call “Data Life Insurance”, a life insurance policy for data. It is a complete business continuity package, with which clients’ data will be better protected, consisting of four modules: advice, storage, back-up and recovery. According to WESTPOLE, there are still many businesses where the essentials of cybersecurity are not sufficiently covered. With this modular service package, the company aims to remedy this situation.
Even in these economically challenging times, investing in IT projects remains a steady business objective. However, in the area of cybersecurity, the basics are still inadequately covered. Protection is incomplete, is undertaken too often on a project basis, with inadequate focus on the long term, and the various elements are not sufficiently coordinated. Flexibility is key here: WESTPOLE promises that their end clients can decide for themselves what aspects they do and do not wish to outsource.
Back to basics
Investing in cybersecurity, data recovery and cloud migrations are still at the top of the IT agenda, despite inflation and economically tough times. Everyone is looking for ways to save money, but for the moment this is less prominent in their IT budgets. That, at least, is good news.
However, the not so good news is that organisations seem less inclined to invest in the cyber essentials. These are the basic elements of cybersecurity that every organization must have, such as a cyber-recovery plan, a security configuration tailor-made for the organization, and malware protection.
‘We see that most organizations recognise the importance of a high-end IT structure and topics such as back-up management and disaster recovery, but they do not always have the knowledge or capacity in-house to implement them. When it comes right down to it, businesses often work on a project basis, their security is incomplete and without a long-term plan. This is the gap we wish to fill with the Data Life Insurance plan, tailor-made to the client and with the flexibility to do some cherry picking’, WESTPOLE says.
Building blocks for in-depth data security
WESTPOLE’s “data life insurance” comprises four blocks: Advice, Storage, Back-up and Recovery.
It all begins with good advice. WESTPOLE, as a specialist in the field, is well placed to provide this. The company can advise clients on its basic elements, the nice-to-haves, check what is already in place and/or whether the existing software, for example, is properly configured.
Data are stored in one of the three Belgian WESTPOLE data centres via object storage, using erasure coding so that data durability is guaranteed. This means that the data are not only secure but also virtually indestructible. Object storage is ideal for workloads that require strong scalability, high durability and low costs, such as cloud-based applications, multimedia content and back-ups.
WESTPOLE’s expertise in back-up will protect the inestimable value of company data. They offer seamless, automated back-up processes, so that the data are protected in the event of a disaster or cyberattack, and are always ready to be recovered.
If things should nonetheless go wrong, then data can be recovered quickly thanks to DRaaS (Disaster Recovery as a Service), a cloud-based solution that substantially limits the impact of an incident on business activity. Because these systems are separate from the client environment, with various security measures and accounts, WESTPOLE can supply an air-gapped copy of the back-up data. Moreover, this approach offers a complete recovery after an incident, thanks to the replication of physical or virtual servers in order to make switching possible. Thanks to DRaaS, which is different from traditional on-site disaster recovery, critical applications can be made operational again almost immediately after an incident.
‘We give our clients the freedom to choose which blocks of our insurance package they wish to use, and if necessary which of our strategic partners they wish to involve’, says Tamara Van De Paar, Chief of Staff & Marketing at WESTPOLE. ‘The support of our team of experts, based in Belgium, that is always available to protect everyone’s data is a precious added value. We are convinced that we can develop a tailor-made solution for every organisation that provides for all the basic needs and that is perfectly in line with its needs and objectives.’