Hollard, a South African investment and insurance group, has selected Dimension Data to deliver an email archiving solution that has enabled the group to effectively manage and store documentation pertaining to over 700,000 of its customers.
Hollard required a solution that would reduce back-up and recovery time frames, reduce storage costs and satisfy its complex record retention periods. To address these information-related requirements, Dimension Data implemented EMC Legato`s EmailXtender (EX) and issued 1,000 mailbox licences in just over a month.
Prior to the upgrade, back-up and recovery on the insurer`s three Johannesburg-based mail servers could not be completed in an acceptable time-frame. Dimension Data conducted a surveyor assessment to understand Hollard`s current email environment. The surveyor revealed that if Hollard archived all email for six months, it would be able to significantly reduce its server storage requirements. The Single Instance Store and compression available in EX made this possible.
"Cost containment, customer acquisition and retention and improved service levels remain critical drivers in the insurance industry today. Dimension Data has satisfied our storage requirements, which enables us to continue focusing on addressing evolving customer needs," says Andre Myburgh, technical architecture manager at Hollard.
Following the implementation, Hollard enjoys increased user productivity as email users spend significantly less time managing their mailboxes. The archiving solution has furthermore reduced storage costs, improved system performance and facilitated regulatory compliance efforts.
"We understand that financial services providers face increasingly tougher legislative requirements in terms of record retention periods. Therefore, having a robust archiving solution in place will aid in ensuring that Hollard operates in accordance with compliance standards, whilst being able to focus on its core competencies," says Frans Nijeboer, Dimension Data`s national practice manager for data centre and storage solutions.
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