Transforming Data Protection for India’s Leading Financial Giant

Established in 1974, Shriram Capital Private Ltd (SCL) stands as a beacon of financial services excellence in India, including Lending, Investment,Life and General Insurance, Wealth management operations. With a sprawling customer base that surpasses 12 million individuals, SCL’s reach extends across the nation through a vast network of thousands of offices.

At the heart of their commitment to customer service is the monumental task of safeguarding sensitive financial data. The sheer volume and importance of this data necessitate a robust, state-of-the-art data protection strategy that can operate at an immense scale.

LEGACY BACKUP STRUGGLES HINDERED PRODUCTIVITY 

The landscape of data protection within SCL was once a fragmented terrain, dotted with a variety of legacy backup systems. These antiquated solutions were tasked with the protection of data, encompassing both virtual machines and databases. Mr. V. Sendil Kumar, the Chief Technology Officer at SCL, shed light on the challenges they faced: “We used to have multiple legacy backup solutions which was difficult to manage and control. The coordination of backups across a multitude of domains and media types was not only cumbersome but also a drain on valuable time and resources. Backup windows, the daily time frames allocated for data backup, were agonizingly long, often extending to over six hours.”

Kumar elaborated, “The restoration process was made complex and inefficient by having to retrieve data from multiple sources. Compounding the issue was the near impossibility of validating point-in-time data copies, a task that was severely hampered by the lack of an automated system capable of mounting live data sources for verification purposes.

STREAMLINING CYBER RESILIENCE WITH RUBRIK 

In a decisive move to fortify its cyber resilience, the group embraced the innovative data security capabilities of Rubrik. Kumar recounted the transformative impact of this strategic partnership: “Rubrik has substantially simplified and centralized our data protection and security,” said Kumar. “Rubrik’s platform brought intelligent backup automation to the forefront, enabling us to unify all backups under a single, policy-driven framework that seamlessly integrates with our hybrid cloud infrastructure. The global predictive search capabilities of Rubrik have transformed data restoration, making it as straightforward as conducting search easily to locate any data source.”

The consolidation of SCL’s data protection onto Rubrik Security Cloud has well-altered the dynamics of their backup and recovery operations, providing assured recoverability with Rubrik immutable and logical air-gap backup copies. Productivity has surged at least by 40%, a direct result of automating manual tasks and eliminating the convoluted management of multiple legacy backup systems. Kumar highlighted the positive shift in focus for their team: “From mundane backup jobs, our team is now able to concentrate on technology solutions and incident management that drive more business value.”

Backup performance has also experienced a significant boost. Rubrik’s incremental forever backups capture only the data that has changed, leading to at least 50% reduction in backup times for substantial workloads, such as SCL’s databases. Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs) have been tightened by at least 60% with backup windows now reduced from six hours to a mere 1.5 hours daily.

SCL’s restoration processes have been accelerated by a factor of 2.5x with the adoption of Rubrik. The task of restoring large databases, such as those running on Microsoft SQL Server, which previously necessitated the retrieval of backup tapes, can now be executed instantaneously. Furthermore, SCL has been able to dispense with the logistical burdens associated with the transport and management of physical tape media by opting to replicate backups to an off-site object store.

ACCELERATING RESTORES AND ELIMINATING TAPES

The partnership between SCL and Rubrik is emblematic of a broader trend in the financial and Insurance industry, where the adoption of cutting-edge technology is not just a competitive advantage but a necessity. The financial sector is increasingly reliant on digital infrastructure, and as such, the importance of robust data protection and cyber resilience cannot be overstated. In this context, SCL’s proactive approach to modernizing its data protection capabilities is a testament to its commitment to excellence and customer trust.

“As we continue to navigate the complexities of the financial landscape, our collaboration with Rubrik ensures that we remain at the forefront of technological innovation. With Rubrik, we are well-equipped to meet the challenges of today and the opportunities of tomorrow, reinforcing our position as a leader in India’s financial services industry,” remarked Kumar.

The success of this partnership underscores the critical importance of investing in the right technology to safeguard the lifeblood of any financial institution-its data.

“As we continue to navigate the complexities of the financial landscape, our collaboration with Rubrik ensures that remains at the forefront of technological innovation. With Rubrik, we are well-equipped to meet the challenges of today and the opportunities of tomorrow, reinforcing our position as a leader in India’s financial services industry.”

– Mr. V. Sendil Kumar, Chief Technology Officer, Shriram Capita