InTown Suites

OVERVIEW

In a time when cyber threats and accidental data deletions are on the rise, InTown Suites, America’s leader in extended stay hotels, was determined to ensure that their data protection strategy went above and beyond.

The Company’s Goal

To be 100% virtual and to leverage SaaS as much as possible. They wanted a backup and recovery solution that was built on and for the cloud.

The Aha Moment

After participating in a Clumio demonstration, they realized immediately that they had found a cloud-based solution that was affordable and even more robust than they anticipated.

The Outcome

Clumio’s backup as a service made data protection easy. It dramatically cut down on the recovery of data from months to days. It significantly simplified the day to day management. And the proactive customer support blew the company away.

Onward and Upward

InTown Suites has found their data protection partner. As they move away from all hardwarebased solutions to the cloud, Clumio is their long-term solution and will be integrated into everything they do

The Business Challenge— Vulnerability and Security

InTown Suites is America’s largest wholly owned economy extended stay brand, with 196 locations in 22 states. As an extended stay hotel leader, the company focuses on providing guests a comfortable and secure place to stay. 2020 has brought some challenges for hospitality during COVID-19, but in an environment where cyber threats are on the rise, InTown Suites wanted to ensure that their data protection strategy went above and beyond.

For Chris Wood, IT Operations Manager for InTown Suites, the ever-increasing risks to his data could not be ignored. He was acutely aware of not only the ominous threats from ransomware attacks, but the organization’s need to be vigilant against unintentional deletion of files. From malignant hackers to innocent human error, Wood could ill afford the loss of critical data.

Because of these risks, InTown Suites had to look closely at its disaster recovery plan. In the event of a data breach or file loss, they had limited ways of handling the incident. “We realized that we needed to have a reliable mechanism to restore the environment if something catastrophic were to happen,” he admitted.

The Technology Opportunity—Committing to the Cloud

When it comes to IT, the company’s ultimate goal was to be 100% virtual and to leverage SaaS as much as possible. As Wood moved his workloads and his data into the cloud, he knew he needed cloud-based data protection. “I wanted to go with a backup and recovery solution that was built on and for the cloud,” stated Wood. “I wanted to be able to restore on the fly. And I didn’t want to be tied to specific hardware or a particular location anymore.” To help execute their cloud strategy, Wood was eager for a partner that could help InTown Suites navigate their journey to the cloud.

Looking for an Answer—A Quick and Rewarding Search

As with so many organizations, the starting point for InTown Suites’ evaluation criteria was finding a data protection solution that would provide the most value for the money they spent. “I don’t have unlimited funds,” Wood said. “I have to strategically figure out what things I need to focus on in a given year, identify our biggest gaps and try to fill those gaps the best we can.”

Wood knew that data protection was an area for improvement, but when his search for a solution began, the only familiarity he had with data protection was with his on-prem backup vendor. Fortunately, one of Wood’s trusted vendors told him about Clumio’s backup as a service, which offered an authentic, cloud-based solution that was more than what his existing vendor was providing and at less cost.

“I was told Clumio would be a great way for us to get into disaster recovery, relatively inexpensively, and that their service would certainly fit the bill for what we were looking for in the cloud,” Wood said.

After meeting with Clumio and participating in a demo, the search for a provider was over almost before it started. Wood instantly realized Clumio’s data protection service not only met his desire for a cloud-based solution in a cost-effective way, but also offered so much more. “I didn’t expect it to be as robust as it is,” Wood said.

Clumio—Enhanced Protection Made Easy

Prior to Clumio, any data recovery effort would have been a laborious effort taking InTown Suites weeks or months. By going with a SaaS solution, InTown Suites was able to dramatically reduce the time necessary to recover data. “Before Clumio, our backups were completely late and took forever,” Wood said. “We were really blown away with the speed and how transparent it is now. With Clumio, we are confident we can cut the recovery time from weeks and months down to days.”

Wood wanted to avoid complexity, preferring a solution that was easy to use. “I don’t want to be digging in and having to learn complex solutions over and over,” he said. “I need it to be simple.”

And Clumio delivered. While providing a full and robust data protection solution for VMware and Microsoft 365, Clumio also makes it easy, which allows Wood to focus on other issues and other challenges. InTown Suites is moving to a hundred percent Microsoft 365 suite and Wood says Clumio has simplified managing the entire data backup process. 365 backups are now much easier to search and access, and recovery is easier as well.

In addition, Wood didn’t expect the added comfort of being able to see everything holistically from a single console, including policies and compliance status. “Once we got going with Clumio,” Wood said. “I was at ease.”

Customer Support

Once Clumio was up and running, one of the things that immediately impressed Wood was the level of customer support. “Service is huge for me,” he said. “I want to be able to focus on more strategic work, rather than having to constantly monitor the system.” While a lot of companies claim to offer great customer support, Clumio far exceeded his expectations. “I consider Clumio’s proactive customer support to be second to none,” he added.

As part of that customer support, Clumio proactively notifies InTown Suites of any issues and follows up to let them know when the issue has been fixed. That process means InTown Suites doesn’t have to constantly monitor their backup files or apply the fixes themselves, allowing Wood to no longer worry about backup, because he trusts that it’s covered.

“One of my favorite features is the fact that I get tickets telling me, ‘Hey, we solved the backup issue and we’re going to monitor for you,’” Wood said. “It’s amazing. It allows me to get proactive support instead of me having to go digging and trying to figure out if there is a problem. It runs so well that I can set it and forget it.”

A New Outlook on the Future

Clumio hasn’t just provided InTown Suites with a more robust backup and recovery solution. It has literally changed the way Wood views data protection in general. Prior to working with Clumio, Wood was unfamiliar with cloud-based disaster recovery, but now sees it as the future for any IT department, regardless of industry. Wood is now certain that his company will make the complete transition to the cloud enabling InTown Suites to constantly improve its technology and, as a result, provide best-in-class extended stay service to its guests.

“I see us getting away from all hardware-based solutions in the future and everything will be cloud-based. And I see Clumio as our long-term backup solution,” Wood said. “I foresee us just continuing to use Clumio as the best solution. Clumio is going to be fully integrated in everything that we do.”