MSP Computers at Work brings client service home with Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud

Computers and Work (CAW) is a managed service provider (MSP) based in Taupo, New Zealand, that has served local organisations for 35 years. Chris Kelly is a technician with CAW.

Computers at Work began to reassess how it delivered services in the wake of changes in work habits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Clients began shifting from on-premises to hosted applications, including Microsoft 365.

“We undertook an internal review to ensure the products we were deploying and utilizing were the best for the task at hand at a consumer-friendly cost,” Kelly says.

CAW’s previous backup solution was showing signs of wear as the sophistication of client demands increased. Installation and backups sometimes failed without warning and required intensive effort to fix. The antivirus application the MSP was using lacked granular management features and offered weak endpoint detection and response (EDR) and extended detection and response (XDR) capabilities.

The lack of strong EDR and XDR became a problem when clients’ cyber insurance companies starting demanding stronger protection in those areas as a condition of coverage. Worse, the cybersecurity element of CAW’s previous solution was difficult to use.

“Getting to the root cause of issues was difficult, and the task of isolating and efficiently remediating attacks was very difficult,” Kelly says.

Moving to a new backup solution became a necessity when a larger company bought the vendor that produced the backup application and pulled support for the product. As part of its internal review, Computers at Work evaluated Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud.

“I had a conversation with a trusted supplier about the solutions we had historically offered and asked if they were able to recommend some alternative options worth investigating,” Kelly said.

CAW had some specific requirements: The solution needed to be manageable remotely from a single source, lightweight and able to back up cloud-based platforms such as Microsoft 365. It also needed to be able to back up on-premises servers and workstations. And ideally, the vendor would have a data centre as close to New Zealand as possible.

“Acronis was the first option that we trialled that ticked all the boxes,” Kelly says. “We were impressed with the scope, function and flexibility of Acronis. We found value in being able to toggle on a more advanced feature set with incredible ease, while keeping the base offering stripped back for the budget conscious. The MSP interface setup was very straightforward.”

With Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud, CAW’s backups are faster.

“The New Zealand-based data centre has made backups a breeze,” Kelly says. Onshore fibre connection is swift, so previous cloud backups that crawled through completion to offshore centres now fly through. There is additional peace of mind knowing the onshore centres are compliant with New Zealand regulations and legislation regarding data sovereignty.”

Its clients are safer, too, and able to meet insurance requirements for cybersecurity. Increased protection with Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud has even led to greater awareness of cyberthreats among clients.

“Partners who previously thought they were not a target or at risk now ask great questions about security offerings,” Kelly says. “Acronis provides us with the ability to offer a nearly bespoke security, backup and continuity offering to suit the needs and budget of our partners.”

And Computers at Work can do it all from a single console, eliminating tool sprawl.

“As for deployment, Acronis marries nicely to our remote connection agent, which makes deploying straightforward,” Kelly says. “We can configure and push installs via our remote agent, so there is very little need to jump directly onto endpoints. We have appreciated the ease with which we can add and remove additional features like EDR, XDR and backup without needing additional installers.”

Case study

Download the case study

Click here