1. Customer Industry:
Financial Services – Pension Fund
2. Customer Business and ICT Challenges:
This pension fund administrator faced frequent server disruptions due to outdated infrastructure and lacked both offsite backups and a formal disaster recovery (DR) plan. Their business-critical systems, including payroll, actuarial models, and beneficiary databases were vulnerable to downtime and data loss. The firm also faced mounting pressure to comply with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) but lacked audit-ready controls for data availability and integrity.
3. The Journey We Walked with the Customer:
Bottomline IT began with a comprehensive ICT risk and compliance assessment. This included a business impact analysis and data lifecycle mapping in collaboration with the client’s compliance and IT governance teams. Our findings informed a cloud-aligned business continuity and data protection strategy that prioritized regulatory alignment and operational resilience.
4. Solution Implemented:
- GOLE Cloud DRaaS & BaaS: Hosted replication and encrypted backups using Veeam, with retention policies tailored to pension recordkeeping standards.
- Encrypted Offsite Storage: Hardened for compliance with financial sector regulation.
- Monitoring & Testing: Quarterly DR drills and a secure dashboard for compliance visibility and alerting.
- Customer Enablement: Admin portal access with self-service recovery for critical teams.
5. How This Benefited the Customer:
The pension fund now operates with a robust continuity framework:
- 99.9% system uptime
- RTO under 2 hours
- 30-day rolling backup retention
- Zero non-conformities in their most recent external IT governance audit.
They have significantly reduced reputational risk while enhancing client trust and operational continuity.
This transformation has significantly reduced operational risk profile while ensuring alignment with financial sector regulations. With IT governance now embedded into their business continuity strategy, the customer has redefined its digital posture, moving from reactive recovery to proactive resilience.
