Nous Group Consolidates Backup Solutions with AvePoint Cloud Backup for Streamlined IT Administration

Nous Group is an international management consultancy with over 750 people operating across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, and Canada. The company’s main headquarters is located in Melbourne. They work with leaders in the private, public, and community sectors to improve services for people and communities, strengthen business performance, support a productive and inclusive economy, and protect the natural environment. 

• Consolidate backup solutions for Microsoft 365 and Salesforce to simplify administration and reduce complexity
• Implement a cost-effective solution that results in significant savings
• Ensure feature parity with existing backup capabilities
• Maintain strong local support and implementation services 

Nous Group faced a specific opportunity to streamline their backup solutions across Microsoft 365 and SharePoint. Previously, the organisation utilised AvePoint for Microsoft 365 backup alongside OwnBackup for their Salesforce data protection needs. Managing these separate solutions created unnecessary complexity for IT administrators who had to maintain knowledge and proficiency across two different systems.

According to Peter Brand, CIO of Nous Group, having to know and maintain knowledge of one system rather than two was an important advantage for the IT team, as it presented a clear consolidation opportunity.

Nous Group needed a solution that could match OwnBackup’s functionality while integrating smoothly with their existing Microsoft 365 backup strategy. This consolidation would reduce complexity for administrators and streamline operations by using a single platform for both critical backup needs. 

Nous Group decided to consolidate their backup strategy by extending their use of AvePoint Cloud Backup from Microsoft 365 to include Salesforce data protection as well. Owing to the organisation’s positive experience with AvePoint, it was a natural step to entrust the same solution for their Salesforce backup needs.

“We were already using it for Microsoft,“ Brand explained, describing how their evaluation centred on whether AvePoint could provide feature parity with their existing OwnBackup solution. This familiarity with AvePoint’s interface and support structure gave the team confidence in the transition. 

AvePoint’s Salesforce backup solution offered several compelling features:

• Automatic daily backups initiated as soon as the user logs in
• On-demand backups with the ability to schedule additional backups up to five times a day
• Comprehensive restore options at the organisation, object, record, and field levels
• Granular data and metadata restores, ensuring associations are intact, keeping parent and child relationships together
• 100% cloud-hosted with no installation or configuration necessary

The consolidation to a single backup platform reduced the mental load on IT administrators who previously needed to maintain proficiency in two separate systems. By standardising on AvePoint for both critical platforms, Nous Group simplified their backup operations and allowed their IT staff to focus on more strategic initiatives rather than managing multiple backup solutions.

The implementation process proved seamless, with Brand noting that AvePoint’s quality of service reinforced their decision. The presence of a local support team in Melbourne further enhanced the relationship, providing Nous Group with access to nearby experts rather than relying on remote vendors potentially located in different countries or time zones.