ZUE S.A. selects Disaster Recovery at Polcom

With the entry into force of the NIS2 directive, an increasing number of companies covered by the directive, have been challenged to meet the relevant requirements related to organisational business continuity and security policies. The European Union’s directive aims to increase the level of security in member states and improve their resilience to potential cyber threats by implementing technical and procedural measures to enhance companies’ IT security. The directive applies to various sectors, including energy, transport, healthcare, digital infrastructure and many others. For this reason, many companies are looking for solutions that will enable them to ensure compliance with the new regulations, which will safeguard business continuity.

ZUE S.A. was keen to take steps that would support the achievement of its strategic objectives and implement solutions that would safeguard areas critical to NIS2. Central to the company’s strategy was a disaster recovery service that would ensure that data and systems could be restored to full operational capacity in the shortest possible time following a disaster. The implementation of disaster recovery was important to the ZUE Group due to the specific nature of its operations in the rail and tram infrastructure sector, where continuity of access to data, reliability of systems and rapid response to failures are critical to the achievement of business objectives and customer relationships.

It is also important to note that maintaining its position as one of the market leaders in the construction of communications, railway and urban infrastructure is one of the strategic objectives that will determine the ZUE Group’s actions in the coming years. As a result, the organisation’s primary and long-term objective has become the expansion of its offer with additional services and the development of commercial activities based on the production of track materials.

Hardware failures, cyber-attacks, human error, natural disasters or other unexpected events can lead to disruption of business continuity and loss of critical data. Therefore, ZUE’s digital transformation development strategy included securing key areas of the organisation and maintaining business continuity by implementing appropriate solutions.

The decision to choose Polcom as a provider of a comprehensive solution in the DRaaS model was a conscious one, supported by the previous cooperation within the Polcom cloud service. ZUE Group has been using Polcom’s cloud services for several years for its key systems, including its ERP system.

Another key factor in the decision was the high level of security of the service, supported by numerous standards and certificates relating to data quality and security, such as ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 9001. Of particular importance is the fact that Polcom is also certified in accordance with the EU’s NIS2 directive, which applies to companies classified as critical entities.

NIS2 clearly outlines the security measures that an organisation covered by the directive should have in place. DRaaS is a service that is a direct response to an organisation building compliance with the EU’s NIS2 directive, as its implementation allows them to define detailed procedures for recovering systems and data following security incidents and disasters.

DRaaS is a comprehensive solution that provides procedural and technical measures to ensure the continuity of a customer’s critical operating systems following an incident or failure. The service involves mapping the IT infrastructure in a cloud model to an offsite location where data from the primary environment is continuously replicated. In the event of an unplanned disruption to IT systems at the primary site, key systems are switched to the backup environment in the shortest possible time. In this way, infrastructure downtime is kept to an absolute minimum and company data remains secure.

As the owner of two data centres connected by fibre optic cable, Polcom provides ZUE with a dedicated environment in the cloud model for key systems, ERP applications and data replication to a backup centre where backups are stored.

The first step was to identify the environments that performed critical functions in terms of maintaining the organisation’s business continuity. The next step was to set up redundant internet links as part of the DRaaS service, enabling data to be securely replicated from the servers that provide data for the ZUE Group’s key systems to a dedicated environment in the Polcom data centre.

As part of the collaboration, rapid response procedures and scenarios were developed. A key factor was the alignment of the service with the ZUE Group’s Business Continuity Plan. Two important parameters were therefore defined in the project:

• RPO – a parameter that defines the maximum acceptable loss of data that an organisation can suffer as a result of a disaster.
• RTO – which defines how quickly ZUE Group’s IT infrastructure must be restored after a failure or incident.

As a result, the company’s ability to resume operations after a critical incident – known as RTO – will occur within a maximum of 120 minutes from the time of the adverse event, as defined by the organisation.

Polcom’s Disaster Recovery service enables ZUE Group to effectively manage operational risks, support regulatory compliance and maintain business continuity in crisis situations. By implementing DRaaS, the company minimises the risk of data loss and disruption, which is particularly important in industries that require uninterrupted access to information. In the event of an outage, the organisation’s systems will be back up and running in much less time, reducing downtime and minimising potential financial and operational losses. Implementing DRaaS in the cloud model is also more cost effective than maintaining an in-house backup data centre. By using Polcom’s infrastructure and solutions, ZUE Group avoids the high costs associated with additional in-house infrastructure and specialised personnel.

In addition, and most importantly, the implementation of the service has met the requirements of the NIS2 Directive. Activities around the directive have focused on ensuring appropriate risk analysis policies and IT system security, but most importantly business continuity, including backup and disaster recovery management.

Security

With the implementation of DRaaS, the organisation received a comprehensive service, ensuring the security of data and processes through a properly prepared backup environment, testing and an automated data replication and backup system that guarantees operational and recovery readiness in a crisis situation. In addition, rapid response procedures were developed and prepared in the company, allowing full operational capacity to be restored in a minimised timeframe. The service made it possible to meet the requirements related to compliance with security and quality standards and to ensure the correct level of data replication in line with the specification and Business Continuity principles, while being supported 24/7/365 by qualified Polcom specialists.

Business continuity of the organisation

A disaster recovery solution minimises downtime and enables rapid recovery of critical systems and applications after a disaster, protecting the business from potential cyber threats. With a defined operational strategy and secure infrastructure, the business can quickly switch to alternate resources or restore services from backups, minimising the time it takes to return to full capacity.

Stable market image

Successful DRaaS solutions build trust with customers, partners and investors. Knowing that an organisation has robust disaster recovery safeguards in place enhances its reputation and credibility in the marketplace. Customers are more likely to enter into a long-term relationship with an organisation that can guarantee data security and operational stability. Investors, on the other hand, appreciate that an organisation is prepared for the risks associated with failure, reducing potential financial loss and protecting their interests.

Security against financial losses

Organisational and production downtime can be extremely costly in the event of a system failure or cyber-attack. It is not only financial assets that are at risk, but especially sensitive data. By investing in Polcom Disaster Recovery, you can minimise the potential costs of unwanted outages and attacks.