Schneider Electric avoid losing $ 500,000 of Data Loss

Schneider Electric is a global specialist in energy management and automation with operations in 190 countries. The Swedish division employees 2,000 employees who largely work as energy consultants, who typically work from the road more than 30 hours per week.

  • Industry: Energy
  • Headquarters: France
  • Global Reach: 100+ countries globally
  • Employees: 180,000+

As Schneider Electric’s energy consultants based in Sweden meet with clients, they carry a lot of sensitive information on their laptops. The data contained on just one laptop is worth an estimated $150,000. Schneider Electric Sweden had been using Symantec as its backup software, and began searching for new solutions when the software reached the end of its life.

Critical needs:
  • Data protection for remote workforce
  • Complete control over data
  • Ability to recover from data loss incidents

The branch needed the ability to quickly restore data when laptops are lost or stolen. After considering HP Connected, and several other options, the branch chose Code42 for its full control over the encryption keys and its ability to collect data in the cloud without reliance on on-premises servers. “We are sensitive to the possibility of governments extracting data from internet service providers, so we wanted the encryption keys to be in our possession,” said Christian Kallqvist, country IT manager for Schneider Electric Sweden. “The cloud service was also very important because without it, it wouldn’t be easy to back up the work of our mobile consultants.”

$500,000 saved in lost data

As Kallqvist explored Code42, he realized he had a great business case, making it one of the easiest sells he’s ever made to upper management. With an average of five energy consultants losing their laptops or experiencing a major data loss incident each year, Kallqvist figured Code42 would prevent the loss of $500,000 worth of data at the branch alone. What’s more, all the data can be recovered in just three to four hours—compared to the 24 hours it previously took to complete a partial restore—increasing billable hours by about 100 per year.

“There’s nothing like numbers when you’re trying get buy-in from your superiors, and with Code42, the conversation was easy,” Kallqvist said. “It took me about two minutes. I just showed them the slide and they said, ‘Okay, let’s move on”.

Never WannaCry from data loss again

Whether it is a lost or stolen device, or ransomware, data loss is no longer a worry for Schneider Electric Sweden. Recently, for example, some of the branch’s employees were hit by the WannaCry ransomware attack. With Code42 in place, IT administrators restored all the data in just three hours. “In one case, a sales rep came into the office close to tears because he didn’t realize we had Code42,” Kallqvist said. “We just took the laptop, did a little magic, and in three hours we had his laptop restored. The smiles you get after that kind of interaction are really satisfying”.