ABOUT GRAYROBINSON
GrayRobinson is a multidimensional team of attorneys, advisors, and consultants recognized as one of the most influential firms in Florida. Its nearly 300 professionals partner with successful businesses and enterprising individuals to resolve disputes, anticipate industry shifts, and harness forward momentum.
Grounded by more than 50 years of service and advocacy, the firm serves clients nationally from 15 offices across Florida and Washington, D.C. From leading and emerging businesses, state and local governments, industry stakeholders, and entrepreneurs nationwide, GrayRobinson clients all have critical legal needs that require safe and sustainable IT services. Consequently, the firm depends on reliable, redundant disaster recovery and business continuity services in order to protect its technology, infrastructure, and data, as well as to maintain availability through potential disruptions, like natural disasters.
“We built IT systems with technology that is more efficient and adaptive to the needs of our various clients,” said Eric Carpenter, CIO of GrayRobinson. “Thanks to our continued partnership with Flexential, our attorneys have around-the-clock access to technology infrastructure that enables them to deliver the best legal services in a secure, compliant, and effective manner.”
THE CHALLENGE
Being always on even during a natural disaster
GrayRobinson already housed its primary production environment in Flexential’s Tampa – North data center, which was built to endure a Category 5 hurricane. Initially the firm had implemented disaster recovery plans at a backup data center they built in leased space across from its Orlando office. Although a fully operational facility, it was located in the heart of a highly hurricane-prone state and did not offer the necessary level of reliability and sustainability provided by Flexential.
“Our disaster recovery solution had to be ready, with our data, to assume the primary role at a moment’s notice,” said Carpenter. “However, being in a transactional industry with a high data-change rate, the objectives for recovery time and recovery point needed to be as low as possible.”
As CIO, Carpenter looked for a disaster recovery solution fully managed by the provider in order to reduce staffing costs, worry less about turnover, and focus the IT team on strategic projects and end-user productivity. The firm’s goals were to enhance its security posture and compliance with its client data management and security requirements, as well as industry best practices.
“GrayRobinson needed a partner who felt the same responsibility as we do,” said Carpenter. “I wanted to sleep at night knowing our data was protected and our business continuity could be maintained in the worst of circumstances.”
