How Meridian IT Helped a Global Manufacturer Reduce Backup Costs by 30%

About the Manufacturer

This multinational manufacturing company operates a complex global infrastructure spanning more than 20 countries and 1,300 servers. With operations distributed worldwide, protecting business-critical data is essential to maintaining production continuity, protecting intellectual property, and ensuring uninterrupted service delivery.

The company relies on Commvault backup and recovery solutions as a core component of its data protection strategy, safeguarding systems, applications, and operational data across its global footprint.

Industry: Manufacturing

The Challenge: Escalating Backup Costs and Limited Licensing Flexibility

As the company’s infrastructure expanded, its Commvault licensing and maintenance costs increased significantly year over year. These rising operational expenses created pressure to reduce IT spend while maintaining the same high level of data protection and reliability.

The existing perpetual, per-terabyte licensing model required large upfront capital investments and offered limited flexibility. This approach made it difficult to align costs with actual usage and created inefficiencies as infrastructure needs evolved.

To support a corporate initiative to reduce operational expenses by more than 20 percent, the manufacturer needed a more flexible and cost-effective licensing model—one that could scale with its business while protecting its global backup environment.

How Meridian IT Helped Optimize Commvault Licensing

As a trusted Commvault partner for more than five years, Meridian IT worked closely with the manufacturer to analyze its backup environment and identify opportunities for cost optimization.

Using detailed license usage data and reporting, Meridian IT developed a strategy to transition the company from its existing perpetual licensing model to a more flexible, subscription-based approach. Meridian IT also provided expert guidance, proactive monitoring, and ongoing support to ensure a smooth transition without disruption to backup operations.

In addition, Meridian IT’s proactive analysis identified potential risks at several remote locations where backup performance could have been impacted. By addressing these issues early, Meridian IT helped prevent potential failures and ensured uninterrupted protection across the company’s global infrastructure.

The Solution: Flexible, Consumption-Based Backup Licensing

Meridian IT implemented a new licensing model based on monthly, per-client instance subscription pricing. This approach aligned licensing costs with actual usage, allowing the manufacturer to scale backup capacity as needed without unnecessary capital investment.

This new model provided several key advantages:

• Converted backup licensing from a capital expense to a predictable operational expense
• Eliminated the need for costly upfront license purchases
• Improved visibility into backup usage and infrastructure performance
• Allowed the company to scale licensing based on business needs
• Enhanced support with faster response and resolution times

Meridian IT also provided first-line support for the Commvault environment, ensuring faster issue resolution and more efficient backup management.

Results: Significant Cost Savings, Faster Support, and Improved Operational Visibility

Meridian IT’s licensing optimization and support services delivered immediate and measurable improvements.

Results at a glance:

• 30% Reduction in Operating Costs — The company reduced backup software operating expenses by approximately $52,500 annually, helping support its corporate cost reduction initiative.
• Eliminated Capital License Purchases — The transition to a subscription-based licensing model removed the need for additional capital expenditures on backup licenses.
• 30–50% Faster Support Response Times — Meridian IT’s proactive support and expertise significantly reduced ticket response times, improving operational efficiency and system reliability.
• Improved Visibility and Resource Utilization — Enhanced reporting and monitoring allowed the manufacturer to make smarter infrastructure decisions and optimize backup performance globally.
• Prevented Potential Backup Failures — Meridian IT’s proactive monitoring helped identify and resolve risks at remote locations before they could impact operations.

With Meridian IT’s ongoing support, proactive monitoring, and licensing expertise, the manufacturer now operates a more agile, resilient, and financially optimized backup environment built to scale with future growth.