Northern German Workshop Adopts DataManagement as a Service for M365 Backup from Pink Elephant
Instead of building the M365 Backup themselves, the Northern German Workshop opts for DataManagement as a Service from Pink Elephant. The social institution migrated to M365 in 2022 and chose the managed service for reliable backup and fast recovery.
Key Takeaways
- Pink Elephant is specialized in data management. The focus is on storage solutions as well as backup and archiving software.
- DMaaS enables resilient data management. The DMaaS portfolio (Data Management as a Service) enables companies to have resilient data management even without their own IT resources.
- The entire Microsoft environment is backed up. The backup with flexible retention periods and immediate recovery covers the entire Microsoft environment.
- The implementation grew with the organization. The implementation started for the then environment with 800 users, which has now grown to 1,100 users.
IT Support Essential for the Non-Profit Organization
What is DataManagement as a Service? The DMaaS portfolio (Data Management as a Service) enables companies to have resilient data management even without their own IT resources.
The social institution in a northern German metropolitan region offers people with disabilities a wide range of vocational training, individual support and diverse employment opportunities. The disability-friendly workplaces are available at several locations of the institution and in regional partner companies. The goal of the institution, which is run as a GmbH, is to enforce freedom of choice for people with disabilities in the labor market.
To bring people with disabilities into working life, the non-profit organization relies on functioning, cost-efficient and secure IT support. In 2022, the company faced the challenge of migrating to Microsoft 365 (M365), i.e. switching from locally operated Office applications such as Exchange, Word, Excel and PowerPoint to the corresponding subscription-based web applications of the provider.
The standard configurations of M365 offer basic functions for data protection, data backup and data security. However, if these are not implemented or managed correctly, the consequences are inadequate threat detection, missing data classification, incomplete permissions or improper releases. Secure use of M365 usually requires additional strategies for data protection, data backup and data security. For the social institution with minimal internal IT resources, it was clear that they had to bring in an IT service provider for this. It was crucial to keep the costs within limits, as the non-profit organization active in the social sector has to act very cost-sensitively. Since Microsoft does not provide sufficient backup and security for M365 as standard, this gap had to be closed professionally. In short: Microsoft offers the applications and services, but no security and backup of the data.
DMaaS M365 Backup Proves to Be the Ideal Solution
As part of an evaluation, followed by a presentation and live demo, the company decided on DMaaS M365 Backup from Pink Elephant. The DMaaS portfolio (Data Management as a Service) enables companies to have resilient data management even without their own IT resources. Pink Elephant ensures reliable backup and recovery as well as legally compliant storage of business data, tailored to the existing environment.
The central advantage of a managed service for the organization: It does not have to provide its own infrastructure. This saves it the acquisition costs for new hardware, as well as license and maintenance costs, as well as electricity costs.
DMaaS M365 Backup monitors all M365 systems around the clock and ensures that they can be restored in just a few minutes. The backup with flexible retention periods and immediate recovery covers the entire Microsoft environment. The monitoring includes anomaly detection to identify suspicious behavior before damage occurs. Threat scans find known vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them. Compliance Search also provides a fully GDPR-compliant, securely logged and traceable query function for audits or legal inquiries.
After Pink Elephant submitted an offer to the company, a 30-day proof of concept followed. Pink Elephant set up the individually designed environment for the customer and manages it completely, including support. The implementation started for the then environment with 800 users, which has now grown to 1,100 users. DMaaS M365 Backup has proven itself since then for data backup and for fast restores. Pink Elephant secures data for the company in all M365 applications, including One Drive, Teams and Exchange.
Decisive Advantages through Data Management as a Service
The non-profit organization does not have to maintain its own infrastructure for DMaaS backup processes, as Pink Elephant provides all services from its cloud in Frankfurt am Main. This has also created a sovereign data management solution within Germany that is not impaired by the US Cloud Act and other critical issues surrounding data sovereignty. The non-profit organization also benefits economically from the DMaaS model by switching from Capex expenses, i.e. capital investments, to Opex expenses, i.e. pure operating costs. Further economic advantages result from the unlimited storage space for M365 data, and the customer incurs no costs for data access for both incoming and outgoing data traffic.
The operation of the DMaaS platform by Pink Elephant includes data management functions such as storage, data security, access controls and data protection measures up to compliance support. Automatic daily backups, immediate recovery and support are provided by Pink Elephant, ensuring that the data is stored securely and in compliance with the law, with local hosting and integrated resilience, and is always under the customer’s control. Business-critical data is protected with secure, automated daily backups and thus remains within German borders in business operations.
“For the vast majority of organizations, IT operations in complete self-management are hardly realistic anymore. It is practically no longer possible without the cloud,” summarizes Greg Hansbuer, Regional Manager D-A-CH at Pink Elephant GmbH. “I understand that especially many medium-sized companies are skeptical in view of the current discussion about data sovereignty and insufficiently transparent cloud costs with the large providers. However, practice also shows: With reputable providers from the EU or Germany who operate their data centers locally on site, sovereign and at the same time secure, powerful cloud solutions are possible.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Each question is closed. A tap unlocks the answer.
What is Pink Elephant GmbH specialized in?
Pink Elephant GmbH (formerly DMP, DataManagement Professionals) based in Frankfurt is specialized in data management. The focus is on storage solutions as well as backup and archiving software.
What does the DMaaS portfolio enable?
The DMaaS portfolio (Data Management as a Service) enables companies to have resilient data management even without their own IT resources.
Which applications does Pink Elephant secure?
Pink Elephant secures data for the company in all M365 applications, including One Drive, Teams and Exchange.
How many users are secured now?
The implementation started for the then environment with 800 users, which has now grown to 1,100 users.
Editor’s Picks
Editor’s PickWhat is Ransomware? Definition, Process and ProtectionEditor’s PickWhen HCI Makes Backup an Attack SurfaceEditor’s PickWhat is ISO 27001? Definition, Certificate and Delimitation
More from the MBF Media Network
cloudmagazinBSI C3A: Cloud Sovereignty Becomes AuditableMyBusinessFutureAI in SMEs from Pilot to ScalingDigital ChiefsSovereign Cloud: When the Surcharge Really Pays Off
Image source: AI-generated (July 2026)
