With the growing sophistication of the cyber world, Commvault is stepping into the spotlight as a business solutions provider of strong infrastructure and secure data handling. Balaji Rao, Area Vice President, India & SAARC, Commvault, explains how Commvault’s cutting-edge products such as Cloud Rewind and point-in-time recovery, are enabling faster and more efficient recovery of data, reducing downtime, and increasing effectiveness in operations. The strategic emphasis of the company on AI, automation, and machine learning is accelerating threat detection and response, and its clean room offerings are meeting the increasing demand for cyber resilience.
With a robust partner-first model and Centres of Excellence influencing product development and customer success, Commvault is positioned to grow its presence in India and South Asia. This attribute emphasises Commvault’s methodology for managing rising threats, enabling regulated industries, and facilitating business continuity in a cloud-first world.
In a cloud-first world where cyber threats are growing rapidly, how is Commvault helping businesses ensure continuous operations and build resilient infrastructure?
We are helping businesses maintain continuous operations and build resilient infrastructure by introducing innovative recovery solutions like Cloud Rewind. Traditional recovery methods involve identifying a clean backup copy, which can be time-consuming and complex, especially in hybrid environments. Cloud Rewind simplifies this process by enabling businesses to restore applications quickly in another account or geographical location, such as Azure, AWS, or GCP. This significantly reduces recovery time and ensures business continuity with minimal disruption. The level of automation provided by Cloud Rewind is unprecedented, making the recovery process faster and more reliable. Additionally, we integrate advanced automation into its recovery process, eliminating the complexity of traditional methods and allowing businesses to focus on their core operations without worrying about the technical challenges of restoring data after a breach.
Data security remains a major concern for businesses shifting to the cloud. How does Commvault address the gap between cloud investment and security to help organisations build a more resilient infrastructure?
We address the gap between cloud investment and security by offering point-in-time recovery, which allows businesses to restore critical data first rather than recovering the entire dataset. Most organisations rely on native cloud snapshots, which require a complete recovery process, consuming time and increasing storage costs. Our solution reduces this complexity by deduplicating data by up to 90%, which drastically lowers storage requirements and total cost of ownership (TCO). We also integrates features like air gap and clean room on the cloud, providing an added layer of protection against cyberattacks. These capabilities ensure that businesses have a secure and resilient infrastructure where critical applications can be restored quickly, reducing downtime and improving overall operational efficiency.
How is Commvault leveraging AI, ML, and automation to enhance data security and improve recovery speed?
We are using AI and ML to improve both data security and recovery speed by enabling faster detection and resolution of cyber threats. AI helps analyse large volumes of data, identify anomalies, and predict potential threats. Our AI assistant, Arli, provides an intuitive interface for customers, allowing them to generate reports, automate tasks, and even create code for firewall integration. Arli simplifies complex processes, reducing the learning curve for customers and improving operational efficiency. Internally, AI is used to analyse log files and diagnose issues quickly, which reduces the mean time to recovery (MTTR). AI also helps automate processes within our support organisation, ensuring that issues are resolved faster and more accurately. We plan to extend these AI-driven diagnostic capabilities to customers, enabling them to conduct first-level troubleshooting independently and further accelerating recovery time.
What are the key challenges that businesses face when trying to achieve true cyber resilience, and how is Commvault helping them address these challenges?
Many businesses struggle to achieve true cyber resilience due to the complexity of managing hybrid environments, combining multiple clouds and on-premise systems. Most companies rely on Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCPDR) approaches, which are effective for operational disruptions but insufficient for cyber recovery scenarios. Regulatory bodies are now requiring businesses to conduct cyber resilience testing, which many organisations are unprepared to handle. Our clean room solution addresses this gap by providing a structured workflow for cyber recovery testing and execution. The clean room simplifies the recovery process and ensures that businesses can quickly restore critical applications even during a cyberattack. Commvault also offers a single platform to manage hybrid environments, reducing complexity and enhancing visibility across cloud and on-premise systems. This integrated approach allows businesses to implement a robust cyber resilience strategy, meeting both operational and regulatory requirements.
What industries are seeing the highest adoption of Commvault’s solutions, and what is driving this trend?
Industries with high regulatory requirements, such as banking, financial services, and healthcare, are seeing the highest adoption of Commvault’s solutions. These industries handle large volumes of sensitive data and face stringent compliance requirements from regulators like the RBI, SEBI, and FDA. Even a minor disruption in these sectors can lead to significant financial and reputational damage. Our ability to provide fast recovery, point-in-time restoration, and secure data management makes it particularly valuable for these industries. Additionally, the rise in ransomware attacks has driven demand for more sophisticated cyber resilience solutions. Pharma, capital markets, and manufacturing are also showing increased adoption due to the growing need for secure and reliable data protection. The flexibility of our solutions to support hybrid environments, combined with its strong security and recovery capabilities, makes it a preferred choice across a wide range of industries.
What are the latest trends in cyber resilience and security, and how is Commvault preparing to address them?
We are observing a growing trend of AI-powered cyberattacks, polymorphic malware, and insider threats. Hackers are increasingly using AI to develop more sophisticated attack methods, which require advanced defence mechanisms. Polymorphic malware, which changes its signature frequently, can evade traditional detection tools.
We are also investing in AI and malware scanning tools to detect these dynamic threats in real time. Insider threats are also on the rise, prompting us to introduce two-factor and multi-person authentication to safeguard critical data. The emergence of quantum computing presents another challenge, as it could potentially break encryption algorithms at unprecedented speed.
We are actively enhancing its encryption protocols and investing in quantum-safe security measures. The company’s strategic focus on AI, automation, and advanced threat detection positions it to address these emerging challenges effectively and maintain its leadership in cyber resilience.
How does Commvault’s partner ecosystem contribute to its overall strategy, and how are partners being enabled to deliver better outcomes for customers?
We follow a partner-first approach, with 100% of our business conducted through an extensive partner network. The company has established a strong partner programme that includes training, skill development, and strategic alignment with key technology partners like AWS and Microsoft. We regularly host partner events, including the Shift conference, to update partners on new products and implementation techniques. Partners receive hands-on training and technical support to ensure seamless integration and customer success. We are also conducting regular webinars and briefings with partners to share insights on emerging threats and market trends. Our comprehensive partner strategy ensures that partners are well-equipped to deliver high-quality services and solutions to customers, strengthening the overall customer experience and enhancing market reach.
How is Commvault strengthening its talent pipeline, and what role do Centres of Excellence (COEs) play in driving innovation and customer success?
We are actively expanding its talent pipeline by recruiting from top universities in India and running a structured intern and fresher programme. We value fresh perspectives and innovative thinking, which helps drive product development and customer success.
Our Centres of Excellence (COEs) in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, serve as hubs for engineering, product support, and customer engagement. The COEs play a crucial role in developing migration tools, automating customer onboarding, and accelerating deployment times. For example, we have migrated complex SAP HANA workloads from competitor platforms within 10 days, showcasing the speed and efficiency enabled by its COEs.
The COEs also allow us to customise solutions based on customer feedback and rapidly implement new features to meet market demands. This agile and customer-focused approach enhances the overall value proposition for customers.
What is Commvault’s strategic focus for the next few years, and how does the company plan to expand its presence in the Indian and South Asian markets?
Our strategic focus for the next few years includes strengthening its SaaS platform and expanding its customer base in India and the broader South Asian region, including Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. SaaS is seen as a key growth driver due to the lack of skilled professionals in the mid-market segment. Our SaaS platform simplifies data protection and recovery by automating best practices and providing expert management. The company is also focused on expanding its government and enterprise business while increasing penetration in the mid-market sector. Investing in customer education, strengthening partnerships, and enhancing product capabilities will remain central to our strategy. This holistic approach positions Commvault to deliver comprehensive cyber resilience and data protection solutions across a diverse range of industries and geographies.
