Arizona Department of Education boosts backup capability, compliance, and data privacy on a tight budget with Azure BCDR
Tight budgets don't have to limit innovation. When the Arizona Department of Education faced pressure to modernize while keeping costs down, it turned to Microsoft Azure to make it happen. Read this customer story to see how ADE improved security, enhanced its backup and disaster recovery (BCDR) capabilities, and stayed within a constrained budget — all by leveraging the flexibility and cost-efficiency of Azure. Contact Natural Intelligent Systems to discuss cost-effective cloud strategies tailored to your needs.
What challenges does the Arizona Department of Education face in IT?
The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) faces significant challenges due to budget constraints typical of government organizations. With a static budget for several years, the IT team, led by Edward Block and Chris Henry, must maximize every dollar while managing a large-scale K-12 public education system that serves over 1 million students and 51,000 teachers across 2,380 schools.
How has Azure impacted ADE's data management?
The implementation of Azure has significantly transformed ADE's data management by enabling the development of the Arizona Education Data Standards (AzEDS), which automates and consolidates student data tracking. This system processes millions of transactions daily and supports the management of $6.5 billion in school funding, moving from manual spreadsheet management to real-time data submission.
What role does Veeam play in ADE's backup and recovery strategy?
Veeam plays a crucial role in ADE's backup and disaster recovery strategies by providing solutions that integrate seamlessly with Azure. The partnership allows ADE to utilize Veeam Backup & Replication for both on-premises and cloud-based services, ensuring effective business continuity and data recovery through features like immutable backups, which enhance data protection.

Arizona Department of Education boosts backup capability, compliance, and data privacy on a tight budget with Azure BCDR
published by Natural Intelligent Systems
Who Are Natural Intelligent Systems
We’re a systems integrator and managed services provider that designs manages and optimises today’s evolving technology environments to enable its clients to leverage data in a digital age.
Founded in 1988, and headquartered in Johannesburg, we are a small independent information communication technology (ICT) company, supported by a group of global technology companies.
We invest in innovation and training to bring together the world’s best technologies, from consulting, technical and support services to a fully managed service, to our client base.