AB Microfinance Bank – Securing Backup Resilience with AWS
Industry
Financial Services / Microfinance Banking
Team Size
30+ Branch Network Medium-sized IT Operations Team
Services
AWS Architecture, Backup & DR, Hybrid Storage, Security & Compliance
Milestones
Synology-AWS Backup, Glacier Archival, Dashboards, Team Handover
Customer Background
AB Microfinance Bank is a Central Bank–licensed institution operating across more than 30 branches in Nigeria. The bank provides loans, savings products, POS services, and financial support to individuals and MSMEs nationwide.
As part of its commitment to operational resilience and financial-sector compliance, AB Microfinance Bank engaged Cognetiks Consulting to modernise its data protection strategy with AWS and improve disaster recovery readiness across all locations.
The Customer Problem
The bank relied on an on-premises Synology system to handle primary backups across branches. However, they needed a secure, automated, cloud-based secondary backup solution that would mirror their existing setup without interrupting daily operations.
The objective was to improve resilience, tighten compliance, and gain more visibility into backup operations while ensuring that all data remained encrypted and fully recoverable.
Initial Assessment & Discovery
Assessment Focus
- Review of existing Synology backup environment, branch-level data flows, and retention policies.
- Evaluation of recovery processes, RPO/RTO alignment, and compliance gaps.
Key Findings
- Need for automated, encrypted synchronization to AWS.
- Need for centralized monitoring and clearer visibility across branches.
Solution Design (Innovation Focus)
Innovative Solution Overview
- Cognetiks deployed a secure hybrid backup architecture that synchronizes Synology data into Amazon S3 in an automated, non-disruptive manner.
- The AWS environment acts as a resilient, offsite secondary backup layer, with lifecycle rules and archival policies extending long-term retention capabilities.
What Makes This Innovative
- The solution merged on-premises storage with cloud-native durability, providing a unified backup environment without altering existing workflows.
- Automated synchronization removed manual overhead, while AWS services introduced higher resilience, better visibility, and simplified long-term retention.
AWS Services Used
• Amazon S3
• S3 Glacier
• AWS Backup
• AWS Storage Gateway
• AWS KMS
• AWS CloudWatch
• AWS Backup Audit Manager
• AWS IAM
Delivery & Implementation
Cognetiks configured secure data movement between Synology and Amazon S3 using Storage Gateway and automated synchronization schedules. Lifecycle policies were set to transition archives seamlessly into S3 Glacier for cost efficiency.
AWS Backup was implemented to standardise retention and reporting, while CloudWatch dashboards and compliance tools ensured full visibility. Clear documentation and operational guidelines were delivered to support ongoing management.
Optimisation, Enablement & Self-Sufficiency
A major focus of the engagement was empowering AB Microfinance Bank’s IT team. Cognetiks provided hands-on training covering synchronization management, CloudWatch metrics, backup validation workflows, and compliance monitoring.
The team was equipped to operate the hybrid backup environment independently and confidently maintain both primary (Synology) and secondary (AWS) systems.
Measurable Business Impact
The new hybrid backup setup delivered significant improvements. Synology backups now mirror into AWS in near real-time, ensuring higher resilience in disaster scenarios.
Centralized cloud storage simplified management and enhanced visibility across branches, while automated archival reduced operational overhead.
Long-term retention requirements are now fully supported through cost-effective Glacier storage, improving compliance posture and lowering risk.
Customer Experience Improvement
The integration drastically reduced backup complexity for the IT team. Operations became more predictable, failures easier to detect, and recoveries faster to execute.
With AWS acting as a durable secondary layer, the bank now benefits from a more dependable, scalable, and compliant data protection strategy.
Why This Case Represents Innovation
This project modernised AB Microfinance Bank’s backup landscape by extending its existing Synology environment into a resilient AWS architecture.
It delivered a hybrid solution that strengthens durability, streamlines operations, and aligns with regulatory expectations—without forcing any disruptive changes to their established workflows.
The approach represents a forward-thinking model for financial institutions seeking secure, cloud-enhanced backup resilience.
With Cognetiks’ hybrid backup architecture, AB Microfinance Bank now operates a secure, automated, cloud-backed data protection system that strengthens resilience, reduces manual effort, improves compliance, and ensures that their mission-critical data is always protected and recoverable.
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