Professional Documents
Culture Documents
(2013-2015)
By
Jithin J Kumar
P13185
DECLARATION
I, Jithin J Kumar, Student of Rajagiri Business School, hereby declare that this report
titled CUSTOMER AWARENESS ABOUT DATA RECOVERY SERVICES AND
SOLUTIONS OFFERED BY STELLAR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PRIVATE
LIMITED IN KOCHI LOCATION under the guidance of Prof. Harish B, faculty, Rajagiri
Business School is a bonafide record of the summer training done by me at Stellar
Information Technology Private Limited, as a part of partial fulfilment of the award of the
degree, Post graduate diploma management from Rajagiri Business School, Cochin.
I, also state that this report has not been submitted to any other university or
educational institution for the award of any degree or diploma.
PLACE :
Kochi
JITHIN J KUMAR
DATE :
Page 2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The gratification and elation of completing this project will be incomplete without
mentioning all the people who helped me. I am forever indebted to the Lord Almighty for
being with me throughout and in all my endeavours I am greatly indebted to Dr. Joseph I.
Injodey, the Principal, Rajagiri Business School for his encouragement, guidance and
assistance in availing this opportunity for doing the project. I express my sincere thanks to
Mr.Jiyo Paul, Branch Manager Kochi for taking enormous pain and spending his precious
time in guiding and providing me with valuable suggestions for the completion of this
project. I am grateful to my project guide Harish B, faculty, Rajagiri Business School for the
support and encouragement he has given me. I am thankful to all the respondents who
participated in my study and for sparing their time and effort without which I would never
have been able to complete this study successfully.
Jithin J Kumar
Page 3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This project titled Customer awareness about data recovery services and solutions
offered by Stellar Information Technology Private Limited in Kochi Location was
undertaken in Stellar Information Technology Private limited for 8 weeks for the partial
fulfilment of the course. My industry mentor Mr Jiyo Paul (Branch Manager- Kochi)
instructed me to cover Kochi Location to explore awareness about Stellar Information
technology Private limited.
This project provides insights about customer awareness about brand name of Stellar
Data Recovery. The customer awareness about data recovery and other services being offered
by Stellar were explored in detail The project was conducted in kochi location and 112
companies participated in the survey.
As per my research I found out that Stellar is the only company that provides both
data recovery services as well as software. There is a huge potential for the company because
of the quality of service being offered. The competition from local players are stiff but could
be overcome easily as there isnt any branded international players from data recovery
industry in Kochi area.
Page 4
LIST OF TABLES
Page 5
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECTION-I
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
PRELIMINARY UNDERSTANDING OF THE INDUSTRY
NATURE OF DEMAND AND SUPPLY
HISTORY
ORIGIN
9
10
10
11
11
11
13
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
15
QUALITY POLICY
18
19
EXPANSION
SERVICE MODEL
20
20
22
22
23
25
25
27
28
29
HARD DISK
TYPES OF HARD DISK CRASH
CAUSES OF DATA LOSS
WHAT IS DATA RECOVERY?
SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTH
WEAKNESS
OPPORTUNITIES
29
32
33
37
39
39
41
42
43
44
46
46
47
47
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THREATS
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
UNISTAL SYSTEMS PRIVATE LIMITED
DISK DOCTORS LAB INCORPORATED
CBL DATA RECOVERY TECHNOLOGIES
CONCLUSION
48
49
49
49
50
51
52
52
53
53
53
SECTION-II
54
54
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
55
INTRODUCTION
RESEARCH ANALYSIS
55
55
56
56
57
57
58
59
1) IMPORTANCE OF DATA
2) PREFERRED DATA STORAGE DEVICES
3) FAULTY DATA STORAGE DEVICES
4) CONSULTANT IN CASES OF DATA LOSS
5) AWARENESS ABOUT STELLAR DATA RECOVERY
6) FACTORS CONSIDERED IN CASES OF CHOOSING DATA RECOVERY VENDOR
7) DATA RECOVERY SERVICE PROVIDER CURRENT RATINGS
8) WILLINGNESS TO SWITCH TO NEW DATA RECOVERY PROVIDER
9) FACILITIES PROVIDED TO CUSTOMERS
10) DISK SANITIZATION SERVICE
FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS
59
62
64
66
68
71
73
74
77
78
80
FINDINGS:BIBLIOGRAPHY
80
81
82
ANNEXURE
83
SUGGESTIONS:-
COVER LETTER
QUESTIONNAIRE
83
83
Page 7
SECTION-I
PROFILE STUDY OF ORGANIZATION
Page 8
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
Stellar Information Private Limited is into the business of Data Recovery. Data
Recovery means recovering the data that are stored in damaged data storage devices or
recovering data from files that gets corrupted due to natural disasters, virus attacks, user
errors or software errors, So that the data can be retrieved and used again. Data Recovery is a
professional service that is being provided by a very limited number of companies and Stellar
Data Recovery is the leader among them. Data can be stored in various methods; It can be
stored in printed paper which is grouped into files or folders as in old government offices. Or
it can be stored in digital format by means of excel, word, or PDF documents.
Advantage of storing data in digital format is that it requires very less shelf space,
very low cost when compared to paper and printing cost, it can be retrieved easily, It can be
easily send from one place to another. The only requirement is a digital data storage device
and a computer so as to work with the digital document. Nowadays companies that are stores
data in conventional printed documents and files have very much gone extinct as price of
Data storage device have drastically come down in past decade. The amount of data being
stored in the Data storage devices has gone up exponentially and so is the value of the data
being stored.
Data storage Devices are of various types they are: Hard disk (Internal/External),
CD/DVD, Pen Drives, Magnetic Tapes, Cloud servers. With Hard disk, CD/DVD, Pen Drives
being the most common type of digital data storage devices in use. These digital data storage
devices are delicate in nature and require very much care while working. People who work
with these devices are often ignorant about it and hence chances for these devices to get
damaged are very high. Once a Data storage device gets damaged retrieving the data which is
stored in it is a tiresome job and it requires specialized people along with desired tools and
controlled external environment depending on the type of damage that the device has.
Here is where Stellar Data Recovery or Stellar Information Technology Private
Limited is of great importance. Stellar Data Recovery has specialized workforce with a wide
range of desired tools, both software and hardware along with a world class laboratory to
provide the controlled environment.
Rajagiri Business School
Page 9
Page 10
HISTORY
ORIGIN
Mr Sunil Chandna, Mr Manoj Dhingra, and Mr Kuljeet Singh are the founders of
Stellar Information Technology Private Limited They graduated with degrees in Computer
Science from University of Pune, Maharashtra, India in 1992. Their college project which
dealt with recovery of deleted data from hard disk paved way for Stellar Information
Technology Private Limited. On 3 August 1993, Stellar Information Systems Limited was
registered in New Delhi. They first started working on developing software that recovered
lost data from a floppy disk. The software was built for Windows Operating system platform.
The software helped to recover data from FAT based windows partitions.
Data recovery was at very nascent stage and people in the Indian market were not
aware of data recovery solutions. The Chernobyl virus attack that resulted in accidental
erasing of data from hard disk provided a boon for the company. Many individuals as well as
corporate turned towards Stellar to recover data from computers affected by the virus. The
major market places for Stellar were South Asia, Middle-East asia and countires like
Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, UAE and Saudi Arabia. Stellar had then began to
outsource its software development wing.
Company moved to a new base at Nehru place in New Delhi in 1995. Nehru place is
one of the largest IT Computer hardware and Electronics markets in Asia. Under the
leadership of Manoj Dhingra Stellar started data recovery services for logical-cum-physical
cases of data loss from computers in 1995 By the year 2000, Stellar had started lab-servicedata recovery operations in Bangalore and Mumbai.
EXPANSION
EXPANSION (DOMESTIC)
to Gurgaon. Gurgaon became the major office of the company; the first CLASS 100 Clean
Room lab was established in Gurgaon to carry out all invasive data recovery operation on
hard disks, removable storage media, and servers. Stellar thus became the only data recovery
service provider in the entire South-East Asia to have the technology and infrastructure much
Rajagiri Business School
Page 11
required to recover data from physically damaged storage hard disk, memory cards, USB
drives, CD/DVDs, RAID Servers. Within a few years Stellar expanded to 14 major cities in
India.
GLOBAL EXPANSION
Stellar Data Recovery Inc., its first offshore data recovery service branch in New Jersey,
USA. Stellar acquired a European major RSE Data Recovery B.V. in the Netherlands which
was a major breakthrough. Acquisition of RSE Data Recovery paved way for Stellar
information technology to transact with the entire European market.. The new company now
known as Stellar Data Recovery B.V. is catering data recovery services in the Netherlands,
England, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Hungary, Italy, and Luxembourg.
Stellar has developed and marketed more than 100 data recovery, email recovery,
database and file recovery, password recovery, data sanitization, and system optimization
tools for various platforms, such as Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and Novell, along with
providing with a strong service network,
Page 12
USA
+1-877-778-
08840
6087
support@stellarinfo.com
ahmdlab@stellarinfo.com
blorelab@stellarinfo.com
chdlab@stellarinfo.com
chennailab@stellarinfo.com
(0484) 4035980
kochilab@stellarinfo.com
hydlab@stellarinfo.com
recovery@stellarinfo.com
Ahmedabad-380006
1206, 12th Floor, B Wing,
Bangalore
Chandigarh
Chennai
Kochi
Hyderabad
New Delhi
Page 13
(C.P)
(011) 4376447175
recovery@stellarinfo.com
noidalab@stellarinfo.com
helpdeskdrs@stellarinfo.com
kol-lab@stellarinfo.com
mumlab@stellarinfo.com
punelab@stellarinfo.com
vashilab@stellarinfo.com
Mumbai
Pune
University,Ganeshkhind Road,
Shivaji Nagar,Pune-411007
Office No.305, Third floor,
Thacker Tower, Plot No.86,
Vashi
Page 14
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
Mr Manoj Dhingra
Director
(IDomestic Business)
Mr Sunil Chandna
Director, CEO
(International Business)
Mr Kuljeet Singh
Director
(Software, R&D)
Stellar Information Technology Private Limited is helmed by the three founders of the
company. Mr Sunil Chandana , the Director (International Business)
Director
International
Business (CEO)
Director R&D +
Software
Software
Projects Head
Software
Development
Team
Software
Support Team
Research And
Development
Research
Engineers
Director
Domestic
Business
Finance
Department
HR Manager
National
Manager
Accounts
Department
HR executives
Zonal Manager
Branch Manager
Management
Trainee
Branch
coordinator
Front Desk
Business
Development
Executives
Sr Business
Development
Executives
Technical /Lab in
charge
Page 15
Director (R&D)+
Software
Software Projects
Head
Software
Development
Team
Research and
Devlopment
Reserach
Engineers
Software
Support
Team
Finance Department
Lab
Assistants
Accounts
Department
HR manager
National
manager
HR Executives
Zonal Manager
Branch
Manager
Management
Trainee
Branch Coordinator
Front Desk
Business
Development
executives
Sr Business
Development
executives
Technical / Lab
in charge
Page 16
Page 17
QUALITY POLICY
Stellar data recovery has acquired ISO certification for the quality of services it offers.
Certification is provided by BM TRADA certification which is a leading multi sector
certification body accredited by UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Services). Stellar
Data Recovery company is a customer centric organisation and ia an ISO 9001:2000 certified
data recovery company.
ISO 9001:2008 FOR STELLAR DATA RECOVERY
ISO 9001:2000 specifies for requirements for a quality management system . Stellar
Data Recovery demonstrated its ability to consistently provide product that meets customer
and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements and Stellar works towards enhancing
customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system, including processes for
continual improvement of the system and the assurance of conformity to customers and
applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.
Page 18
cost effective data safety & integrity solutions to its customers. They are equipped with
necessary infrastructure and trained manpower. Stellar is the number one company in data
recovery service industry as well as in development of data recovery and data loss prevention
software in the whole of South Asian region where it commands a majority of market share.
Stellar Information Technology Private Limited is an ISO 9001-2000 certified
company specializing in data recovery and services and solutions. The company was
established in 1993 by a group of technocrats. Stellar is headquartered in Gurgaon. The
company today has 14 branch offices across the country. Stellar is the only data recovery
company that has a Class-100 Clean Room facility to ensure effective recovery even in cases
of media that is severely damaged. Stellar has established itself as a market leader with an
experience of over a decade.
Stellar has 1,00,000 satisfied customers across 150+ countries including USA, UK,
Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Australia, U.A.E, Japan. They have reinforced their faith in
stellar offerings. Stellar has a widespread partner network around the globe, which ensures
comprehensive pre-sales and post-sales support to its customers. Stellar Data Recovery
Solutions consists of a wide range of software for almost any data loss situation ranging from
accidental formats to virus attacks to software malfunctions. Its products support most major
operating systems like Windows, Macintosh, UNIX, and Novell. Digital Media Recovery,
and E-mail recovery are additional data recovery software that they provide. Apart from this
the company also provides data protection, data backup, and data eraser software.
The brand Stellar denotes Success, Perfection and Trust. It transcends international
borders.
Page 19
SERVICE MODEL
Stellar believes that data crash causes are different hence the service plans are also
needed to be different. Stellar has devised various service plans so that it suits the need of the
customers as per the crash scenario. Keeping up the tradition of achieving total customer
satisfaction, Stellar has indigenously developed tools & Processes which are Read-Only and
does not harm the data status on the crashed media irrespective of the outcome of the
recovery process.
Page 20
The Evaluation report along with the quotation is sent across to the customer throughemail/telephone/fax
Recovery of data from the media : Based on the Evaluation report provided by the Data
Recovery specialists, customer can give his consent whether stellar should proceed with the
Data Recovery job or not. Once the customer agrees to the above, he/she needs to send across
a work order. Data Recovery specialists would start the recovery process and ensure that the
recovery of data is done as per customer satisfaction.
Handing over the data to the customer: Once the Data recovery process is complete, the
customer care executive/coordinator sends the Directory Listing in a text file on E-mail.
Alternatively he/she may also verify their Data at the Stellar Lab and register written
acceptance by E-mail/Fax. The Data is delivered on a Free DVD or on hard disk supplied by
customer.
Service Options: Stellar understand that circumstances and need for a recovery is different
each time. To suit customer needs Stellar has introduced a number of service options. The
service plans are categorized into Off-site (In-Lab) and On-site (Customers Premises) and
offer a wide range of service deliverables
Stellar offers Standard & Priority Service plans for both Off-site (In Lab) and On-site
(Customer premises) data Recovery Services.
Standard Plan
Evaluation
Recovery Process
Logical Crashes
4 Business Hours
Physical Crashes
4 Business Hours
Priority Plan
Evaluation
Recovery Process
Logical Crashes
With-in 4 Hours
With in 48 Hours
Physical Crashes
With-in 4 Hours
With in 48 Hours
Page 21
CAPABILITIES
Stellar Information Technology Private Limited is the first company in India to
introduce professional Data Recovery Services in the year 1993. Since then there is no
looking back. They have equipped themselves with the best in-class capabilities and
practices. Today Stellar is capable of recovering data from virtually any kind of data loss
situation, from logical media crashes that are caused primarily due to accidental formatting of
hard disk, Invalid drive & disk specification, Accidental deletion of data even from Recycle
bin / Sabotage, Data lost due to a virus attack, Missing File/Directory Or Accidental repartitioning to physical media crashes caused due to mal-function of Read/Write Head
assemblies and PCB/Logic Board failures. Stellar is equipped with country's only state of the
art CLASS 100 CLEAN ROOM, Stellar has indigenously developed technology of head
transplant that ensures maximum recovery success rate irrespective of the cause of failure.
Today Stellar is confident of giving its customers up-to 100% Recovery success rate. R&D
wing of Stellar has been working towards innovation in recovery technologies has been
successful in devising tools capable of recovering data from most of the reported service area
/ Firmware problems. Stellar, today is country's first data recovery company to have
indigenously designed tools for Single/Multiple Platter transplantation required in case of
spindle motor problems. Stellar has inherent capabilities on Logic board repairs of hard disks
of different makes, models and sizes.
Head Transplant & Repair
PCB / Logic Board Repair
Platter Transplant
INFRASTRUCTURE
Since 1993 Stellar has been pioneer in developing its infrastructure in order to benefit
its clients. To match world standards Stellar has installed & commissioned Indias first
CLASS 100 Clean Room Lab in Gurgaon, It's a controlled recommended environment for all
Read/write Head assembly transplants. For efficient operations Stellar maintains a strong
inventory of more than 5000 Desktops & 2500 laptop hard disks forming a wide range
comprising of various makes, models & capacities. Stellar keeps on upgrading its inventory
on a regular basis. Stellar also has necessary infrastructure for repair capabilities of PCB /
Logic board of hard disks. At Stellar, all of their software and hardware tools are
Rajagiri Business School
Page 22
indigenously developed & supported by our strong R&D wing thus providing an edge over
vendors engaged in un-organized data recovery by making use of various third-party
softwares without proper support mechanism rendering the critical data, which is highly
risky. All of the tools used in Stellar are backed-up by constant research and upgrades and are
Read-Only; guarantying status-quo of data at the time media was brought-in into our Lab.
Stellar understands that apart from the technical capabilities it is equally important to
make the service window available in customer's location. At present Stellar has offered its
services in 16 Strategic Locations (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi,
Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Noida, Pune and Vashi). Stellar also offer its
services by allowing its customers to send media through courier.
The major capabilities of Stellar Data Recovery can be summarized as
Service location
Class-100 Clean Room
Proprietary Software
Drive Inventory (Spares)
Repair Equipment
Stellar makes it a point to organise get together and Motivational events such as Outbound
Trip. These are an integral part of work culture in Stellar Data Recovery. Also Stellar does
provide Infrastructure Support for conducive work environment.
Rajagiri Business School
Page 23
HEALTH:
Employees and their dependants are covered under company paid health and
accident insurance schemes. These schemes also provide tie-ups with more than 200 hospitals
across the country, thus ensuring quicker accessibility, discounts and easy-pay option plans
with guaranteed admission.
TRAININGS: Several Training Programmes are being conducted in Stellar to ensure better
work performance and overall Personality Development. Structured workshops are conducted
once in a while,
Time Management
Communicating Effectively
Team Management
Customer Orientation
Project Management
Emotional Quotient
AUTONOMY & EMPOWERMENT:
Stellar
encourage
people
to
work
with
autonomy, to challenge old ideas, to develop themselves & their Job, to question old ways,
thus move beyond their job description. Stellar provides its employees with an atmosphere
where they can develop themselves & others to move towards jobs that requires greater
involvement. At the same time each individual is allowed to assume responsibility of their
personal growth.
TEAM WORK:
also need to learn to work as a team in-groups. Stellar firmly believes that the primary job of
a leader is to facilitate rather than control. The team that produces the best result is the one
where the Leader actively supports its members in their performance. Stellar encourages
teamwork between the employees in the organization. Hence, great emphasis is given to the
various Team Building Programs and the employees are exposed to learn these skills through
modern professional help.
PLANNED CAREER PATH:
each department which tells an employee where his/her career would reach in the
Organization.
Page 24
RECOVERY CAPABILITIES
Data Recovery from Logical Crashes provided in instances of Data Loss due to:
Accidental formatting of Hard disk
Invalid Drive / Disk Specifications
Accidental Deletion of Data even from Recycle bin
Data Lost due to virus attacks
Missing File/Directory
Stellar offers Data Recovery Services for all Operating Systems
Windows NT/2000/XP, UNIX, LINUX, MS-DOS, DR-DOS, Windows 95/98/ME,
OS 2, Mac, HP-UX, Sun Solaris and Novell.
Expert services provided to recover data from all major storage devices
Hard disk drives, Floppy disks, I-omega, CDROM, I-omega Jazz, DAT, DLT, USB
Drives and other storage media.
Hard drive recovery expertise on almost all imp File Systems
FAT12, FAT16, FAT32,NFS, NTFS, HPFS, UFS, Ext2, Ext3 and others.
Data Recovery from Physically Crashed Hard disk
Recovery of physically crashed hard disks often involves replacing failed or damaged
components using specialized hardware and software tools failed components typically
Rajagiri Business School
Page 25
include electronics components, read/write heads, head assemblies, magnets & drive motors.
Stellar is equipped with the latest technology of Head transplantation, wherein if your Hard
disk is not getting detected by the BIOS we transplant or remove the faulty components
inside the media to recover the data.
Specialized Services Stellar offers
Raid Data Recovery Services for Enterprise Storage Systems (RAID, SAN, NAS Devices
& Plain Servers) Regardless of the size, configuration, operating system or platform of
Enterprise Storage System, whether it be a File Server, Database Server or Web Server
configured on different volumes which may be spanned, duplexed / mirrored or striped across
many drives, Data recovery services offered by Stellar can restore data from such complex
storage configurations. Apart from Data Recovery Services, Stellar deals in Data Recovery
software as well. Since Stellar has its own R&D, so it develops its Proprietary Software,
which helps in Data Recovery & Data safety.
Page 26
AIIMS.
AICTE.
Eicher Goodearth.
Apollo Hospital.
Ericsson.
Corporation.
Apollo Tyres.
Aqua Cross.
Corporation.
Army HQ.
GE capital.
Corporation.
Bank Of America.
HDFC.
NASSCOM.
BHEL.
Hero Cycles.
NCRB.
BLB.
Hero Honda
PAAM Pharmaceuticals.
Bharti telenet.
Inds. Ltd.
Bharti Celluar.
Punjab Police .
Bank of India.
Beverages.
Red Cross.
Bharat Petroleum.
Hyundai Motors.
Cadbury's
Reliance.
Ranbaxy.
HSBC.
Ray Ban.
ICICI
SamTel.
Schwabe.
Indo Rama.
IPP.
Samsung India.
Cyber Media.
IGNOU.
TalbrosTelco Ltd.
Cabinet Secretariat.
KPMG.
Thomson Press.
Corporation Bank.
LML Ltd.
TATA Infotech.
Citibank.
Times Of India.
Delhi University.
Maruti Udyog.
DLF Cement.
McDonalds.
Unicorp.
Mexx.
Environmental
Vai.
Causes Organisation.
Modi Care.
Vigyan Prasar.
Eureka Forbes.
Modi Xerox.
Mccann Ericsson.
Wipro .
Escorts Limited.
Motorola.
.
Page 27
Stellar data recovery has received wide acclaims for its wide range of softwares that it
has developed. The various software offerings have also got good reviews in various
magazine polls.
Page 28
FIGURE 2
source:
img.bhs4.com/2e/5/2e5a38e0118a70ec0a
0b821d3f24c9585a09a5ec_large.jpg
The hard disk plays a very important role in overall system performance. Most people
dont recognize the importance of hard disk. This is now changing. hard drives are now
getting more attention than they deserve. The speed at which the PC boots up or a program
loads is directly proportional to hard disk speed.
The hard disk, also called the hard drive or fixed disk, Hard disk is the primary
storage unit of the computer. A hard disk consists of a stack of disk platters that are made up
of aluminium alloy or glass substrate coated with a magnetic material & protective layers.
They are tightly sealed to prevent any foreign matter from getting inside. If any particle gets
inside, it may causes head crash. Hard disks come in removable and fixed varieties. Their
memory capacity may also differ from several hundreds of megabytes to several gigabytes.
The capacity or amount of information that a drive can store is measured in bytes and higher
units at megabytes or gigabytes and even terabytes.
A hard disk uses round, flat disks called platters. Platters are coated on both sides with
a special media material. This material is designed to store information in the form of
magnetic patterns. The platters are mounted by cutting a hole in the center. Platters are
stacked in through them onto a spindle. The platters are made to rotate at high speed, driven
by a special spindle motor which is connected to the spindle. Special electromagnetic
Rajagiri Business School
Page 29
read/write devices called heads are mounted onto sliders. These heads are used to either
record information onto the disk or read information from it. The sliders are mounted onto
arms, that are mechanically connected into a single assembly. The system is positioned over
the surface of the disk by a device called an actuator. A logic board controls the activity of
the other components and communicates with the rest of the PC.
Each surface of both the platters on the disk can hold tens of billions of individual
bits of data. These are organized into larger "chunks" for convenience. These chunks are then
allowed for easier and faster access to information. Each platter has two heads, one on the top
of the platter and one on the bottom, so a hard disk with three platters (normally) has six
surfaces and six total heads. Each platter has information recorded in the form of concentric
circles called tracks. Each tracks are further broken down into smaller pieces called sectors,
each of those sectors holds 512 bytes of information.
FIGURE 3
Source: Original image Western Digital Corp oration
Page 30
figure 4source:
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/geo
m/tracks.htm
concentric rings
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd
/geom/tracks.htm
Page 31
parts, the aperture arm in the hard drive can fail, failed motors or the platters can become
damaged and lose the data that they hold. Physical damage could also be due to mishandling
of the drive or circuit failure of the PCB board which is attached to the hard drive. Physical
damage always causes at least some data loss, and in many cases due to physical damage the
logical structures of the file system also may get damaged, all such damages constitute
physical crashes of hard drive. Another physical issue that sometimes rears up is an electronic
failure. If we look at a hard drive we will notice a circuit board on the bottom. This board is
basically the brains of the drive, and it is where the computer interfaces to the hard drive. An
electrical failure can occur unexpectedly at any time. Even brand new hard drives are not
totally immune to having electrical failures. Sometimes it's just a faulty component;
sometimes it's improper installation (i.e. electro-static discharge, grounding out the board,
damaging circuitry during installation).
Logical Crash:- Far more common than physical damage is logical damage to a file system.
Logical damage is primarily caused by human error which includes accidental deletion of
files, accidentally formatting drive and power outages may cause file system structures
getting damaged, causing a variety of problems, system crashes, or an actual loss of data.
Logical failures are usually a result of file-system corruption. This can occur due to a virus,
accidental deletion of key files or registry components, and in some cases even electro-static
discharge. In most cases where a logical failure has occurred, the drive is still recognized by
the system BIOS, but it will not boot. In most cases, the data should still be intact on the
drive, even though it may appear to be inaccessible.
Page 32
Human error
32%
Software Corruption
25%
Virus attack
22%
Hardware error
13%
Sabotage
06%
Natural disasters
02%
FIGURE 7
Human Error is the single largest contributor to incidents of data loss. Common human
errors include
MIS/Administrator errors,
Mishandling
Software Corruption
Popular desktop operating systems have reported to have hung and caused severe damage to
disk systems area resulting in data loss. Incidents when popular applications like wordprocessor, spread sheet, database, and email have caused corruption resulting in data loss are
widespread.
Computer Viruses
Wide spread instances of severe data loss have been reported when anti-virus software could
not stop a virus from causing severe damage or when an anti-virus was not updated.
Sabotage
Cases of sabotage are being reported regularly and are increasing at alarming rate. A majority
of organizations still do not have a security policy. Unauthorized intrusions and damages
caused by disgruntled employees and business competitors have resulted in Major Data Loss.
Page 33
source: www.besecurenetworks.com
/images/data_loss.png
Page 34
Examples
Preventive Measures
Electrical failure
Head/media crash
Controller failure
Examples
Preventive Measures
Page 35
Examples
Preventive Measures
Failed backups
Configuration complexity
Examples
Preventive Measures
Blank screen
Polymorphic viruses
Page 36
Examples
Preventive Measures
Fires
Floods
Brownouts
Install a UPS
Page 37
Page 38
Page 39
Stellar Smart is a utility that acts as an "early warning system" for pending hard disk
problems. The system is based on Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology
(S.M.A.R.T). The hard disk's integrated controller works with various sensors to monitor
various aspects of the drive's / disk's performance and determines from this information if the
disk is behaving normally or not. File system data structures of a drive have suffered serious
corruption or overwriting and data recovery software cannot scan such drives.
This drive monitoring software gives the current values of various hard disk parameters such
as Temperature, Head Flying Height, Spin-Up Time etc and compares these values to a
Threshold value below / above which the hard disk is likely to fail. The moment any one of
the current values equals or exceeds the threshold value, the utility displays a warning of
impending problems.
The fundamental principle behind S.M.A.R.T is that many problems with hard disks don't
occur suddenly. They result from a slow degradation of various mechanical or electronic
components. The hard disks parameters usually exhibit a gradual, detectable decline in
performance and it is when a parameter value approaches its safety limit that the Stellar
Smart issues a warning.
KEY FEATURES:
Runs constantly in the background, thereby providing real-time information about the
condition of the hard drive / disk(s).
Provides information on various hard disks attributes and also displays their fitness
level.
Can clone hard disks (that is, it can paste the contents of a potentially fatal disk
onto a healthy disk).
Page 40
Displays real time 'Benchmark' graph showing the Hard Disk data transfer rate
and CPU usage.
Fully automatic CD Data Recovery software provides data recovery even after
primary volume descriptor and secondary volume descriptor are corrupt or physically
damaged.
Data recovery when data cannot be accessed and disk indicates that it is full.
Provides file recovery when disk has physical damages: scratch, bubbles, cracks and
warping.
Provides CD data recovery when computer freezes when trying to read the disk.
Provides CD file recovery when disk has data but appears blank or displays as audio
disk.
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Administrator License
Technician License
STELLAR INSTABACK:
InstaBackup is very useful software for backing up and protecting valuable data. This
software simplifies the process of data backup and is a powerful solution for both business
and personal needs. It can also be used both in a networking environment and on a single
machine. Although the software is easy to use, a number of advanced options such as Full /
Incremental backups, strong File Encryption, and Zip Compression are also available.
The software has a simple graphical user interface, requires no prior knowledge of data
backup, and is a comprehensive data protection solution for all Windows File Systems.
KEY FEATURES:
Built in Scheduler to automate the data backup process (It is possible for a user to
schedule the frequency of automatically creating backups daily, weekly,
monthly, and so on)
Various storage media for backups such as Hard Drive's / Disks, LANs, Remote
FTP Servers (remote / online backup), DVD / CD-RW devices and Pen Drives.
Two different modes of backing up Full (in which all data / files are backed up
afresh during the rerun of a particular Backup Task) and Incremental (in which
only modified files are backed up during the rerun of a particular Backup Task).
Strong File Encryption (to make backups secure) and Zip Compression (to make
backups compact and less space-consuming).
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Facility to create and save unique Backup Tasks in which specific sets of files
can be grouped together and get backed up periodically,
Backup Utilities such as File Filter (to include/exclude specific files in a data
backup process), Confirmation e-mails after backup jobs, Pre/Post Backup Task
Programs (to automatically run any program before and/or after a backup
process), and so on.
Stellar InstaBackup: InstaBackup is software for backing up and protecting your most
valuable data. It is a simple yet powerful backup solution for business / personal
needs in a networking environment or on a single machine. Using this software, it is
possible for a user to select anything from one file to an entire drive to be backed up.
Stellar Smart: Even if data is backed up, it is possible that the safety of the backup
itself is compromised if the hard disk suffers a mechanical and/or electrical fault.
Stellar Smart is software that provides advance warnings of impending hard disk
problems. It does this by continuously monitoring various hard disk parameters (such
as Temperature, Spin Up Time, Raw Read Error Rate, and so on), and then comparing
these values to a threshold value above/below which the hard disk is likely to fail.
Stellar Shield: This is pre-crash data protection software that provides data restoration
after any form of logical data loss. Once installed, Shield takes a snapshot of critical
system attributes and information and stores it in your hard disk. In the event of any
data loss, Shield searches the backup Image and helps recover/restore all the data
immediately.
KEY FEATURES:
Page 43
SYSTEMS REQUIREMENT:
Stellar
Shield
150Mb
Free
space
(minimum),
Requires
ADMINISTRATIVE RIGHT
English
Page 44
to the schedule set in the Wipe Scheduler. Wipe list option maintains the list of files and
folders to be wiped in one go.
Extremely secure algorithms which conform to the various standards are used to
ensure permanent data deletion. It is thus a complete solution for computer privacy. The
Data once erased using Stellar Wipe is beyond the recovery limit of any Data Recovery
Software.
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SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTH
Stellar Information Technology Private Limited has a worldwide presence. And has
more than 1 million satisfied clients. It is the only private company that has class 100 clean
room in india. The other class 100 clean room available is in IIT Bombay, powai which is
specifically used for research purpose that too only under strict norms and regulations. The
company guarantees 100% result in data recovery as per the assessment report which is
generated within 24 hours of submission of faulty media.
The company has its own proprietary tools and techniques for data recovery unlike
others who use 3rd party softwares for data recovery. The company provides employment for
over 150 engineers, who are specialized in data recovery. Stellar data recovery has a spare
hard disk inventory with more than 12,000 hard disk of almost all known specification and
configuration available in the country. Stellar ensures that every hard disk being available in
the market are being stocked into its hard disk inventory so that in specific cases of damages,
the spare device of exact same configuration is available in its inventory.
More than 100 R&D specialists are being employed by Stellar Data Recovery. The
software development and support team of stellar are known for the efficient softwares they
have made. Stellar has a dedicated technical support team and 24*5 helpdesk. Stellar
Information Technology Private limited has more than 30 Indigenous data recovery softwares
under its name. Hence the brand name of Stellar can be considered to be strong when
compared to its competitors.
Stellar Data recovery is the only Data recovery company that has a pan-India presence
which includes all 4 metropolitan cities and most of other major cities in india. The pan India
presence helps in speedy recovery of data and improves collection and delivery timing of
media devices.
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WEAKNESS
The major weakness of the company is its pricing policy which is 2-3 times higher
than the market rates at which 3rd party vendor does recovery services. Stellar has a priority
service plan which enables users to have their devices to have a higher priority. In cases of
mass damage of data storage devices as in cases of a natural calamity or a virus attack, strict
adherence to priority service could backfire as customers may go for other service providers
who may offer flexible priority plans.
Local data recovery service providers and 3rd party data recovery service providers
have shown little interest in consulting stellar even in cases of severely damaged devices. The
brand perception that stellar has created is that Stellar is an international brand that caters to
high end corporates and multi- national companies.
Stellar Data recovery is yet to start an aggressive marketing campaign, which could
increase the brand awareness about stellar among the potential customers. Lack of man power
in the sales force could also be considered to be a weakness of the company.
OPPORTUNITIES
The potential of the company to grow is huge. There is a large untapped market in the
data recovery segment which is still being occupied by 3rd party vendors and local data
recovery vendors. These local data recovery vendors include freelancers as well as small
shops that solely uses the software solutions provided by Stellar Data Recovery. Signing up
or entering into a tie up with these 3rd party vendors could greatly boost the sales figures of
the company. These vendors could be carefully moulded into partners rather than
categorizing them as competittors by means of contracts or commission for sending clients
etc.
The digitalization of governance and administration has improved the number of
digital data storage devices.. Large number of schools and colleges has moved into digital
platform for keeping records. The Big Data or large chunks of data are being generated by
automated systems they need to be stored for later use. As the number of digital data storage
devices increases, chances of encountering faulty data storage device also increased.
Page 47
THREATS
Easy availability of open source softwares like recuva, advancement of open source
operating systems like Linux provides options for easy recovery of data from logical crashes
is a threat to Stellar Data Recovery. Online piracy and easy availability of cracked versions of
Software solutions offered by Stellar does possess an instant threat to the company.
The entry barrier to get into data recovery industry is low. With the help of desired
toolkits and instruments any player can get into this nascent industry. This could easily
intensify the competition and thus hamper the profit margins of the company
Customers are often inclined towards low priced products instead of quality. Often
customers trade off confidentiality and quality of service to lower service charges.
Page 48
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
UNISTAL SYSTEMS PRIVATE LIMITED
Unistal Systems Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, India is the
data recovery industrys largest, most experienced and
technologically advanced provider of data recovery
products and services. In case of any kind of data loss on
any type of computer storage media, Unistal has a solution
with fast, advanced and cost-effective products and
services ranging from do-it-yourself software products,
data loss prevention solutions to 24/7/365 services
network. . In case of any kind of data loss on any type of
FIGURE 9
ranging from do-it-yourself software products, data loss prevention solutions to 24/7/365
services network. With nearly 10 years experience performing successful data recoveries,
Unistal has served customers across the globe including Secret services, government
agencies, corporate houses, and numerous computer users. Unistal has developed the
industry's widest range of data recovery products and services, providing desktop, laptop,
server, email, database and tape recoveries for all media types and operating systems
anywhere, anytime. Unistal India is headquartered in New Delhi. With regional offices at
Mumbai, Bengluru, Kolkatta
Disk Doctor Labs Inc. has been serving the US and worldwide since 1991 and
speedily becoming the leader in data recovery from storage devices. Disk Doctors operates
worldwide from labs in United States, UK, Australia & India. Today Disk Doctors offers the
most comprehensive services available in this specialised field. Disk Doctor Labs Inc. invests
huge chunk of their profits toward research and development of data recovery techniques for
ever-changing challenges and cost effective solutions for our customers.
Page 49
recovery
corporations,
for
individuals,
educational
multinational
institutions
and
FIGURE 11
Page 50
CONCLUSION
Significant growth in data recovery industries has caught the eyes of many .Now there
is so many companies into Data Recovery .They recover data through software if there is
logical crash and if there is physical crash or physical cum logical crash then media is being
brought into lab, where data recovery process is being done. Now many companies use their
proprietary software to recover data. In case of physical crash, they recover data by opening
media in their lab. Important point to be noted is that Stellar is the only company, which has
class 100 clean room.
Class 100 clean room is manufacturer referred standard environment, where in a
media should be opened. In Class 100 clean room size of dust particle is less than 100
micron. Considering rarest of rare cases wherein dust particle would settle on the platter then
also it would not create any crash on platter. So data is not loss.
Taking of Data Recovery Services in India, Stellar does not as such have any
competitors, because Stellar Information Technology is the only company in India, which has
class 100 clean rooms, R&D and the required infrastructure, So Stellar can be considered as
the best capable data recovery company in India.
Many other companies also say, they have clean room lab, where they recover data
from crashed media in case of physical crash and logical cum physical crash. But their clean
room lab is not meeting the condition of manufacturer referred environment for opening of
media. Hence, they are not as capable as stellar in recovering data from crashed media.
Page 51
RISE OF TECHNOLOGY:
The growth of technology has sparked off the increase in number of commercial
organizations across the economy. Big corporations, partnerships, sole proprietorships,
multinationals and small manufacturing enterprises have been flooding the market. This
vertical and horizontal rise of technology can be attributed to growing consumer demand.
Consumers want more today. Hence this has led to inter- and intra-dependency of
firms and industries in the economy. No firm can exist without the presence of the other.
Everything has shrunk and contributed to the growth and importance of data. Data has grown
over the years by leaps and bounds. Everybody, right from commercial ventures, government
enterprises to personal users saves data. The importance of data has increased greatly.
The loss of this data can paralyze economic functions and signal a downward
economy spiral. Organizations and users need data for healthy economic operation. Data such
as financial records, employee information and patient details in hospitals are stored on data
storage devices. These machines are not perfect and are liable to corruption.
When this happens data is lost. All work, growth and progress come to a grinding
halt. This is where data recovery comes in. The data recovery industry functions on the fear
that precious data can be lost any time.
Globalisation: The world today has shrunk figuratively. Outsourcing employment has
become the new age mantra. Globalisation has taken over. A direct consequence of this has
been the ever-increasing importance of data. Today, businesses all over the world need data
to survive in the global market. Reliance and dependency on data has risen sharply since
1990s.
Different commercial enterprises trading and dealing in different economic sectors
need and want common data. Interdependence has increased. This has directly impacted the
Rajagiri Business School
Page 52
data recovery industry in a positive way. Data recovery business has grown and is still
growing.
OUTLOOK
Storage has definitely become a major component of IT infrastructure. Our economy
is improving and hence we can expect Storage to become a key area of the IT budget. The
implementation of data-intensive applications like CRM, and business expansion are driving
growth in storage requirement. Data security and data recovery are now the most significant
focus areas within the storage space. Although a majority of storage investments will come
from the SME segment, one should also keep an eye on the large enterprises.
POTENTIAL SEGMENTS:
Indian businesses have come to realize the seriousness of this issue and, hence,
banking and financial sector, the software and ITES companies and lately manufacturing and
retail segments are driving the growth of the Data Recovery market in the country.
Significantly, companies have realized that disaster management and recovery are more than
incidental IT expenses. Large enterprises have started building the data loss prevention factor
as an integral element in their annual maintenance contracts or service level agreements with
IT service providers and local channel partners.
CONCLUSION:
Lately, in India, an increase in the level of competition and market demands, together
with increased dependence on technology for core business processes has necessitated the
need for data recovery by companies. Another sector which has grown tremendously is the
software and ITES sector. The latter particularly depends on the volume of calls and the
access to records on a 24X7 basis. Any downtime could be detrimental to their business.
As corporate networks get complex and data capture and storage becomes challenging, the
industry is bound to see a shift towards replication of critical resources, business applications
and processes. Data recovery as a networking solution, although new at this point of time,
will become routine for corporates in near future.
Page 53
SECTION-II
PROBLEM CENTERED STUDY OF THE ORGANIZATI ON
Page 54
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
Research is an organized inquiry carried out to provide information for solving
problems. Management in any organization need information about the potential market and
to design plans as per the changing Market scenario. Marketing research includes all the
activities that enable an organization to obtain the vital information. This research is very
important in strategy formation and Promotion of the company.
There are many type of research these can be categorized as reporting, descriptive,
explanatory or predictive. Each research type is being used for various purposes. In this
research I have used explorative research methodology; I tried to figure out opportunities and
future threats lying in the market for Stellar Information Technology Private Limited. and
tried to promote the company and enhance its awareness in the market.
Research design is the plan, structure and strategy of investigation conceived so as to
obtain to research problem. It is the specification of methods and procedures for acquiring the
required information.
RESEARCH AND IMPORTANCE OF MY WORK: In this project, I used exploratory research. The basic aim of my project was to find
the problems faced by stellar information technology private limited with regards to the sale,
brand awareness, service quality. The competition provided by the local vendors is stiff and
serious. Brand value of stellar wasnt fully transforming into sales. The 3rd party dealers and
AMC providers, who is generally the first point of contact with the customers, play a vital
role in positioning the brand name of stellar in the minds of customers. They are the basic
marketers of stellar. They help in creating a brand image in the costumers mind about the
products and services offered by Stellar Data Recovery. Thruough this research I tried to
figure out the factors they take into account while a data recovery solution provides is
required, How a data recovery solution provider is assessed by customers, The satisfaction
level of customers with respect to the current service provider, The importance of
Advertisements, customer reviews etc. I also tried to figure out the awareness level of
customers about Stellar Data Recovery.
Page 55
MY FIELD WORK:
Not a sales job with targets but needs to promote the company products and services.
The main products of the company are related to data recovery services.
in different
suites like (Enterprise suite, Business+ suite, Business suite, Standard suite & PST
suite)
PRIMARY DATA
SECONDARY DATA
PRIMARY DATA:
Primary data is that kind of data which was collected by me for the purpose of my
specific study. I interviewed without any structured set of questions just to know the brand
awareness of the company. The valuable feedbacks, knowledge about company, perception
towards its products are some primary data for my research work.
SECONDARY DATA:
The data that has been already collected by others but which in turn became useful for
my report can be categorized as secondary data. The secondary data was collected from
various digital sources including websites and blogs of companies and individuals who works
in areas related to hardware industry. The company past reports, various websites, books, and
assistance from company employees are my secondary data used in this research.
INTERVIEW METHOD:
Interview method helps in getting an insight into the prospective clients mind. I
adopted this method as I needed to promote my company in the market as well as try building
an image among them. This helped me in gathering personal and professional information
regarding data recovery as well the image of stellar in the market. For this purpose, various
Rajagiri Business School
Page 56
questions were asked randomly to the customers and their vital feedbacks were collected.
With this method I was also able to clear the doubts of the customers regarding data recovery
issues such as data leakage and data revival possibility in case of physical data damage.
OBSERVATION METHOD:
During the project work, I contacted the 3rd parties and Corporate to find their
opinion about the Stellar Information Technology Private Limited. In the observation method
the researcher himself collects the necessary information by observing the response of the
customers. Observation may be conducted on in the natural field or in the form of
experiment. I used uncontrolled observation that takes place in the natural setting. Agents and
customer are free to express their felling about the product and services offered by the
company. The observation method gave me an idea about the satisfaction level of customer
and agents and gained the precious knowledge about the market situation which made me
understand the need of data recovery in different form of business (manufacturing companies,
service companies, 3rd parties etc.) .
TITLE
Customer Awareness About Data Recovery Services And Solutions Offered By Stellar
Information Technology Private Limited In Kochi Location
OBJECTIVES
PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
To understand how data recovery services are being availed by customers in Kochi
location
Page 57
SAMPLE COLLECTION
Data has been collected from various areas and agencies (3rd Parties as well as
Corporate).
Priority has been given to companies that may require services and softwares offered
by Stellar Information Technology Private Limited.
Random Sampling has been taken as no predefined database of companies had been
used. Made it a point to have companies from all sort of industries viz: Information
technology, Banks, Manufacturing industries, Tours and travels, Laboratories,
Advertising agencies etc.
Page 58
RESEARCH ANALYSIS
DISTRIBUTION OF SAMPLE POPULATION
Chart 1
Software
industry
35%
Hardware sales
& Service
stations
30%
TABLE 1
Software development
Industry
39
Manufacturing and
other industries
34
39
EXPLANATION:
30% of the companies were from Hard ware sales and Service centres. 35% of the
companies were from Software development industry. And rest 35% of the companies
belonged to manufacturing and other industries.
I made it a point to visit those companies who have higher chances of requiring
services offered by stellar data recovery. The sample population consisted of companies
based in kakkanad, kadavanthara, kaloor, kalamassery, edayar, binanipuram etc
1) IMPORTANCE OF DATA
Do you consider data essential for day to day working of your company?
TABLE 2
Not a priority
Low Priority
Medium Priority
High Priority
Essential
11
55
43
Page 59
CHART 2
Importance of Data
Importance Level 80.58%
49%
38%
Not a priority
Low Priority
Medium Priority
High Priority
Essential
10%
2% 1%
EXPLANATION:
38% of the companies said that data is essential for the day to day working of the
company to add to this 49% the companies said data is of high priority for them. Hence it can
be easily said that 77% of the companies consider data of great importance. And only 3% of
the companies said data is of least priority.
INFERENCE:
Data is of great importance for a company. Its importance is only getting increased
year after year. The improved operational systems have been ensuring that importance of data
will only increase in spite of automated reports being generated by various ERPs and other
softwares. The numbers obtained here will give a short glimpse of how important data is for a
company. More than 3/4th of the correspondent companies acknowledged that fact that data is
of at most importance. And only 3% regarded data as a non-essential part of a business.
FINDINGS
Page 60
CHART 3
Low priority
Medium priority
High Priority
Essential
22
18
15 15
15
13
4
2
0
Software development
industry
Importance level-71.15%
Importancelevel-79.48%
Importance level-80.76%
TABLE 3
Software development
industry
Hardware sales and service
industry
manufacturing and other
industries
Not a
Low
Medium
High
Priority
Priority
Priority
Priority
22
13
15
15
18
15
Essential
EXPLANATION
Data is considered to be essential or high priority by almost all of the companies
belonging to software development industry. When it comes hard-ware sector the importance
of data is not that much as there are 2 companies that said data is of low priority. When we
consider the manufacturing and other industries importance of data is fairly the same as that
of software industry except for one company which said data is of no importance for them.
Rajagiri Business School
Page 61
INFERENCE
Importance of data is an unquestionable factor almost 95% of the companies agreed to
the factor that data is of some kind of importance to them, either of high priority or essential
to the day to day working of the company.
FINDINGS
Data is unarguably an important factor across all the three sectors that I have
taken into consideration which are Software Development Industry, Hardware
Sales and service industry, manufacturing and other industries
Rarely
50
51
50
Sometimes
Often
Always
49
43
39
36
34
31
27
26
21
7 7
15
PC harddisk
78.57%
13 13
7
73.66%
24
21
14
Laptop
harddisk
34
32
PenDrives
Server
Harddisk
44.41%
49.55%
CD DVD Roms
30.13%
2 3
Memmory
Cards
25.66%
Preference level
Page 62
TABLE 4
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
21
27
50
PC hard disk
14
39
50
Pen Drives
36
51
15
31
21
13
13
34
CD DVD Roms
32
43
26
Memory Cards
34
49
24
EXPLANATION:
Most preferred data storage device continues to be the Hard disk of Personal
Computer with 50 correspondents stating that they always store data in the Company Desktop
and another 39 correspondents claiming that they often store data in the company desktop.
The second most preferred data storage device is the laptop hard disk. 50 correspondents said
they use laptop hard disk to store data of the company. The third most preferred choice of
data storage device is Server hard disk with 34 correspondents proclaiming that they store
data in server hard disk. CD DVD ROMS and Memory cards are used very rarely to store
data. While pen drives are being used by 51 correspondents to occasionally store important
data.
INFERENCE:
It can be easily inferred from the graph that Hard disk is the main data storage device
used by various companies to store data. Desktop or PC hard disk still continues to be the
data storage device being used by companies. Laptop hard disk is getting more and more
prominence as the secondary data storage device. Server hard disks are seemingly useful as
the desirable data storage device especially in the IT companies and more advanced
companies with efficient systems in place. Pen drives though they enjoy popularity are never
considered a reliable data storage device. It may be due to the frequent misplacing of pen
drives or may be because of the lower capacity. The same problem can be applicable to
Memory cards. Memory cards are not being used as a reliable data storage device apart from
photographers or digital studios. CD DVD roms have become obsolete as number of
companies that use CD DVD Roms are very rare.
Page 63
FINDINGS
Laptop hard disk and PC hard disk are the most reliable and frequently used
source of Data Storage.
Memory cards, CD/DVD ROMS are not gaining much popularity as a source
of data storage device.
Rarely
Sometimes
Always
63
59
56
Often
49
40
31
15
19
12
11
4
Laptop
Harddisk
35.04%
30 32
29
27
26
43
3938
15
9
2
1
PC harddisk
Pendrives
33.92%
39.73%
5
0 0
6
1
Server
Harddisk
CD DVD roms
12.96%
29.91%
1
Memmory
cards
28.79%
Occurence level
Page 64
TABLE 5
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
15
56
26
11
PC hard disk
12
59
31
Pen Drives
19
27
49
15
63
40
CD DVD roms
29
39
38
Memory cards
30
43
32
EXPLANATION:
As the graph shows rarely do companies comes across damaged data storage devices
ie yearly once or twice. The hard disks of laptop, desktop rarely gets damaged more than 55
companies agreed to this fact. Server Hard disks are an exception because almost 63
companies agreed to the fact that they have never come across a situation where their server
hard disk gets damaged. Pen drives are the least reliable data storage device with 49
companies agreeing to the fact they come across faulty pen drives at a monthly basis.
INFERENCE:
The sample population does comes across faulty data storage devices. The hard disks
are not perfectly reliable source of data storage. The Server hard disk but are known for their
reliability the number of companies that reported a damage to their server on a hard disk on a
regular basis was virtually none. The Pen drives are considered to be unreliable data storage
devices when compared to the hard disks. CD DVDs are devices that get easily damaged as it
gets old. Memory cards, though are reliable they are prone to errors because of the rough
usage of the device.
FINDINGS
Pendrives are the data storage device that gets damaged most frequently and
hence they are considered to be an unreliable source of data storage.
Though hard disks are the most used data storage device. They do get damage
often.
Server hard disk are gaining popularity as they rarely mal functions and can
store huge volume of data and are secure.
Page 65
AMC provider
36
Others
35
33
CHART 6
30%
Others
32%
7%
31%
EXPLANTION:
32% of companies consult their AMC provider when they come across damage to
data storage devices. 31% of companies consult 3rd party vendors to recover data from
damaged data storage device. 7% of the companies said they would consult Stellar data
recovery when they get into data loss problem.
INFERENCE:
Only 7% of the companies consult stellar data recovery while 31% of the companies
consult 3rd party vendors to recover data from damaged data storage devices. This is an
opportunity for the company to explore. A tie up with the AMC Provider or the 3 rd party
vendors in cases of Physical crashes can be of great advantage to the company.
FINDINGS
Rajagiri Business School
Page 66
AMC providers are the first point of contact for most of the companies in cases of
data recovery.
3rd party vendors enjoy a sizeable market share which is 2- 3 times greater than the
market share of Stellar in kochi area.
Others
19
17
17
15
13
13
5
2
3
0
Software development
industry
TABLE 7
Software Development
Industry
Hardware sales and service
Industry
Manufacturing and Other
Industries
AMC Provider
Stellar data
Recovery
Others
15
13
17
17
19
13
EXPLANATION
When it comes to software development industry, 15 correspondents agreed to it that
they consult their AMC provider. 13 correspondents said that they consider others (selfchecking of the device, using the help of internet and other sources of information) if any
data recovery issue comes up. Only 5 correspondents said they would visit 3rd party vendors
Rajagiri Business School
Page 67
or stellar data recovery. When it comes to hardware sales and service industry, 17
correspondents said they have specialist who can look into data recovery cases if anything
comes up. While 17 respondents said they would consult a 3rd party vendor if any comes up.
Only 3 companies said they would consult Stellar data recovery in cases of any data recovery
issues. When it comes to manufacturing and other industries 19 respondent said that they
consult with the AMC provider if any data recovery issue comes up. 13 respondents said that
they consult the 3rd party vendors if any data recovery issue comes up.
INFERENCE
Brand name of Stellar has much more acceptance in software companies than the
other sectors. Software companies are much more willing to consult with stellar than other
industries. This can be attributed to the highly important data which they work the hardware
service sector consult more with 3rd party vendors rather than Stellar data recovery. AMC
providers are the first point of contact when any issues arise to their system. This is same as
in cases of data recovery
FINDINGS
3rd party vendors are more trusted consultants in cases of data recovery for the
IT hardware- sales and service industry.
AMC providers are first point of contact for any system related issue,
including data recovery.
Not at all aware Slightly Aware Moderately Aware Very Aware Extremely Aware
25
25
37
17
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CHART 8
7%
23%
33%
Very Aware
22%
Extremely Aware
EXPLANATION
23% of the responders said they were not at all aware of Stellar Data Recovery. 22%
said they were slightly aware of Stellar Data Recovery. 33% said they were moderately aware
about the company while only 15% were very aware about the company. Only just 7% were
extremely aware of Stellar Data Recovery.
INFERENCE
Only 22% of the population are aware of Stellar data Recovery. Rest 72% are largely
unaware about the company Stellar Data Recovery. This provides further scope for marketing
of brand Stellar. The potential for brand Stellar to grow is huge. Effective marketing
techniques could be utilized to improve the brand awareness of Stellar Data Recovery.
FINDINGS
Page 69
CHART 9
Slightly aware
moderately aware
very aware
extremely aware
16
12
10
11
10
11
6
4
11
4
2
Software development
industry
34.61%
50.64%
Awareness level
31.41%
TABLE 9
Software development
Not at all
Slightly
moderately
aware
aware
aware
10
12
11
10
11
11
16
very aware
extremely
aware
industry
Hardware sales and
service industry
Manufacturing and other
industries
EXPLANATION
In software industry the general awareness about Stellar Data Recovery is on the
lower side only 6 respondents were aware about the company prior to me mentioning about
the company. This number is even worse when it comes to manufacturing industries only 3
respondent was aware of Stellar. When it comes to Hardware sales and service industry about
26 of the respondents were aware of the company Stellar data recovery.
INFERENCE
Rajagiri Business School
Page 70
Awareness levels about Stellar data recovery is on the higher side in the hardware
sales and service companies when compared to other industries. About 2/3rd of the
respondents from hardware sector have come to know about Stellar prior to me mentioning
about the company. But this is not the same when compared to other sectors especially in
software industry, where data is much more valuable and required. The awareness level is
very much on the lower side.
FINDINGS
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Expertise
Confidenti
ality
Service
Rates
Location
Experience
Customer
Reviews
Advertisem
ents
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TABLE 10
Factors / Points
10
Expertise
16
40
39
Confidentiality
12
15
38
41
Service Rates
24
34
37
Location
10
12
48
25
10
Experience
10
11
20
27
41
Customer Reviews
16
30
22
22
14
Advertisements
19
30
20
17
EXPLANATION:
Factors taken into account while consulting a data recovery vendor were classified
into expertise, confidentiality, service rates, location, experience, customer reviews and
advertisements. Among them the most important factor taken into consideration by most was
confidentiality of the data with an average rating of 8.741 out of 10 second came expertise
with 8.678 out of 10 which was followed by Service rates with 8.589 out of 10, followed by
the experience with 8.544. Location was given an average rating of 7.866 while customer
reviews obtained an average rating of 7.607 and advertisements obtained an average of 6.26
which was the least important factor.
INFERENCE:
The 4 important factors that were considered by companies while consulting a data
recovery vendor are Expertise, Confidentiality, Service Rates and Experience. Stellar Data
recovery has been known for the expertise they have acquired with the class 100 clean room
and wide set of software as well as hardware tools that they have. Stellar data recovery does
maintain confidentiality of data by means of contract of obligation. Stellar data recovery has
an experience close to 18 years in data recovery field which makes it one of the earliest
players in the field. The Service rates of stellar data recovery are also to be given same
importance as that of other 3 factors. Stellar gives equal importance to Location factor and
because of this they have opened branches in almost all of the major cities in India
FINDINGS
Page 72
o Expertise
o Experience
o Service Rates
Poor
Fair
46
45
Good
Excellent
49
47
45
40
39
36
16
36
16
14
1
Time for Servicing
36
14
13
Cost of Servicing
60.26%
59.82%
16
14
13
61.83%
Satisfaction Level
11
Reusability of
Data
11
Confidentiality of
Data
Overall Service
62.27%
60.93%
Table 11
Factors
Very Poor
Poor
Fair
Good
Excellent
16
45
36
14
Cost of Servicing
16
46
36
13
Reusability of Data
14
45
39
14
Confidentiality of Data
13
47
36
16
Overall Service
11
49
40
11
Page 73
EXPLANATION
The companies are generally neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with the current service
data recovery service providers. The number of responders who choose fair as the option is
around 45+ among the sample size of 112 across all the major factors of consideration.
around 40% or 35+ responders said they are being offered good services by the service
providers. While only 10% or 13 responded that the service they get is of excellent quality.
INFERENCE
There is a great bit of competition when it comes to kochi area. The customers in
kochi are not generally dissatisfied with their existing service providers. But still they are
expecting more from the service provider in terms of time for servicing, Cost of servicing,
confidentiality of data and Service rates. This can be considered as an opportunity for Stellar.
If Stellar data recovery could utilize their expertise in data recovery field and provide
excellent service to the customers they could easily gain a lot of customers who are just being
provided satisfactory services by the 3rd paty vendors.
FINDINGS
The customers are not dissatisfied with their current service provider.
The customer does expect more from the service provider in terms of quality
of service being offered.
Slightly likely
Moderately Likely
Very Likely
Extremely likely
12
16
26
42
16
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CHART 12
11%
14%
38%
23%
Moderately Likely
Very Likely
Extremely likely
EXPLANATION
38% of the responders were very likely to switch to a new data recovery vendor.23%
of the responders said they were moderately likely to switch to a new data recovery vendor.
And 14% of the data recovery vendor said they are extremely likely to switch to a new data
recovery vendor. Only 11% said they are not at all likely to switch to a new data recovery
vendor. And 14% said they are just slightly likely to switch to a new data recovery vendor.
INFERENCE
This provides an opportunity for new players in data recovery industry. About 75% of
the population are willing to switch to a new data recovery vendor. With effective marketing
techniques this could be converted to effective customers of data recovery services. Only
25% of the customers are fully satisfied with the current data recovery solution provider.
FINDINGS
Page 75
CHART 13
slighlty likely
moderately likely
very likely
extremely likely
19
13
11
12
9
6
5
3
1
Software development
industry
56.41%
50.64%
Willingness level
58.33%
TABLE 13
Software Development
industry
Hardware sales and
service industry
Manufacturing and
other industries
not at all
slighlty
moderately
likely
likely
likely
11
13
12
19
very likely
extremely
likely
EXPLANATION
9 respondents from software development industry said that they are willing to move
to a new data recovery vendor if any cases arises. 11 responded that they are very likely.
When it comes to Hardware sales and service industry only 3 said that they are extremely
likely to move to a new data recovery vendor. Majority but agreed that they are very likely to
move to new data recovery vendor. 23 respondents agreed that they are very much likely to
switch to a new data recovery vendor if any cases arise.
Rajagiri Business School
Page 76
INFERENCE
The high per cent of respondent opting for moderately likely and very likely option
from the hardware service and sales industry states that they are willing to try a new data
recovery vendor but yet they are sceptical since they didnt opt for extremely likely option.
Given the higher level of awareness about Stellar it should have been the other way. This
means that the hardware sales and service industry doesnt consider trustful partner.
FINDINGS
In the present scenario, The Hardware sales and service industry likes to get into new
partnership with data recovery service providers as the number of cases are in a
constant increase.
Across other industries when proper awareness was given regarding data recovery
they were willing to switch to a new data recovery partner rather than entrusting it
with the AMC provider who may not know the importance of data stored in the
device.
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Confidentiality
Free Consultation
Media Analysis
Page 77
TABLE 14
Confidentiality
Free Consultation
59
77
Media Analysis
9
EXPLANATION
Free consultation remains the most important additional facility offered by data
recovery service providers. Over 80% of responders said they receive free consultations from
their service providers. Confidentiality of data is guaranteed to less than 60% of the
customers. While free pick up and drop services are offered to less than 20% of the
customers.
INFERENCE
Stellar might be the only company to provide all four of these additional facilities to
the customer. Hence if stellar could reach to the customers highlighting these additional
services which are being offered, they could easily gain popularity among the target
audience.
FINDINGS
There arent many data recovery vendors that provide such wide range of additional
services.
Yes
No
14
98
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CHART 15
Yes
No
88%
EXPLANATION
88% of the responders said they werent aware of disk sanitization services. While
only 12% of the responders were aware of the disk sanitization services.
INFERENCE:
This is relatively an untapped market. Responders dont know the importance of
permanently deleting data from data storage devices. They usually format the device to erase
data from devices. Only 12% of the people knew that data still exist in the device even after
the device is formatted and could easily be recovered from them. Proper awareness about this
factor to the general population could be an easy way to market the brand Stellar.
FINDINGS
Page 79
Pricing of the services and softwares provided by Stellar is much more than the local
vendors.
Laptop and PC hard disk are the most trusted sources of data Storage.
Server hard disks are gaining popularity in IT industry as reliable source of data
storage. While CD-DVD Roms are no longer desired data storage device.
3rd Parties are sceptical about sending the hard disk to stellar as they find their
customers unwilling to pay high price.
General level of awareness about data recovery and other allied services like disk
sanitization are poor among the customers
Page 80
SUGGESTIONS:
Improving the efficiency of marketing department could easily transform into sales
Competitive pricing with respect to local vendors could easily gain a lot of customers.
Priority plans could be made flexible so that existing satisfied clients of stellar are
tempted to get into priority plan.
3rd party data recovery providers could be made potential clients. Most of them dont
have a decent lab wherein data recovery can be done.
Attractive incentives and rewards could be given to 3rd parties to attract them to
divert their customers to stellar data recovery.
Major business for WIPE software lies with the CAs and law firms and hence special
attractive packages could be designed.
Aggressive marketing could be done for disk sanitization and disk degaussing
services which could help Stellar to improve its brand image.
Page 81
BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.stellarinfo.com/
http://www.stellarinfo.com/company/about/stellar-overview.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_Information_Technology_Pvt._Ltd.
http://www.linkedin.com/company/stellar-information-systems-ltd
http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/stellar-information-system-ltd
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/op/over.htm
Page 82
ANNEXURE
COVER LETTER
From
Jithin J Kumar
Management Trainee (Summer Intern)
Stellar Information Technology Private Limited.
Kochi Location.
To
Manager
Systems/IT Department
QUESTIONNAIRE
Page 83
QUESTIONNAIRE
Name
Email-id
Designation
Company
:
:
:
:
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
1) Do you consider data essential for day to day working of your company?
Not a priority
Low Priority
Medium Priority
High Priority
Essential
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
3) How often do you come across faulty Data storage devices (Pen drives, Hard disk)
Device
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
(Yearly 1 or 2) (Monthly 1 or 2) (Weekly 1 or 2) (Daily basis)
4) Whom did you consult when data storage device gets damaged?
AMC provider
Others
Slightly Aware
Moderately Aware
Very aware
Extremely aware
Page 84
6) On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the strongest influence please rate the following
factors that you take into consideration while you consult a data Recovery vendor
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Factors
Expertise
Confidentiality
Service Rates
Location
Experience
Customer Reviews
Advertisements
7. How would you rate the performance of your current data recovery service
provider?
Factors
Time For Servicing
Cost of Servicing
Reusability of Data
Confidentiality of Data
OVERALL SERVICE
Very poor
Poor
Fair
Good
Excellent
Slightly likely
Moderately likely
Very likely
Extremely likely
Free Consultation
Media Analysis
Yes
No
Kottayam
Yes
Thrissur
Palakkad
No
Kozhikode
Page 85