Commvault’s Rao on data resiliency and AI, India expansion plans and more

Commvault, a US-based provider of data protection solutions for hybrid cloud, is betting on data resiliency and artificial intelligence (AI) innovation, with a focus on the Indian market.

In a recent conversation with TechCircle, Balaji Rao, Area Vice President, India & SAARC, Commvault, said that India's booming digital economy and evolving regulations are fuelling demand for advanced data protection. “India is a key center for research and development that develops some of our ground-breaking offerings like Cloud Rewind and Cleanroom Recovery,” he said.

As AI faces challenges from controversial data practices like biased datasets, data poisoning, and privacy concerns, data resiliency—an organization's ability to maintain data access during disruptions—becomes critical.

Commvault’s Cleanroom Recovery offers a secure, isolated environment for validating cyber-recovery plans and ensuring rapid and clean restoration with air-gapped data copies. Cloud Rewind enhances resilience by automating data recovery within minutes, simplifying cloud operations and ensuring seamless business continuity.

India – a key innovation hub

The company views India as a key innovation hub, leveraging its local presence in Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Coimbatore to tailor solutions for industries like BFSI and healthcare, addressing regional compliance needs.

Globally too, Commvault is focused on cyber-resilience and cyber-preparedness. According to Rao, to maintain leadership in the competitive backup and recovery market, Commvault is moving beyond traditional backup to an integrated, AI-driven cyber-resilience platform and is excited to showcase these innovations at the RSA Cybersecurity (RSAC) Conference this year, running April 28-May 1 in San Francisco.

According to Rao, enterprises struggle with legacy solutions unable to meet modern IT demands, leading to data silos, inefficiencies, and increased cyber-risks in hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Outdated backup methods further exacerbate these issues with manual processes and slow recovery, diverting resources and prolonging downtime.

The solution is that enterprises need an agile, integrated approach to automate and unify backup and recovery, he believes.

Importance of a data resilience strategy

Data is the cornerstone of modern enterprises, but remains under constant cyber-threat, believes Rao who believes that investing in a comprehensive data resilience strategy is crucial for protecting, maintaining, and restoring critical data against ransomware, system failures, or human errors.

The key components of a data resilience strategy include a multi-layered backup approach, automated backups with rapid restore capabilities, redundancy across environments, and regularly tested disaster recovery plans.

“Security at every layer, including encryption, access controls, continuous monitoring, and employee training, is also essential. Commvault Cloud unifies these elements into a single platform, enabling seamless backup, monitoring, and recovery across environments with significant TCO reduction,” he said.

Rao further stresses that backup-as-a-service (BaaS) offers a scalable, cost-effective solution for protecting workloads from cyber-threats, data loss, and compliance risks.

“Traditional backup methods are inadequate for complex hybrid and multi-cloud environments. BaaS eliminates infrastructure overhead, providing enterprise-grade protection with automation, rapid recovery, and built-in security. BaaS strengthens resilience through automated backups, immutable storage, and AI-driven anomaly detection, while streamlining compliance. Prioritizing data protection via BaaS prepares businesses for evolving threats and ensures long-term success,” he said.

AI-driven platforms are the future

According to Rao, AI-driven platforms are the future of cyber resilience, enabling rapid prediction, isolation, and restoration of systems to minimize downtime and financial losses. Commvault is redefining cyber-resilience with Commvault Cloud, featuring Cleanroom Recovery and Cloud Rewind.

Over the next 12-18 months, he said that Commvault will expand its SaaS portfolio, including Metallic, across India and neighbouring countries, simplifying data protection through automation and managed services. This expansion focuses on critical workloads like Active Directory Forest Recovery and Office 365 protection, vital for cloud business continuity.

The publicly traded company is working closely with government, enterprise and academia to meet the various criteria under the DPDP Act, inform Rao. The company has also partnered with AWS, Azure and Google Cloud to offer AI-powered, compliant, Zero Trust cloud protection.

With a focus in sectors like BFSI, healthcare and manufacturing, Commvault is strengthening its AI-driven, SaaS-led solutions for hybrid and multi-cloud environments, with Indian engineering teams leading the development of advanced recovery capabilities.

“We have plans to further expand its engineering, sales, customer success, and innovation footprint in India, reinforcing the region’s role in driving its global cyber-resilience vision,” said Rao.