May 28, 2022 | By Greg Dougherty
Over the first several months of this year, several large companies, ranging from oil pipelines to food processing plants, fell victim to ransomware and other cyberattacks. While not unprecedented, those newsworthy incidents serve as an important reminder that every organization should look into their data backup and recovery plans and processes to ensure they don’t face similar expensive and reputation-tarnishing crises.
Companies can set themselves up for success by leveraging managed disaster recovery (DR) services from a provider.
Importance of Disaster Recovery
While predicting and preventing data loss can be difficult, a comprehensive disaster recovery plan can help companies experience minimal consequences of deleted or unrecoverable data. Preventing the fallout from a crisis is especially important for smaller businesses because between 40-60% don’t reopen afterward.
By leveraging DR services, businesses can:
Reduce Downtime Costs
Downtime costs companies an estimated $5,600 per minute, which can add up quickly if data is lost or unretrievable for long periods of time. Losing access to mission-critical data and applications can significantly reduce profitability and slow down employee productivity. Those affected by ransomware can leverage DR services to minimize any downtime and recover their systems quickly.
Ensure Business Continuity
With disaster recovery, businesses that experience data loss can continue functioning with minimal project disruptions. For companies operating in industries with strict compliance requirements, such as in the financial or healthcare sectors, DR services help them adhere to data storage and handling regulations without incurring penalties.
Reliably Recover Lost Data
Between user error, system failure, natural disasters, and malicious attacks, organizations are subject to several avenues that can cause unrecoverable data. With disaster recovery, companies have a dependable way to backup and restore data to its previous state should it be lost.
Read more: What Types of Organizations Need a Disaster Recovery Plan…and What Should It Entail?
Set Your Business Up For Success With Disaster Recovery
Businesses that want to protect and reliably back up their critical data can leverage managed Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service (DRaaS) from a provider. Managed DRaaS features several advantages for companies, including:
Full Infrastructure Management
Managed DRaaS allows companies to transfer full accountability for the entire backup and recovery process to the provider, alleviating internal IT teams and allowing them to focus on other projects. Offloaded responsibilities include monitoring the infrastructure for security vulnerabilities and scaling production sites to support growth needs.
Real-Time Replication
Faster restore times mean less downtime. Disaster recovery’s replication capabilities ensure that data is copied in at least one location as it’s generated, ensuring that businesses have access to the most up-to-date files shortly after a crisis.
Frequent Testing
While having backup and recovery processes in place is one of the best ways to prevent data loss woes, businesses must evaluate those platforms frequently to make sure they are reliable in the event of an actual emergency. Many DR providers test customer applications and environments to ensure companies can depend on those processes for successful replication and restoration.
If your company is interested in disaster recovery, reach out to our team. We can discuss your options and how our solutions can address your data backup and recovery needs.