Disaster Recovery as a Service: 5 Reasons to Implement DRaaS in Your Business December 3, 2020 According to the Ninth Annual Cost of Cybersecurity Study, 68% of business leaders surveyed reported that they feel their cybersecurity risks are increasing. Knowing these risks are greater than ever before, the benefits of disaster recovery strategy far outweigh the drawbacks. It’s critical that every organization have a plan in place in order to mitigate the potential damage that can be caused by a disaster or security breach. While companies can choose to handle their disaster recovery plans internally, it’s often more efficient and cost effective to choose a managed service provider who provides disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS). If your company is deciding whether or not to implement DRaaS, you need to understand the benefits of disaster recovery and why it’s such an effective solution. Key Benefits of Disaster Recovery as a Service What makes DRaaS an attractive option is that it replicates applications and data — usually in a cloud environment — within a secondary infrastructure that can be accessed remotely in the event your primary environment is compromised. Whether it’s a data center interruption and network outage that has temporarily downed operations or a phishing scam that has caused a widespread breach of customer data, having a plan in place so your company can act swiftly is essential. Let’s explore some of the most important benefits of disaster recovery that your company should consider when deciding on whether to go with a DRaaS provider. #1. Greater Reliability and Recovery Time One of the most compelling reasons a company needs a disaster recovery strategy is that when an outage or disaster strikes, you’ll want to be able to keep business running while the problems are addressed. Having a plan in place that allows end-users continued access to data and applications is a must. DRaaS is appealing because it can usually kick in within minutes, so downtime is minimal. In the event of a disaster or an outage, a DRaaS MSP may be able provide resources you may not otherwise have access to — communication services, temporary facilities or other services — which can make the difference between continuing on with business as usual or not being able to operate at all. A DRaaS MSP will work in conjunction with your IT department and management teams to ensure your critical workloads and applications are securely stored and replicated to a secondary site. Many solutions include both a recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) that ensure your business will be back up and running in a limited timeframe. Think of DRaaS like an insurance policy. While you hope you never need it, it’s worth the investment so that if the unexpected happens, you have peace of mind that things will be taken care of. #2. Lower Costs With Faster Implementation Another big draw for companies considering DRaaS is that it offers a lower cost of ownership. The capital required to set up and manage your own disaster recovery strategy can be high, with potential costs including: Buying or leasing a site for a secondary data center. Purchasing or leasing servers, storage and network equipment to match your primary site. DR Software costs and expertise to run it when you least expect it. With a DRaaS MSP, you get all the benefits of a robust disaster recovery strategy without the associated costs. Depending on the scope and scale of what your business requires, DRaaS can be deployed within hours or days, versus the weeks or months it would take if you were setting up your own secondary disaster recovery site. DRaaS MSPs also take care of the testing that is required to ensure a disaster recovery is robust and effective. Having a disaster recovery plan without testing at regular intervals means you simply have a plan — a plan you can’t be sure will work when you actually need it. When it comes to the cost factor and the benefits of disaster recovery, it’s also important to consider the potential financial impact of not having a plan at all. Should your systems go down and you don’t have backups in place, it could be an extended period of time before your back online — and that lost time may represent lost revenue. #3. Higher Scalability and Flexibility As your company evolves, so will your need for data, storage and computing — all of which have impact on disaster recovery. By choosing to work with a DRaaS MSP that uses the cloud, your production environments can scale when needed with minimal impact. Moving data between sites requires bandwidth that you may not have internally, and if you’re constrained by your own resources, this can be a challenge. Thankfully, DRaaS providers already have the much needed infrastructure to make these changes. Disaster recovery strategies should be evaluated and adjusted over time, so by using a DRaaS provider you can easily make changes to meet the needs of the business. #4. Expertise and Customization from Professionals Like so many other things in your business, sometimes bringing in an expert can make a huge difference. A DRaaS provider has extensive experience in managing disaster recovery and data security for multiple customers which they can draw from with your use case. Plus, when something goes wrong, you can expect them to act quickly. When building a disaster recovery plan, there are plenty of templates you can follow, but choosing a DRaaS MSP means you can work with the team to customize a plan that exactly meets the needs of your business. It’s important to note that just because you choose DRaaS, it doesn’t mean your IT environment is now being controlled by someone else. Your team can still run reports, recover lost data and manage data storage. You simply have the bonus of having disaster recovery professionals ready and willing to assist as needed. #5. Free Up Internal Resources Disaster recovery planning requires testing, maintenance and ongoing IT support, so you’re ready if and when a disaster strikes. When your IT resources are focused on disaster recovery, it takes away time from other crucial IT work. DRaaS frees up these resources so your staff can focus on other areas needing their expertise.By choosing DRaaS, you can rely on the MSP’s subject matter experts as an extension of your team instead of having to hire one directly. Capitalize on the Benefits of DRaaS The benefits of disaster recovery extend far beyond the five we’ve shared. No matter the size of your company, if you use technology, you should have a plan in place. By choosing a DRaaS provider who can implement, test and manage your disaster recovery needs you’ll ensure you have peace of mind when the unexpected happens — and your business won’t suffer as a result. Is your company looking for a DRaaS provider to craft a robust disaster recovery plan to meet your needs? Click here to learn how Carbon60 can help.
