Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS): If Disaster Strikes, Will You Be Ready?
Downtime. It’s a word no business wants to say, let alone overcome. But disasters do happen – both natural disasters and unexpected system failures – that can cause downtime along with the costs and headaches that will result.
Research shows that downtime can be nearly impossible to avoid. According to IDC, the average cost of downtime is about $100,000 per hour. Even more surprising, most organizations experience 10 to 20 hours of unplanned downtime every year – and that’s without any natural disaster taking place. Factor in major events including fires, hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes, and the probability that your business could be offline for days or even weeks becomes high.
That’s why it’s critical for your business to be prepared. Fortunately, being disaster recovery (DR)-ready is easier and more cost effective than ever with cloud-based DR. Cloud-based DR can offer robust performance and features without the high implementation cost. Thanks to advancements in data transfer technologies, bigger data sets can now be securely replicated to a networked environment in the cloud with exceptional speed. If your primary server fails, you can run operations just as you normally would by using the cloud-based version of your data. Once your failed server is back online, you can easily restore your most current data from the cloud – all without suffering any data loss or wasting work time.
Four Essential Features for Cloud DR
If you’re considering a cloud-based DR solution for your business, consider the following essential features. This will ensure that your new DR strategy is not only effective, but efficient as well. Look for solutions that will…
- Provide Cloud-based DR without an Appliance. Many DR solutions require the installation of a physical appliance, which sits between your server and the cloud connection. This adds complexity and can cause bottlenecks in the recovery process. Rebuilding the environment is also slowed down because you’ll need await a replacement appliance. This can also cost you valuable time in managing extra, unnecessary hardware. Recovery in the event of a disaster should be fast, and direct-to-cloud recovery ensures that speed and simplicity.
- Support Both Physical and Virtual Servers and Applications. Not all cloud-based DR solutions are built the same. When selecting the DR solution, opt for one that will run both physical and virtual servers and applications from the cloud without interruption to workflow. This will help you continue on with business as usual following a larger site disaster. It also assures that you can protect all of your workflows with ease, regardless of whether they are hosted on a physical server or virtual machine.
- Be Affordable. The idea that DR is a luxury that only larger enterprises can afford is a myth. With the simplicity of a direct-to-cloud DR solution, companies of every size can easily protect all their applications and workloads efficiently and cost effectively. Select a cloud-based DR solution that offers a clear and affordable pricing model, so you can protect all of your vital business applications and unstructured files without breaking the bank.
- Recover Your Most Current Information. Recovering from a disaster isn’t valuable if you aren’t able to recover the most current set of your important data. Appliance-based DR solutions often have a delay between backing up to the appliance and having that backup reach the cloud. This means that if the appliance fails or is unavailable during a disaster, the cloud copy of your critical data might be days, even weeks, out of date. Be sure that the cloud-based DR solution you rely on gives you access to the most recently backed up data, so that your recovery is not only quick and affordable, but useful as well.
Disasters don’t have to equal downtime for your business. Be prepared with a strategic approach to DR readiness by leveraging the power and efficiency of the cloud and have the peace of mind that your business is safe, come what may.
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