Whether you are looking to minimize downtime, improve security or increase reliability, disaster recovery services provide the solutions you need to keep your business operating in the face of a disaster. These solutions are typically based on the backup and restoration of your data, systems and technology infrastructure. They can also include other activities such as resuming functions, providing work-from-home options for your employees, or finding other locations where you can continue operations if your facilities are damaged.
Having a well-implemented disaster recovery plan will help you maintain your customer relationships and reputation in the event of an emergency, such as a natural disaster or power outage. It can also help you reduce your IT costs by eliminating the need to purchase new hardware and software if your data center or offices are destroyed, and by reducing maintenance and archive storage fees. A well-implemented disaster recovery plan will also boost employee confidence and morale by showing them that the company is prepared to handle a crisis.
The National Disaster Recovery Framework is a model that can help you develop an effective disaster recovery plan that meets your business and budgetary goals. The framework is intended to enable the federal government, states, tribes, territories and local governments to work together to support communities in need. It is also a good place to start if you want to build a resilient nation.
When choosing a disaster recovery service, consider the different types of services and providers that offer them. For example, a third-party service called Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) offers replication and hosting to protect your physical and virtual IT infrastructure, with a provider taking on the responsibility of implementing your DR plan in a disaster situation based on a service-level agreement.
Other DRaaS offerings are designed to be more cost-effective by leveraging the cloud and eliminating hardware requirements. They can also significantly reduce your RTO and RPO by delivering a virtualized environment with fewer limitations than traditional IT infrastructure. Some DRaaS options have even cut down the time to restore an IT system from days to minutes, dramatically improving your productivity and lowering your risk of revenue loss.
Another option is to use a hybrid solution with a managed service provider that provides DRaaS and on-premises backup. This allows you to get back up and running quickly without losing any critical functionality or data. It also allows you to scale up or down based on your needs, which can save you money by keeping your IT budget more flexible.
The best disaster recovery plans are those that take advantage of innovative technologies to reduce the cost and complexity of archiving, backups and recovery. Cloud-based recovery solutions are becoming increasingly popular, enabling agencies to leverage the capabilities of third parties to provide cost-effective DRaaS and to reduce the need for expensive hardware and IT resources. The flexibility of these solutions also reduces costs by allowing agencies to choose an RTO and RPO that meets their business needs.