Benefits of disaster recovery as a service
In any business, especially an IT company, data is one of the key elements used in running daily operations. There are several ways that a business can store and protect its data. In the past, disaster preparedness often required IT staff to travel to off-site data centers and / or copy corporate data to tape. However, advances in technology and computing platforms have enabled the creation of better and more scalable data storage mechanisms. These have paved the way for complete disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) solutions that can be used in place of internal IT teams.
When data is breached or hacked, uncontrollable losses will occur. To avoid this, many companies choose to implement disaster response measures and even dedicated teams to manage these types of situations.
Today, you will find two main categories of computing: cloud computing and hardware server-based computing. This includes using DRaaS or traditional backup methods to protect and store data. With today’s technology, DRaaS offers several advantages over traditional backup and disaster recovery methods.
DRaaS is quite reliable and helps address many challenges, including mobility, portability, and high performance, among other features. Traditional disaster recovery does not offer the capabilities that DRaaS does today. In the next section, we’ll look at some of the reasons why you should steer clear of other methods and instead rely on DRaaS for disaster recovery.
Less resources needed
DRaaS recovery data is stored in the cloud, reducing local hardware requirements. Traditional disaster recovery services generally require expensive local hardware and are complex to implement and manage.
DRaaS can be used for a group of critical servers or just one server, something that may not be economically viable using traditional DR. This means that companies can resume limited operations much more quickly.
Cyber attack mitigation
Cyberattacks represent one of the biggest threats to businesses. Earlier this year, the “WannaCry” ransomware attack made headlines when it took over more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries.
Cyberattacks also come in the form of email phishing scams, whereby scammers trick unsuspecting employees into providing confidential information, and data hacks, whereby cybercriminals gain access to the company network and they exploit confidential data.
With DRaaS, you can mitigate these security incidents and prevent a disaster situation. In this type of event, simply invoke your disaster recovery plan to get your applications active in the cloud using the most recent clean copy of your data. When you have cleaned your production systems from the attack, you can replicate their versions in the cloud in your data center.
That’s better than negotiating with an attacker to get your data back!
Lower cumulative costs
Most companies don’t have a good disaster recovery plan because they are worried about expenses. In general, backup and disaster recovery can be expensive if you choose methods that require the purchase of hardware. For example, if you want to back up all your data to physically private servers, you must invest in the same number of servers that you have now. DRaaS is a solution provided by a third party. Therefore, the hardware and software used for your disaster recovery strategy are the property of the service provider. Your initial investment will be small.
Simpler tests.
Failover testing is now as simple as point and click, putting a lot of effort (and risk) out of testing. And, as I have made clear, if it is not tested regularly, it is not reliable.
DRaaS comes with a lot of really good tools for monitoring and protecting critical and sensitive information, and it gives auditors an easily verifiable “on paper” trail.
Flexibility
Compared to more traditional backup methods, DRaaS is much more flexible. The various DRaaS services offer customers more options on how to handle different business systems. Any business using DRaaS solutions can select from a variety of recovery scopes, depending on the type of disaster. These can include server failure, human-caused disasters, loss of power or building access, data clogging, and much more.
Quick and immediate recovery
Your business can never be sure when disaster might strike. If one occurs, how much downtime is acceptable? Every second that the power goes out or your servers fail means big losses for your organization. With a DRaaS solution in place, you don’t have to worry about this – if disaster strikes, you can restore normal operations in minutes.
Reliable security
Security in DRaaS is commonly misunderstood, so choose your provider wisely. For example, it is important to ensure that the supplier complies with all relevant regulatory bodies. In addition to ensuring that the data center itself is physically secure, you should also verify that the data is encrypted in transit and at rest. DRaaS providers must implement automated systems to monitor the health of their data. For your peace of mind, they should also be able to provide you with reports for any specified period.
Optimize internal IT needs
Many small and medium-sized businesses do not have the IT expertise to manage disaster recovery solutions. Managing processes such as data recovery or disaster prevention requires business process knowledge and a specific IT skill set. DRaaS enables companies to leverage the expertise of consultants, providing a more efficient way to implement a disaster recovery solution for their business.