Cloud based Disaster Recovery

Conventional disaster recovery strategies have always been a costly affair that involved complicated procedures and labor intensive workflows that would span over extended periods of time. It wasn’t until the incorporation of visualized and later cloud based disaster recovery solutions that this scenario began to change. Now organizations around the world can reap the benefits of a full-fledged DR strategy that is backed by cloud computing. Business data is safeguarded at an incredibly competitive price and in an efficient manner. Commercial enterprises of various sizes and complexities are better insulated against security breaches and systems are restored in shorter time frames.

The driving factors that necessitate migrating DR strategies to the cloud vary from enterprise to enterprise. Cost effectiveness is a major advantage for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). At the other end of the spectrum, multinationals of a certain scale and standing can ensure business continuity in all their centers spread across geographic regions. A packaged solution that brings together processing, repository support and connectivity capabilities seamlessly fails over operations to alternate sites when the main location goes down.

More and more organizations are moving their recovery measures to the cloud. Reducing business downtime implies reduced revenue losses in times of emergency. In many enterprises, Cloud Disaster Recovery responses are prioritized over other conventional solutions. A major advantage of cloud based disaster recovery solutions is that their effectiveness can be tested, analyzed and updated as and when necessary. As a matter of fact, nearly three quarters of enterprises with an active cloud computing enabled DR plan conduct tests at least once every three months to gauge the feasibility of their recovery plans. And since the entire infrastructure is mounted on a virtual platform, tweaking and fine tuning of existing plans doesn’t require exorbitant expenditure. User friendliness is another important parameter, along with dependability and budget friendliness. The majority of enterprises insist on an easy to use platform that seamlessly integrates with their existing IT frameworks.

It is mandatory in many organizations to first rule out the feasibility of cloud based disaster recovery options before considering other conventional alternatives. Regardless of size or scale of operations, downtime seriously impacts revenue. Losses due to outages can range anywhere between a few hundred thousand to a million dollars per day. These numbers are particularly dependent on the extent to which mission critical applications are impacted during an emergency situation. While environmental hazards such as floods, typhoons, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanoes and earthquakes are natural phenomenon that can lead to disasters, accidents caused by human intervention such as hardware/software disruption, data corruption, user errors etc. are equally frequent if not more.

Cost effectiveness, easy synchronization with the company’s existing IT framework and user friendliness figure prominently in the list of influencing factors while deciding on a suitable cloud based disaster recovery solution. User friendliness is particularly crucial for IT administrators who bear the major responsibility of fleshing out DR tasks and procedures. In smaller companies, solution adaptability is equally important, especially if the leadership is looking to expand operations.

Most vendors in the market look to map their solutions to the recovery time objectives of the potential clients. Compliance requirements and continuous tech support are important factors to be considered. The vendor’s standing in the market and the comprehensiveness of the proposed DR solutions are other considerations that organizations take into account while evaluating a prospective vendor.

It is important for organizations to plan out their DR measures based on application priority. This is a crucial step while deciding which cloud technology vendor’s solution is more relevant to their specific needs. Some of the commonly used applications in today’s business environment have been listed below:

Most vendors in the market look to map their solutions to the recovery time objectives of the potential clients. Compliance requirements and continuous tech support are important factors to be considered. The vendor’s standing in the market and the comprehensiveness of the proposed DR solutions are other considerations that organizations take into account while evaluating a prospective vendor.

Besides monetary feasibility, a number of other factors make cloud based disaster recovery solutions unique, such as tape based vaulting. Speedy recovery of systems within shorter time frames is an in-demand feature that most customers look for. Safer and more fortified systems are another highly sought after feature although it must be noted that insufficient security has often been cited as one of the main concerns that give most enterprises second thoughts about incorporating cloud based technologies into their scheme of operations.

Some of the prominent advantages of adopting cloud based disaster recovery strategies have been listed below:

Bringing systems up and running quickly is a prime concern for many organizations as impact to their mission critical operations severely affects revenue. Very few enterprises out there can afford downtimes in excess of a day’s duration. Most organizations have just a 2-4 hour window to restore critical systems while some organizations necessitate business to resume operations in less than an hour.

Cloud based solutions are a great asset in this regard for organizations with an ever shrinking downtime window. Nevertheless, the more effective the solution, the higher the price and companies must look for an optimal solution that safeguards their systems without taxing their budget.