Businesses today usually face disruptions such as cybersecurity attacks, natural disasters, and system failures. Such unplanned events can cause significant downtime, reputation damage, revenue loss, and sometimes permanent closure. Statistics show that the average cost of downtime can be as high as UD$9,000 per minute for a large organization, which calls for a robust data recovery plan.
However, choosing the proper data recovery setup is also crucial. Should you use traditional on-premise recovery or Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS)? Unlike conventional on-premise setups, the latter offers scalability and flexibility to minimize downtime and guarantee business continuity.
This article will discuss the benefits and drawbacks of DRaaS to help you decide if it's the right solution for your business.
What Is DRaaS and How Does It Work?
A disaster recovery as a service solution is a cloud-based setup that allows businesses to replicate their IT infrastructure, applications, and data in real-time to a secure cloud environment. During an unplanned disruption, it uses one-click failover and ransomware recovery, ensuring minimal downtime and data loss.
In cases such as hardware failure, the DRaaS providers activate the failover system, allowing businesses to access the replica of the data and systems via the cloud. This efficiency makes it a reliable strategy, unlike an on-premise setup that may require the business to maintain a secondary physical site.
Benefits of DRaaS
Managed DRaaS offers operational continuity in several ways. Here are some of the benefits of using this solution:
Cost Effectiveness
One of the most significant benefits of using DRaaS in your recovery plan is its cost-effectiveness. Because it's cloud-based, there won't be a need for substantial investment upfront in setting up data centers or having a dedicated IT team like in traditional data recovery solutions.
The service uses subscription-based models, meaning businesses only need to pay for the required features. Meanwhile, some have a pay-as-you-go structure, ideal for small and medium-sized businesses. They can pay for the services only when needed without purchasing expensive on-premise solutions.
However, costs can vary depending on the organization's specific needs. So, do a detailed cost analysis to determine whether this option is ideal for your business and budget in the long run.
Scalability and Reliability
Do you know that 40% of SMBs fail to reopen after a disaster? A lack of a proper and reliable disaster recovery plan usually causes this. However, with a DRaaS solution, businesses are guaranteed high availability and fast recovery times through service level agreements (SLAs). Organizations also have a much quicker recovery time objective (RTO) than when adopting traditional disaster recovery solutions.
Also, DRaaS offers scalability, which is crucial for growing a business. Growth means bigger and more powerful data centers and increased application needs, and the data recovery resource should be able to handle these changes. DRaaS uses cloud infrastructure to provide virtually unlimited scalability. This flexibility is important as businesses can adapt their recovery plans to meet changing requirements without incurring excessive costs.
Accessibility and Expertise
Accessibility is a significant selling point for DRaaS. Because the data is stored in the cloud, employees can easily access critical systems with an internet connection from any location.
Once the data loss is handled, businesses can continue with their daily operations as their systems will be up and running thanks to streamlined accessibility. This feature particularly benefits businesses with remote workforces or multiple locations, ensuring continuity regardless of physical disruptions.
DRaaS providers also handle the complex tasks of managing and maintaining disaster recovery systems so businesses can focus on their core operations. These are carried out by specialized teams with experience in cloud disaster recovery planning.
Enhanced Compliance Standards
Another significant investment that DRaaS providers make is focusing on industry-specific compliance regulations. This expertise is crucial for businesses as it aligns the disaster recovery process with legal and regulatory requirements. For example, healthcare regulations forbid data loss, unauthorized access, and disclosure even during recovery.
That said, data recovery services operate in a highly secure and controlled environment. Organizations that use them have a strong posture against non-compliance risk, thereby avoiding potential penalties. This guarantees businesses that their disaster recovery strategy meets all necessary industry standards.
Reduced Management Burden
Working with DRaaS means significantly reducing the management burden on internal IT teams. Traditional disaster recovery solutions require significant in-house resources for planning, budgeting, implementation, testing, and ongoing maintenance. Your IT team will be burdened with these processes. With DRaaS, these complex and time-consuming tasks are outsourced to the provider.
As the service provider handles the disaster recovery task, your internal team can focus on core business processes that directly contribute to growth and innovation. Thus, they can remain productive while avoiding burnout. All your IT needs will be delegated optimally as well, and this drives efficiency.
Potential Drawbacks of DRaaS
While DRaaS could have several benefits, making it a worthwhile solution to maintain your data integrity, there are some downsides to consider:
Dependence on the Internet and Cloud Providers
A cloud disaster recovery plan is highly dependent on connectivity, which can be an undoing during a disaster. Businesses need a reliable internet connection, and a slight disruption in the network could delay the recovery efforts, eventually affecting business continuity.
DRaaS also has control over uptime and security. A provider outage or breach could have severe consequences, so it's essential to choose a reputable vendor with a proven track record. Ask them how they handle issues such as power interruptions, network loss, and if they have failover systems that guarantee business continuity even if their main system is compromised.
Privacy and Customization Concerns
Privacy is another concern, with 95% of organizations worried about security in a public cloud environment. Storing sensitive data in the cloud exposes businesses to potential security risks, such as unauthorized access or data breaches.
However, most DRaaS providers implement robust data protection measures such as encryption, access controls, and compliance. Make sure to work with a service provider implementing these strategies to protect your backup data at rest or in transit.
