Data breaches are a plague upon American businesses. In fact, cyber incidents cost the nation an estimated $452.3 billion in 2024 – a number that is only projected to increase. By 2030, the cost could be in the trillions.
Why are cyber-attacks so expensive? One reason is downtime. Even a brief disruption can translate to reduced revenue, missed opportunities, lost data, and damaged trust. And unfortunately, attacks are just the beginning. Natural disasters, power outages, and random hardware failures can all bring your business to a screeching halt. There is only one way to effectively mitigate this risk: a strong disaster recovery plan.
Unfortunately, every self-proclaimed expert gives different advice on how to develop one. The amount of conflicting information available, much of it recommended by leaders in the IT space, only makes it harder to protect your business.
So what is the best way to improve your resilience in the face of cyber incidents, natural disasters, and other emergencies? How can you ensure that no matter what happens, your business stays online?
Why SMBs Need Cloud-Based Disaster Recovery
Business continuity and disaster recovery are inextricably linked. Without the ability to bounce back quickly from cyber threats, natural disasters, and other emergencies, you won’t be able to maintain consistent operations. Every incident that impacts your IT will shut you down, potentially for hours or even days. Over time, repeated instances could cause significant harm to your business.
Traditional disaster recovery (dr) strategies rely on hardware solutions, such as a secondary server or hard drive, to store data and maintain workflows. While this approach used to be effective, the cracks have begun to show in recent years. Hardware backups, even those stored at a secondary location, are prone to failure under certain circumstances. They can also degrade faster than one might expect, leading to a false sense of security when in actuality, the backup has been corrupted for some time.
For these reasons, modern disaster recovery solutions often utilize the cloud. This strategy outmaneuvers the issues typically associated with on-site recovery options, vastly improving your chances of a successful data backup in the event of a disaster.
Benefits of disaster recovery in cloud computing include:
- An off-site backup that won’t fail after a power surge, fire, or other environmental disaster
- Additional flexibility to increase and decrease storage as needed
- The ability to work straight from backups, instead of needing to transfer them first
Industry Use Cases for Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery in Cloud Computing
While any business can benefit from disaster recovery via cloud backups, it’s particularly useful for certain industries:
- Healthcare: Staff can now access essential patient data, even when on-site storage systems are offline. This improves their ability to provide care during a crisis, as well as HIPAA compliance.
- Supply Chain: Workers can access important information from any location, even when out of range of on-site solutions.
- Retail: Retail outlets can more effectively support 24/7 operations, even during a power outage.
Building a Cloud Disaster Recovery Strategy
Any good cloud disaster recovery strategy should include the following considerations:
- Data and Workflows: What systems does your business use that must be preserved during an emergency? Which data could you not afford to lose? Clear prioritization is essential for a strong plan.
- Recovery Metrics: Define your recovery time objectives (RTO), and recovery point objectives (RPO). The former outlines how long your recovery can acceptably take, and the latter relates to the amount of data you can acceptably lose. These metrics are crucial for assessing the success of your cloud-based disaster recovery strategy.
- Backup Schedule: Consider automating backups where possible, as this eliminates the risk of them being forgotten. If backups are not automated, set a strict schedule (preferably every day).
- Compliance: Ensure that your cloud-based disaster recovery solutions comply with industry standards and regulations.
- Testing: Don’t assume your backup systems have worked. Test them regularly, to ensure that everything is copying over correctly and workflows function as expected. Verify that, if a disaster occurs, staff will actually be able to ensure continuity using your current solutions.
Cloud Disaster Recovery Best Practices
In addition to following the checklist above, remember to implement these cloud disaster recovery best practices:
- Document Everything: Document all solutions and processes used, issues encountered, and actions taken. This will help you avoid similar problems in the future, and demonstrate compliance during an audit.
- Keep It Simple: Don’t overcomplicate your disaster recovery plan. Cloud computing should make things easier, not harder. Focus only on what’s necessary to minimize downtime and quickly recover.
- Train Your Team: Your disaster recovery and cloud backup plan is only effective if staff know how to use it. Teach them what to do if systems go offline, including how to access and restore data backups, and how to use interim workflow solutions.
- Monitor Constantly: As your business grows, existing cloud disaster recovery solutions may no longer meet your needs. Continuously monitor the situation, perform annual reviews, and make adjustments as they become necessary.
Hiring an MSP for Cloud Disaster Recovery: Is It Worth the Cost?
Cloud-based business continuity plans are often complex. The setup may be difficult, depending on your current infrastructure and chosen strategy. Your staff will also need to swap seamlessly back and forth between cloud systems and on-premises infrastructure. Finally, a number of issues could crop up that you are not prepared to handle.
Many businesses are solving these issues by using a managed service provider, or MSP. These IT experts often specialize in setting up and maintaining cloud environments, making them an extremely valuable asset in any data recovery strategy. An MSP can provide:
- Migration services
- 24/7 monitoring
- Real-time support and issue resolution
Some even offer proprietary cloud solutions, allowing them greater flexibility to help with any problems. If you’re concerned about your ability to manage business continuity and disaster recovery via cloud computing, this might be the best option available.
Can’t I Just Use Cloud Disaster Recovery Plan Templates Instead?
Cloud disaster recovery plan templates may help you set up your strategy, initially. But they carry a major flaw: if something goes wrong, you’re on your own. A template cannot help you overcome unexpected challenges, or make adjustments to improve the efficiency of your disaster recovery processes. Managed services can, which is why they are so highly recommended.
FAQ: Backup & Disaster Recovery for SMBs
Q: How do I choose the right cloud disaster recovery solution?
A: Look for scalability, ease of integration, and strong security measures. Cloud infrastructure can vary wildly, so inspect your options carefully before committing. The services you choose can mean the difference between maintaining business continuity, and experiencing total disaster.
Q: How often should I test my disaster recovery cloud backup plan?
A: At least twice a year, or whenever a major change occurs. Regular testing will ensure that your plan functions as expected.
Q: How do I know if I need help?
A: If you’re finding cloud-based disaster recovery difficult to navigate due to inadequate staffing, a lack of in-house expertise, or unexpected errors, you may need to consult an MSP for help.
Q: What’s included in a good cloud disaster recovery strategy?
A: Strong disaster recovery and cloud backup plans require in-depth knowledge of your current infrastructure and workflows. You will also need clear targets, strong documentation, and thorough testing.
Q: How is my RPO calculated?
A: An RPO is typically measured in hours of data lost. For example, if you accept the notion of experiencing an outage one hour after your last backup, then your RPO is one hour.
The Perfect Cloud-Based Disaster Recovery Strategy for Your Needs
Disaster recovery is about more than simply saving data. It is one of the most important things you can do to secure your business’ future. It does require a significant amount of work, and you may need help getting started, but the potential pay-off is well worth the investment. The right strategy will ensure business continuity even during the worst circumstances, improving your resilience and long-term profitability.
Ascentient’s cloud experts craft customized disaster recovery strategies that won’t ever let you down. We ensure that whether you experience a fire, flood, or cyber-attack, it’s business as usual. If you’d like to discuss your needs, chat with a consultant now.