“94% of companies suffering from a catastrophic data loss do not survive and 43% never reopen and 51% close within two years.”
– University of Texas
What do you think businesses use as a leverage point to mint revenue and profits? It’s the ‘Data’.
Nowadays, companies use advanced data analytics to launch their innovative products and services in the market. It helps them in improving the operations and making better decisions based on correct information. In short, data is the ‘Heartbeat’ for businesses. Hence, it is understandable why they go to great lengths to protect it from corruption or loss.
But wait, ever wondered how do these companies manage this ‘Big Data’ or recover the data in the event of any disasters or unforeseen contingencies?
Read further to get answers to all your questions.
What is Disaster Recovery?
Disaster recovery is an organisation’s method of regaining access, and functionality to its IT infrastructure after events like a natural disaster, cyber attack, or even business disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Having the right tools, policies and procedures in place show whether an organisation can meet pre-established goals for recovery speed and point-in-time.
How does disaster recovery work?
Disaster recovery relies upon the replication of data and computer processing in an off-premises location not affected by the disaster. When servers go down because of a natural disaster, equipment failure, or cyber attack, the access of the local IT infrastructure is shifted to the remote DR site. So does it mean data backup and disaster recovery move in conjunction?
What Is Data Backup and Disaster Recovery?
Data Backups or Cloud Backups or Backing up refers to the process of replicating files to be stored at a designated location. Disaster recovery (DR) encompasses the full strategy for responding to a disaster and putting the backups into action. DR is the umbrella under which backups reside, and organisations should run them together. Backup and recovery are two distinct concepts, yet they should always be used in tandem. It is possible to have data backup without a disaster recovery strategy, but it’s impossible to have disaster recovery without data backup. There is nothing that can be recovered if no data has been stored.
Hence, it led to the development of an integrated disaster recovery solution called BDR(Backup and Disaster Recovery) which works cohesively to ensure a company’s business continuity.
What are the challenges with Traditional Data Backup and Disaster Recovery Solutions?
Historically, companies adopted traditional data protection solutions, but with the tremendous growth of data, the ability to protect that data and ensure a clean recovery for access during recovery has become more and more dubious. As data becomes more digitised, this amount is projected to rise over time.
- Corruption and Revelation of Magnetic Media
- Restore Time in Traditional Backup Solutions
- A Backup for the Backup
- Unpredictable Cost
- Limited Cloud Usage
- Slow Recoveries
Why is a disaster recovery plan and why is it important?
Gartner Inc. reported that the average cost of downtown is $5,600 every minute, or more than $300,000 per hour. However, according to another study by Avaya, it may cost as high as $540,000 every hour.
Aren’t these figures mind-boggling?
Disaster Recovery Preparedness Starts with a Disaster Recovery Plan. It is a document that lays out different scenarios for promptly restarting work and minimising disruptions in the aftermath of a catastrophe. And for SMBs particularly, any extended loss of productivity can lead to reduced cash flow through late invoicing, lost orders, increased labour costs as staff work extra hours to recover from the downtime, missed delivery dates, and so on.
Does a disaster recovery plan lead to data resiliency?
In the most rudimentary form, resilience refers to the ability to overcome struggles and hardships and bounce back from adversity. And, data resiliency is not just about getting back on track when things go wrong; it is also about how firms position themselves to protect their brand value and resources. A resiliency plan enables you to execute planned activities like upgrades, migration and day-to-day maintenance with no downtime. With proper planning and knowledge, cloud-enabled technology can have a net positive impact on an organisation’s overall resilience and recovery posture.
Way Forward with Zmanda
Disaster Recovery is not a luxury anymore. Zmanda is a powerful backup and recovery offering for a price less than you would expect. It helps enterprises achieve RPO & RTO objectives – even during major IT outages. The IT teams can expect seamless backup and recovery processes across our entire product offerings. Zmanda backs up data from your databases, servers, applications, and VMs. Zmanda’s disaster recovery capabilities span on-premise, cloud, and hybrid environments. Our Zmanda Disaster Recovery Solution provides robust and cost-effective disaster recovery capabilities for your critical data assets. Go, get Zmanda!
