With the advent of cloud computing, businesses can now streamline business functions in a whole new way while simultaneously lowering costs and improving data security. In fact, it is estimated that there will be over 200 ZB of data stored in the cloud by 2025 as companies continue to look for ways to leverage these benefits.
However, along with the benefits of cloud computing, there are also new risks that need to be addressed in new ways, including (but not limited to) increased exposure to business interruptions caused by data loss, cyber-attack, and system outages. This makes it crucial for you to have a disaster recovery cloud strategy in place to mitigate the impact of such incidents and be prepared in the event of a disaster.
But what is cloud disaster recovery, exactly? In this blog post, we will discuss the importance of cloud disaster recovery and how an MSP can assist you in developing and implementing your cloud disaster recovery plan.
What is Cloud Disaster Recovery?
Cloud computing disaster recovery is a process of restoring IT operations and data in the event of a disruption to your organization’s cloud services.
At a high level, cloud disaster recovery planning, otherwise known as cloud based DR, involves:
- Identifying potential risks through vulnerability assessments
- Assessing the severity of each risk through business impact analysis
- Defining Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) and Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) that are appropriate for your business
- Developing a disaster recovery plan for the cloud that supports your RPO and RTO
This DR plan includes procedures for backup and recovery of data, restoration of IT systems, and communication with stakeholders. And with the cloud computing market expected to hit a CAGR of 14.1% from 2023 to 2030, the demand for cloud based DR within the business environment is increasing immensely.
Image Credit: Precedence Research
Why is Cloud Disaster Recovery Important for Businesses?
Now that we’ve answered the question of “what is cloud disaster recovery?”, let’s break down its importance in the business world.
Cloud based disaster recovery is crucial because it ensures business continuity in the face of unexpected disruptions. These disruptions could be caused by natural disasters, cyber-attacks, human error, or system failures, all of which can have severe consequences.
Considering that 45% of all data breaches are cloud based, the need for disaster recovery in cloud computing is obvious. A disaster recovery plan for cloud environments helps SMBs like yours mitigate these risks by providing a framework for responding to incidents quickly and effectively.
By having a disaster recovery strategy in place, companies can minimize downtime within their network infrastructure, reduce data loss, and ensure that critical systems are restored as quickly as possible. Having a cloud disaster recovery plan can also help your company meet regulatory compliance requirements and protect your business reputation.
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What are Typical Disaster Recovery Models?
There are several common disaster recovery models that your business can use for DR in cloud computing.
- Backup and restore model, aka the traditional disaster recovery model which involves regular data backups and restoring applications and data within dedicated DR servers in the event of a disruption.
- Pilot light model, which involves maintaining a minimal/core version of business applications in the cloud (along with replicated data and a robust backup strategy) that can be scaled up and brought online in the event of a disruption. The Pilot light model can support more aggressive RPOs and RTOs than the backup and restore model but are not as aggressive as the warm or hot standby models. This model offers a balance between affordability and reliability that is appropriate for many businesses.
- Warm standby model, deploys a completely functional stack, but at reduced capacity. It involves keeping a scaled-down version of business applications running in the cloud (along with replicated data and a robust backup strategy), which can be quickly scaled up in the event of a disruption (more quickly than the pilot light model).
- Hot standby model, which entails maintaining a fully redundant, multi-site version of your applications and data running in the cloud, which can take over in the event of a disruption with minimal or no downtime. This is obviously the most expensive DR model, but it is also the most robust.
Each of these disaster recovery models has its advantages and disadvantages, and an MSP can help you select the model that best suits your business operations and needs.
How Can an MSP Help with Cloud Computing Disaster Recovery?
An MSP (managed service provider) can assist you in developing and implementing a cloud data recovery plan that is appropriate for your business. A good MSP will use their knowledge and experience across a wide range of industries to help you define an RPO and RTO that meets your business continuity needs – and then develop a cloud DR plan that can support those objectives.
Below are some of the ways an MSP can help with cloud computing disaster recovery processes:
Risk Assessment: An MSP can help identify potential risks to your cloud services and assess the impact of those risks. This assessment will enable you to prioritize your cloud DR efforts and ensure that your plan addresses the most critical risks.
Backup and Recovery: An MSP can help you develop backup and recovery procedures for your DR servers and other cloud services. This includes selecting the right backup solutions, scheduling backups, and testing the cloud recovery process to ensure that data can be restored quickly and accurately.
Cloud Data Recovery: In the event of a disruption to a business’s cloud services, an MSP can help restore critical systems and applications quickly by leveraging established cloud recovery procedures. This generally includes identifying the root cause of the disruption, resolving the issue, and performing any necessary cloud data recovery measures as quickly as possible.
Communication and Training: An MSP can help you communicate with stakeholders during a disruption and provide training to staff on cloud DR procedures. This will help ensure that everyone knows their role during a disruption and can respond effectively.
Continual Improvement: An MSP can help you continually improve your cloud based disaster recovery plan by monitoring and testing their systems regularly. This will enable you to identify and address any weaknesses in your cloud disaster recovery procedures and ensure that it remains effective over time.
Look to ITSco for Cloud Data Recovery Support
Disaster recovery in cloud computing is critical for your organization to protect against downtime and data loss and ensure business continuity.
At ITSco, we can help your business develop and implement a cloud disaster recovery strategy, providing the knowledge and tools needed to protect your IT systems and data.
A failure to plan is a plan for failure, so prepare your business before disaster strikes. Contact us to learn more about how we can help create an effective DR plan that sports your business plans.
