Disaster recovery is an organization’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. A variety of disaster recovery (DR) methods can be part of a disaster recovery plan. DR is one aspect of business continuity.
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, a business needs to recover lost data from a second location where the data is backed up. Ideally, an organization can transfer its computer processing to that remote location as well in order to continue operations.
Whether creating a disaster recovery strategy from scratch or improving an existing plan, assembling the right collaborative team of experts is a critical first step. It starts with tapping IT specialists and other key individuals to provide leadership over the following key areas in the event of a disaster:
While not necessarily part of the IT department, the following roles should also be assigned to any disaster recovery plan:
Businesses can choose from a variety of disaster recovery methods, or combine several:
COVID-19 and the resulting global crisis have pushed many companies to support employees working remotely and forced organizations to rethink their disaster recovery and business continuity strategies. With the pandemic in play, even just a network outage can have a significant effect on the business.
Here are a few things to consider:
No organization can afford to ignore disaster recovery. The two most important benefits of having a disaster plan in place, including effective DR software, are:
Protect any workload, balancing the speed and cost of recovery with the criticality of your data.
On-demand disaster recovery with cloud economics
On-demand disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS)