What Role do Data Centers Play in Disaster Recovery Planning?

During the last decade, the cost of tapping into the benefits of a disaster recovery data center has become increasingly affordable. On the other hand, the losses businesses suffer from disruption and downtime have not. Given that organizations of all sizes can work with a managed IT services provider to integrate a disaster recovery data center into their strategic planning, it appears we are at an inflection point.

By working with a third-party managed IT firm, your operation could gain the protections and benefits of a comprehensive data center disaster recovery plan. These are reasons why every organization needs a data center disaster recovery strategy, how it works and the best way to cost-effectively implement one.

Understanding Disaster Recovery Planning

Losing temporary or permanent access to valuable and sensitive digital assets is a particularly frightening thought in our heavily digitized business landscape. Such incidents not only create productivity setbacks, but also, the inability to soldier through hard times reflects on an organization’s reputation.

Disaster recovery planning is an organization’s written policies and protocols that provide a roadmap to restoring operations in the face of adversity. Whether caused by a severe weather event, a cyberattack or human error, disaster recovery focuses on ensuring the IT systems required to continue profit-driving endeavors are not significantly disrupted.

A robust disaster recovery plan outlines preventative and corrective measures. It also articulates the role of each stakeholder when things appear to be going sideways. But by investing in a disaster recovery data center, otherwise crippling incidents are avoided.

The Role of Data Centers

Large corporations have the budgetary bandwidth to invest heavily in an enterprise-level disaster recovery data center. This facility is usually designed and constructed by the company and housed on its campus.

But small and mid-sized organizations can also gain data center disaster recovery plan benefits by working out a scalable arrangement with a managed IT services provider. One of the trending ways small outfits are securing data center benefits is by buying into “Colocation Data Centers.” This is when multiple groups come together to lease off-site facilities with the servers, security and infrastructure to help them implement a disaster recovery plan.

These rank among the core roles data centers play:

• Infrastructure Resilience:

  In terms of data center disaster recovery, infrastructure resiliency is the ability of servers, storage systems and networks to recover quickly from a disruption. Part of the data center recovery plan may include purposeful redundancies. That way, if one item falters, the same critical information can be retrieved elsewhere.

• Data Protection and Replication:

  Companies routinely back up their systems and information in case of calamity. While daily backups are a smart policy, a data center disaster recovery plan goes further. Multiple backups can be performed and then stored in areas out of harm’s way.

• Scalability and Flexibility:

  Data centers were largely only affordable to big corporations a decade ago. The consumer buy-in of evolving technologies has brought down the cost considerably. Mid-sized companies and mom-and-pop operations can now work with a managed services provider (MSP) to leverage data centers in a scalable fashion. This helps level the playing field.

• Geographic Diversity:

  It’s possible to parlay the colocation data centers into a strategy that utilizes facilities in various regions. This type of data center disaster recovery plan ensures that one of the facilities won’t be disrupted by incidents such as severe weather or power outages.

One of the ways businesses can seamlessly take advantage of data center disaster recovery strategies is by enlisting the support of an MSP. These firms work diligently with organizations of all sizes to craft a disaster recovery plan and use existing data center infrastructure to protect your livelihood.

Leveraging Managed Services Providers (MSPs)

The working relationship between an organization and an MSP opens doors to prepare for the worst. As recent studies indicate, too many industry leaders get blindsided by events beyond their control. Had they employed a disaster recovery data center, businesses would have sustained the following.

• More than 90 percent of organizations experienced downtime.
• Approximately 20 percent of organizations suffered significant outages.
• Ransomware attacks in the U.S. last nearly three weeks on average.

The cost to businesses with frequent downtime is estimated at 16 times higher than others. Having a data center disaster recovery strategy in place can reduce or eliminate work stoppages when floods, hurricanes, wildfires, cyberattacks or power outages occur.

Entrepreneurs, CEOs, and other decision-makers need only calculate the total losses that would accompany a shutdown to understand that a data center needs to be part of the operation’s core infrastructure. These rank among the primary benefits of working with an MSP.

• Expertise and Experience:

  MSPs offer specialized knowledge and experience in disaster recovery planning. Rather than hire an IT technician, organizations get the combined experience of an entire dedicated team of professionals.

• Monitoring and Management:

  An MSP can provide monitoring, proactive maintenance and management of disaster recovery environments 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s simply not practical to assemble and pay for a disaster recovery unit.

• Rapid Recovery and Testing:

  It’s crucial to perform testing to determine the effectiveness of your data center disaster recovery strategies. An MSP can review and update elements on an ongoing basis. That way, your organization can rebound quickly when necessary.

• Cost Efficiency:

  Partnering with MSPs reduces the need for extensive in-house resources and infrastructure, leading to cost savings. You can onboard managed IT services on a scalable, flexible, monthly basis.

An MSP implements the best practices required for disaster recovery solutions. These typically include penetration testing, risk assessments, business impact analysis and employee training. One of the top benefits of delegating a data center disaster recovery plan to a third-party firm is not having to worry about your operation shutting down unexpectedly.

Red River offers managed IT services and consulting that includes data center disaster recovery planning. We are here to supplement your in-house IT staff or fully handle your disaster recovery needs. Talk with our team today about how we can help your business.