Disaster Recovery as a Service – why you need it - blueAPACHE

November 11, 2015

There is a good chance that you’d like to see your business survive any disaster as well as any problems that follow. Our reliance in technology today means we can not afford downtime – we rely too heavily on it.

Forty percent of businesses do not reopen after a disaster and another twenty-five percent fail within one year according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Similar statistics from the United States Small Business Administration indicate that over ninety percent of businesses fail within two years after being struck by a disaster.

Disasters come in all shapes and sizes – from natural catastrophes to simple power outages. It is almost impossible to predict the next disaster, but it is possible to prepare for it. To reduce downtime and mitigate the negative impact a disaster can create, every company should have a secondary site with a full copy of the production environment. In the case of a natural or human-induced disaster or a failure of the IT environment – when your production is partly or fully not available – you can quickly switch to the secondary site and continue business as usual.

However, small and mid-sized organisations can’t afford a secondary data centre, let alone the experienced IT staff to manage it. This is why the Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service (DRaaS) market has evolved so quickly.

There are a lot of DRaaS definitions. The majority of them describe DRaaS as a replication of physical or virtual machines (VMs), from a production data centre to a recovery site that will provide failover capabilities in the event of a problem of any size. Whilst the definitions may vary, the core benefits remain the same:

Downtime is not acceptable. Fast and successful recovery is one of the most important metrics today. The faster you can continue operations, the greater the chance of recovery.

DRaaS removes the necessity of investing in additional infrastructure. Companies can rent an allocation of CPU, RAM, storage and other resources as they are needed. It is now a much more affordable operational expense, enabling you to focus capital investment on growing your business instead of running it.

Privacy, security, data sovereignty and service level agreements you can secure with a DRaaS provider are often better than you can implement and maintain internally. The provider should be compliant with all relevant regulatory bodies, and your data should adhere to local privacy and data sovereignty guidelines.

Today, small and mid-sized organisations can mitigate the risks and save money on flexible subscription-based DRaaS. Big enterprise companies also find many benefits from outsourcing their disaster recovery services to a third party, primarily to avoid the high costs of supporting secondary sites and complexity issues.

Why DRaaS from us?

We deliver DRaaS solutions for some of the most tightly regulated industries in Australia. We understand it, we design it, and we manage it. We own the DRaaS infrastructure, ensuring we have 100% level of influence over the services we provide.

We listen and provide simple replication for those that need it, or more complex solutions with custom Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) for those needing comprehensive solutions (or are bound by industry compliance requirements). We utilise private cloud, on-premises and public cloud solutions to marry your business and governance requirements.

We test frequently – having a Disaster Recovery programme is one thing, ensuring that it works is another thing entirely. We schedule regular testing for all clients to ensure their tailored DRaaS works exactly as expected to deliver piece of mind. We back this up with dynamic redundancy across our data centre network.

Our Private Cloud servers are located solely in Australia, meaning we can guarantee your data remains local. Data sovereignty (and privacy compliance) are key factors when considering your DRaaS provider.

To learn more on DRaaS or to discuss ways we can help improve your risk profile, contact the blueAPACHE Cloud team.

News

What is Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS)?

DRaaS is generally described as a replication of physical or virtual machines (VMs) from a production data centre to a recovery site that provides failover capabilities in the event of a problem of any size.

What statistics does the blueAPACHE article cite about businesses and disasters?

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), forty percent of businesses do not reopen after a disaster and another twenty-five percent fail within one year. Similar statistics from the United States Small Business Administration indicate that over ninety percent of businesses fail within two years after being struck by a disaster.

Why do small and mid-sized organisations often turn to DRaaS instead of building their own secondary data centre?

Small and mid-sized organisations typically can't afford a secondary data centre, let alone the experienced IT staff to manage it, which is why the DRaaS market has evolved so quickly as an alternative.

What are the core benefits of DRaaS ?

The core benefits of DRaaS are fast recovery (minimizing downtime and improving the chance of business recovery), cost effectiveness (removing the need to invest in additional infrastructure by renting CPU, RAM, storage and other resources as needed), and security (privacy, security, data sovereignty and service level agreements often better than what a company could implement internally, with providers compliant with relevant regulatory bodies).

Do large enterprises also benefit from DRaaS, or is it only for small businesses?

Big enterprise companies also find many benefits from outsourcing their disaster recovery services to a third party, primarily to avoid the high costs of supporting secondary sites and complexity issues.

What makes your DRaaS offering distinctive?

We highlight four differentiators: Expertise (they design and manage DRaaS for tightly regulated Australian industries and own their DRaaS infrastructure for full control); Extensive Portfolio (simple replication or more complex solutions with custom RTO and RPO using private cloud, on-premises and public cloud); Reassurance (frequent, regularly scheduled testing backed by dynamic redundancy across their data centre network); and Data Sovereignty (Private Cloud servers located solely in Australia to guarantee data remains local).

How do you ensure data sovereignty for its DRaaS clients?

Our Private Cloud servers are located solely in Australia, which means the company can guarantee client data remains local, addressing data sovereignty and privacy compliance considerations that are key factors when choosing a DRaaS provider.

How do you verify that a client's DRaaS plan will actually work in an emergency?

Our schedules regular testing for all clients to ensure their tailored DRaaS works exactly as expected, backed up with dynamic redundancy across their data centre network, because simply having a Disaster Recovery programme is not the same as ensuring it works.

What is the liability risk if a service agreement lacks backup or disaster recovery obligations?

Subject to the preceding liability provisions and to the extent permitted by law, clause 19.4(a) excludes liability for loss of or damage to Customer Data unless the Service Agreement obliges us to take backups or provide disaster recovery services for that data. Where we have and breach those obligations, the clause limits liability to the cost of restoring the Customer Data to the version required at the latest applicable Recovery Point Objective. This provision does not establish that the customer bears every financial or operational consequence or has no other contractual or statutory recourse.

Who should a business contact to learn more about DRaaS from you?

We advise contacting our Cloud team to learn more about DRaaS or to discuss ways they can help improve a business's risk profile.

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