How To Write A Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Plan
Every organisation worth its salt employs some form of disaster recovery as it is crucial to ensure business continuity. But it is a big question if they indeed have a robust and mature disaster recovery plan that can be helpful in any data loss or corruption.
Crafting the best business continuity and disaster recovery plan is necessary for running a business and must be taken quite seriously. A disaster recovery plan tells you about the processes, procedures, and tools that help you recover your data from a data disaster. On the other hand, business continuity plans map out the various actions and processes you should be undertaking as precautions and the remedial actions you need to follow during and after an incident.
Differences between on-premise backup and cloud backup solutions
In traditional IT, companies used basic file-based backups or maintained their own private backup servers. While this type of backup solution was considered relatively safer from external cyber threats, they were also quite expensive to maintain and had little flexibility in terms of automation and restoration. This meant that your disaster recovery plans had limited options to work with.
With the advent of cloud technology, advancements in cloud security, smart budgeting, and affordable backup solutions provided by the cloud, most enterprises have duly shifted their backup solutions to the cloud. And thus, disaster recovery plans have also evolved to include automated backups, restorations, 24/7 cloud monitoring, and so on. Given the convenience and flexibility provided by cloud backup solutions, many organizations tend to form the misconception that it is all they need.
Some basic differences between an on-premise backup solution to a cloud backup solution are:
On premise | Cloud | |
Data storage | Stored on premise private servers and storage | Stored on cloud data servers that are located far away from the company’s physical location |
Cost | Poses expensive initial investment on infrastructure and tools. But does not require monthly fees. | No initial capital required. But you will have to pay monthly subscription charges based on your usage. |
Security | Safe from cyber attacks as the data is stored offline and in accessible through the internet | Cloud has inbuilt security features and up to date security systems to protect your data. But there is still a risk of cyberattacks as it is connected to the internet. |
Internet requirement | Not required | Need internet to access the data |
Maintenance | Must be carried out by the organization | Taken care of by the cloud service provider. |
While the cloud does offer a safe space for your backups, your recovery plans still need to account for any risks associated with storing the data on the cloud. If your data gets corrupted or leaked or the cloud data servers are somehow damaged, you still stand the risk of losing your data.
Therefore, the best solution is to use the best of both worlds by maintaining multiple copies besides your regular cloud backups. Backing up your cloud services to an alternative ring-fenced environment delivers peace of mind that your data is always accessible and recoverable in any event.
Choose a comprehensive data backup solution
When looking for an efficient backup solution, you should also seek help to streamline both on-premise backups and cloud backups in an optimized manner. Pay attention to features such as automated, continuous backups, quick recovery, and affordable pricing plans to reduce business risks and ensure uninterrupted business continuity.
That said, we help companies comprehensively protect their data and recover anything from a single file to their entire system in a breeze, should disaster of any magnitude strike. Contact us to learn more.
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