As our story about RCU’s dramatic experience shows, disaster recovery has become an essential part of every business. Unfortunately, many of those seeking effective DR come away empty-handed, convinced that protection is out of reach, the cost too great.
If that’s been your experience, you’re talking with the wrong people.
Disaster recovery is possible for everyone. To get it, you need to know what sort of protections your operation truly needs and then understand how today’s DR options can be matched to your requirements.
Begin by asking what you’re most likely to face — not only major events like fire, flood, and earthquakes, but also the mundane, such as power outages.
Next, determine where DR costs can be controlled through use of new approaches and technologies. For instance, RCU learned that integrating DR up front is far more cost-effective than adding it on later and now makes DR a core component of every IT task, from appdev to rollout. Other moves that can increase DR affordability include cloud solutions, virtualization, standardization, and reducing complexity.
Finally, once you’ve mapped your needs, look for a DR partner that emphasizes flexibility and respect for your organization’s requirements and budget and be wary of vendors pushing you to spend beyond your comfort level. Remember, DR is not all-or-nothing; you can start with basic protections like data backup and recovery, then boost your DR capabilities as your requirements continue to evolve.
