Introduction
In today's era, businesses heavily rely on their IT infrastructure making it crucial to have a disaster recovery plan in place. With the increasing frequency of disasters, equipment failures, power outages and cyberattacks ensuring business continuity through disaster recovery is paramount.
This is where Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) comes into play. DRaaS is a cloud based service that enables organizations to protect their data and IT systems by storing them in a third party cloud environment. It offers recovery orchestration through Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions after any incidents. In this article we will delve into the nuances of DRaaS, its advantages and its relevance in the realm of business continuity.
Challenges Encountered in Implementing a Disaster Recovery Solution
Before diving into the specifics of DRaaS it's important to understand the obstacles that businesses face when deploying a disaster recovery solution. Natural disasters like hurricanes, floods, wildfires and earthquakes have become occurrences that pose significant threats to IT infrastructures. Equipment malfunctions and power failures are causes of downtime while the changing landscape of cybersecurity threats adds an extra layer of complexity to disaster recovery planning.
Effectively addressing these challenges is crucial for businesses to ensure smooth operations. Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) comes into play to handle these all.
How DRaaS Works
DRaaS operates by replicating and hosting servers in data centers provided by third party vendors rather than relying on the organization's location. In the event of a disaster that disrupts the customers site, the vendor executes the disaster recovery plan in their facilities. Organizations can choose between subscription based or pay per use models for DRaaS plans allowing them to pay when a disaster occurs. DRaaS providers offer a range of services and organizations should carefully evaluate providers based on their needs and budget limitations. This approach eliminates the need for organizations to set up and maintain their off site disaster recovery environment which will help save them cost and time.
Why Choose DRaaS?
DRaaS provides advantages that make it an appealing choice for businesses:
Choosing the Right DRaaS Model
When considering DRaaS options, organizations have three models to choose from:
This is the cost choice as it puts the responsibility for planning, testing and managing disaster recovery directly on the customer's shoulders.
Effective preparation and thorough testing are crucial for ensuring a transition in the event of a disaster.
Comparison of DRaaS and BaaS
While DRaaS shifts an organization's operations to cloud infrastructure during a disaster, BaaS primarily focuses on duplicating data rather than infrastructure. BaaS is generally more cost effective but only protects data leaving the infrastructure susceptible. Many organisations that use BaaS will find it necessary to combine it with another disaster recovery plan to guarantee business continuity.
Conclusion
Organizations are increasingly turning to DRaaS as an affordable solution for maintaining business operations during disasters. Whether opting for managed, assisted or self service, DRaaS the key is to have a disaster recovery plan in place. With DRaaS, organisations can be at ease knowing that their IT infrastructure is secure and they can quickly recover from any catastrophe.
