What is Disaster Recovery?

Disaster Recovery (DR) is the process that an organization takes to prepare for and recover from an unforeseen event that threatens business continuity. The events can involve natural disasters, incidents caused by individuals such as cyberattacks, or system failures. It consists of implementing strategies, policies, and procedures to allow organizations to minimize data loss and downtime. This means that business functions can continue as quickly as possible without any disruptions. This process includes maintaining backups, deploying appropriate technologies, and establishing robust recovery strategies such as adequate storage to ensure systems remain operational. By integrating disaster recovery into the broader business continuity plan, organizations can build resilience, allowing them to recover swiftly and efficiently from a disastrous event. 

The difference between disaster recovery and backup 

 

The terms disaster recovery and backup can often get mixed up as they both relate to data protection and business continuity. However, they serve different purposes. Backup involves duplicating and storing data in a secondary location over the cloud to ensure it can be restored in case of data loss. Whereas disaster recovery is a broad term that encompasses the process and strategy plan to ensure businesses can resume their functions quickly after a disruptive event.  

 

The importance of disaster recovery  

 

Disaster recovery for cloud-based systems is crucial to ensure business continuity. A system breakdown or unplanned downtime can result in consequences for those relying on cloud-based applications and files. If businesses don’t have a disaster recovery plan, they could face data loss, reduced productivity, and unexpected expenses. Having a disaster recovery plan can provide critical benefits:  

 

Business continuity  

 

A disaster recovery plan ensures your business can continue as usual in the event of an incident. When disaster strikes, such as a system failure or cyberattack, a disaster recovery plan prompts the quick restart of backup systems and data so operations can continue as scheduled, maintaining the productivity of the business. 

 

Enhanced system security and protection of data  

 

Creating a disaster recovery plan that involves data protection, backup, and restoring processes limits the impact of attacks and any security risks for businesses. For example, backups to the cloud are carried out frequently and offer built-in security features such as encryption to safeguard valuable business assets and files. It also protects the organization from data loss.  

 

Cost savings  

 

Depending on how severe the disaster is, there could be a loss to both income and productivity. A robust disaster recovery plan avoids unnecessary losses as downtime is reduced. It ensures that systems can be restored swiftly, minimizing the time the business is non-operational, as every minute of downtime can lead to a loss of revenue. 

 Depending on the disaster recovery method chosen, cloud backup solutions can save money. This is because you can manage, monitor, and maintain data while implementing a disaster recovery plan, without compromising the business’s ability to continue its operations in the process. This proves to be cost-effective as revenue streams are maintained and productivity continues.  

 

Improved customer retention  

 

In the event of a disaster, how a company responds can impact customer trust and loyalty. The longer a disruption persists, frustration increases, and so does the potential loss of confidence in the business. For this reason, a well-prepared disaster recovery plan involving training employees in effectively handling these situations and subsequent inquiries can keep customers at ease and maintain their confidence.   

 

Compliance  

 

Many businesses have regulations that require specific disaster recovery measures to protect data during a disaster. By adhering to these regulations, legal and financial penalties can be avoided. 

 

How base can be part of your disaster recovery plan 

 

Backup and disaster recovery are always considered in every base system design to protect your online media assets. The base tool set can accommodate any RTO (recover time objective) from Multi-Region active-active architectures for zero downtime to cost-effective cross-region data backup. This means that implementing cloud backup as part of your disaster recovery strategy guarantees you’ll maintain uninterrupted access to your essential assets even if an unforeseen event occurs. Our disaster recovery and backup plans are also externally audited by a UKAS accredited body to ensure compliance with ISO27001. This means that you can ensure your assets are protected at the highest level and can only be accessed through encryption.