5 Steps to Creating an Effective Disaster Recovery Strategy

Research shows that any business is at risk. Ransomware causes significant damage — both financially (ransoms can reach tens of millions of dollars in the corporate sector) and operationally, leading to unplanned downtime. Natural disasters and technical failures can also temporarily paralyze a company’s operations. To recover quickly, serious preparation and the development of a disaster recovery strategy (Disaster Recovery) are essential.

The issue of restoring operations after IT infrastructure failures is becoming increasingly relevant for businesses of all sizes. According to IDC, more than $219 billion was spent on cybersecurity and disaster recovery last year — 12% more than the previous year. These expenses are justified because the speed of response to emergencies affects business stability and its position in the market.

Some statistics:

• The main causes of downtime are network problems, software issues, and power outages (Uptime Institute).
• The average duration of downtime after a ransomware attack is 16 days (Coveware).
• 82% of cyberattacks are related to human error (Verizon).
• In 2023, 72.7% of companies worldwide were affected by ransomware (Statista).
• In 2024, 79% of companies plan to increase spending on cybersecurity (TechTarget).

What a disaster recovery strategy includes

An effective strategy consists of several key elements: a disaster recovery plan (DRP), a business continuity plan (BCP), and an incident response plan. These components cover all possible threats, from natural disasters to cyberattacks.

Many companies focus only on the DRP, detailing actions in case of incidents. This plan can be developed internally or in collaboration with a disaster recovery service provider.

Expert Comment:

“Our clients expect not only computing power for recovery but also assistance in selecting optimal parameters and developing an action plan. Regardless of the business, everyone strives for the same goal: to ensure minimal downtime and losses, especially in highly regulated sectors such as government and finance.”

Key components of a recovery strategy

A well-crafted strategy should take into account various threats, their potential consequences, and offer solutions. Key metrics include:

• RTO (Recovery Time Objective) — the time within which IT systems should be restored after an incident.
• RPO (Recovery Point Objective) — the allowable amount of data loss in the event of a failure.
• DRaaS (Disaster Recovery as a Service) — a service that restores IT infrastructure using the provider’s resources, typically a cloud provider.

According to Fortune, the DRaaS market will reach $12.8 billion by the end of 2024 and $64.4 billion by 2032, driven by the active adoption of AI technologies.

5 steps to implementing a disaster recovery strategy

1. Assessing the impact of threats
   Understanding the impact of potential failures on the business is crucial to prevent reputational and financial losses. Business Impact Analysis (BIA) allows for analyzing the consequences of risks.
2. Risk assessment
   It is essential to evaluate the likelihood of various threats through a detailed Risk Analysis.
3. Assessing the company’s IT assets
   To ensure effective recovery, it is important to clearly understand the value of the company’s IT assets and prioritize critical, important, and secondary components.
4. Assigning roles and responsibilities
   It is crucial to clearly define who will be responsible for implementing the disaster recovery plan.
5. Testing and optimizing
   The strategy must be constantly tested and improved, identifying potential flaws before real incidents occur.

Which solution to choose for disaster recovery?

Colobridge will help you implement a disaster recovery strategy and ensure its effectiveness. A fault-tolerant platform based on two independent data centers in Germany, software from a leading global vendor in the field of backup solutions, and the expertise of our specialists will allow you to get the most out of the DRaaS service within your budget. Contact us to learn more about this product: its advantages over regular backups (this service can also be ordered from us), key features, and pricing.