The backup and disaster recovery industry has seen plenty of changes over the years, but with these changes has also come increased cost and complexity to most BDR environments. If you’re wondering why disaster recovery is so expensive and complex, you aren’t the only one. Most of us are left crossing our fingers and hoping whatever we have in place will work.

But the reality is, that every modern company depends on data and operational uptime for their survival. There are no exceptions. Because of this, IT is tasked with finding an appropriate solution, that’s cost effective, and works every time – guaranteed. This can prove to be quite a daunting task!

In order to avoid data disaster in 2018, a proper disaster recovery plan must be put in place. But protecting large data sets in a mixed environment isn’t simple or affordable with traditional DR solutions. It’s why every business thinks push-button failover is out of reach. Let’s break down the challenges of ensuring data and operational uptime, by looking at three key considerations in proper disaster recovery planning:

1. Compatibility

A proper disaster recovery plan includes a flexible solution that can meet your needs. Can it protect any OS and device? Can you store your data in any cloud? Can it be deployed as physical or virtual? These are some of the questions you want to ask in order to plan your DR strategy properly. Making sure that you find a solution compatible with your environment is a critical component.

2. Complexity

Simple is key. Push-button failover should mean exactly that – so your disaster recovery planning should allow you to failover to a second site in minutes or seconds (not hours or days). No additional IT resources needed! When considering the complexity of a solution, built-in orchestration is one of the key differentiators in DR solution providers. Proper disaster recovery planning includes failback, and it’s important to understand exactly how the solution plans to failover your applications, and then failback, in addition to how much customization and control you have in the whole orchestration process.

3. Cost

Look for a solution that is truly as-a-service, meaning no add-on charges or professional service fees. When keeping costs in mind, remember that no additional secondary site means no additional hardware costs. Planning your DR strategy with a provider who can give you a low, monthly subscription service means that everything is included — support, maintenance, unlimited testing, and hardware upgrades to name a few. A service solution provides the benefit of a single monthly subscription payment, without the unnecessary add-on fees.

Disaster recovery planning doesn’t need to make your head spin. Keep these three considerations in mind as you go about your strategy and implementation. Here at Infrascale, we minimize the risk of downtime at a price that will make your CFO smile. We allow IT to stop buying and managing disparate hardware and software to solve their DR needs. An administrative dashboard, accessible from any browser or device, makes it easy to recover mission critical applications and systems with push-button simplicity.

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