Backup & DR – 7 most common challenges

Backup & Disaster recovery or Data protection plan (Backup & DR + Archiving) is a crucial part of every business strategy, regardless of the size of your business. If your business is data driven and you rely on that data to do your daily business activities you need to make sure that data is protected.

Although we see cyber attacks as the most common threat to our business, they are not the only one we should worry about. Accidental data deletion, hardware & software failures, insider threats and loss of hardware can be just as fatal.

Here is the list of 7 most common challenges we see IT Service providers facing when offering Backup & DR services:

1. Complexity of environments and data distribution

2. Different types and data sources

3. Flexible storage options

4. Reduction in operational costs

5. Reliable and flexible recovery

6. Licensing and service flexibility

7. Security

Complexity of environments and data distribution

We are way beyond days when data was mainly located on corporate servers and workstations. Today we have data distributed throughout different environments (on-premise, cloud, hybrid, physical, virtual) and across multiple locations.

Different types and data sources

Sensitive data can be found everywhere from an endpoints to servers, Saas and business applications, DevOps repositories and storage devices. The challenge is in finding the right platform that can cover all environments and can provide protection and flexible recovery options for all types of data.

Flexible storage options

Having your data stored on two separate locations is considered minimum. Normally you would have one copy stored locally and additional copy of the same data stored on an off-site location. Some solutions provide multiple onsite and offsite locations as a part of their backup strategy. Some customers will be happy with having their backup locally and in cloud, some will prefer to have it only locally and/or only in cloud. Having this kind of flexibility is crucial.

Reduction in operational costs

Cost of managing backups and cost of storage can easily eat all your profit. This is extremely important to consider when choosing your backup vendor. You do not want a solution which will force your team to babysit backups 24/7 and constantly search for workarounds just to have everything under control. You can’t afford this. You need a platform that can unify all your services, provide decent level of automation and scalability as well as advanced features that will help you get control over your storage costs.

Reliable and flexible recovery

Backup is important, but recovery is the key. Is the data recoverable and how quickly? This are the main questions that can differentiate your backup services from your competition. Having replication, recovery testing and stand-by image in your offering is a must.

Licensing and service flexibility

Challenge that backup vendors are facing is to provide the platform/solution that can unify all important features required by IT service providers and end users, at the same time ensuring the security, reliability and scalability of their platform. The same product that works perfect for end customers normally does not fit the needs of IT service (Baas) providers. Simply putting it is not the same challenge to manage 1 environment as opposed to 100 different environments, yet still you want to have the flexibility to do both. Product/solution needs to be adjustable to your business type and help you reduce the time necessary to manage backups. Otherwise your labor costs will skyrocket and eat all your profits. Some vendors are making this hard by needlessly complicating their licensing models and removing the flexibility or availability of choices. The key is finding a vendor that is creating their licensing model by having both, partners and customers best interest in their focus.

Security

Make sure that backed up data is secure. Having the possibility to encrypt both, onsite and offsite data is the start (both in transit and in rest). Additionally, you want to include immutable storage so you can guarantee the integrity of backed up data.

Our offering

Our Backup & Disaster Recovery portfolio is created to help you tackle all mentioned challenges. With solutions in our portfolio you can expand your business with technology stack and services that can ensure both, the safety and business continuity, as well as help your clients become resilient to most common threats. You can check our portfolio HERE.