A recent study by the Disaster Recovery Preparedness Council highlighted a disturbing fact: three out of four companies worldwide are failing in terms of disaster readiness. The impact IT interruptions have range from thousands of dollars to millions of dollars. No wonder the “cloud” is having such an attraction and why businesses are rethinking their recovery strategies. However, what is preventing companies from fully adopting cloud solutions for disaster recovery? We believe that there are five myths surrounding cloud-based recovery services that have to be dispelled.

1. The 5 Myths o
f Cloud-Based
Disaster Recovery Addressed

2. Did you know that three out of four
companies worldwide are failing
in terms of disaster readiness?
Source: Disaster Recovery Preparedness Benchmark

3. According to the Aberdeen
Group, the average hourly IT
downtime loss in dollars is
approximately $160,000.

4. As a result, the “cloud” is
increasing in attraction, causing
businesses to rethink their
recovery strategies.

5. But what is preventing
companies from fully
adopting cloud
solutions for disaster
recovery?

6. There are 5 myths that surround
cloud-based recovery scenarios and
routine recovery operations.
Photo
by
gre.ceres

7. MYT
H 1:
Cloud Solutions are for
Disaster Scenarios

8. The terms “business continuity” and
“disaster recovery” can make it
confusing for business leaders.

9. Disaster recovery leads most IT
professionals to the wrong path,
since DR solutions are used for
“disaster scenarios” and routine
recovery operations.

10. When asked to rank the
typical causes of business
interruption, companies
reported software z
and
hardware failures and human
error as the most common
types of outages.

11. TAKEAWAY:
Businesses have to
stop thinking about
disasters and start
considering ways to
prevent interruptions.
Photo
by
Pink
Sherbet
Photography

12. Corrupted files, deleted emails and
the occasional server crash are not
disasters but can hinder business
operations.

13. Cloud-based solutions should not be
discarded for those situations and
are often more appropriate.

14. MYT
H 2:
Cloud Storage and Cloud Disaster
Recovery are Similar

15. It is natural to think of cloud backup,
cloud storage and cloud recovery
vendors as the same. But nothing
could be further from the truth.
Photo by Jeff Kubina

16. While storing data in the cloud is a
commodity, cloud-based DR gives
you more than the ability to access
your files.

17. It enables you to actually run your
systems in the cloud.

18. Key application servers, SQL,
Exchange servers, and Active Directory
services can be virtualized...

19. As if they were in a virtual data
center from where you can continue
operating.

20. TAKEAWAY:
Think of the cloud as
having an on-demand
data center that can
ensure business
continuity.

21. MYTH 3:
Cloud Solutions Are Not Secure

22. Online hackers or lost and stolen
personal data has given cloud
services a bad name.

23. Be aware:
There is a distinction between cloud
provider and cloud solutions.

24. There is a public versus private cloud.

25. According to the
“Data Protection-as-a-Service” survey
from ESG, the top 3 benefits that
organizations realized as a result of
using cloud-based data protection are…

26. •
1. Improved security.

27. •
2. Reduced onsite data protection
hardware and infrastructure costs.
Photo
by
Axel
Schwenke

28. 3. Reduced IT personnel costs.

29. TAKEAWAY:
Cloud-based DR provides enterprise
grade security that is often better
than what your internal IT
department has put in place.

30. MY T
H 4 :
You Can Do It Yourself

31. With low-cost providers and open
source projects…

32. Experienced It professionals
can cobble together systems
that would have been
unthinkable a few years ago.

33. An in-house and DIY solution can
turn out to be the reason why DR
practices are not mature.

34. Cost reduction, greater
control and faster
recovery are some of the
key reasons that IT
professionals decide to
forgo service providers
and cloud providers.

35. But…according to
Forrester Research in
“The Risks of Do It
Yourself Disaster
Recovery”

36. The results are typically the lack of
focus on DR relative to other projects…
Photo
by
Waag
Society

37. The lack of funding to
ensure the DR
architecture is up-to-date…

38. And the lack of skills and
lack of confidence to
effectively respond in a
disaster situation.

39. TAKEAWAY:
Long run, do-it-yourself DR will cost
more and take more time from the
internal IT team.

40. Cloud-based DR solutions, the Total
Cost of Ownership and the
longevity of the service provided
ends up being a promising
approach.

41. MY T
H 5 :
All Cloud Providers Are the Same

42. Once you decide on cloud, how do
you determine which vendor will
best suit your needs?

43. Consider these key criteria.

44. Can the solution protect and recover
physical and virtual servers? Laptops and
workstations?
Photo
by
Jenn
Varas

45. Is extensive training and a lengthy
manual required or is the solution
intuitive, easy-to-use?

46. Do you have the ability to protect and
recover files, databases, entire systems
directly from the system interface or does
the vendor have to be contacted to assist?

47. TAKEAWAY:
Not all cloud
providers are
created equal. Do
your research and
decide on what is
important to you.

48. Find a provider that meets your
needs.

49. The Axcient Solution
Axcient’s Recovery-as-a-Service cloud
eliminates data loss, keeps applications
up and running, and makes sure that IT
infrastructures never go down. Axcient
replaces legacy backup, business
continuity, disaster recovery and
archiving products, with a single
integrated platform that mirrors an
entire business in the cloud, making it
simple to restore data, failover
applications, and virtualize servers or
an entire office with a click. Thousands
of businesses trust Axcient to keep their
applications running and employees
productive.
Learn more at axcient.com.
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