Times are tough for many businesses, with diminishing human and capital resources. You should know across every industry and sector, such as manufacturing, small and mid-sized businesses are struggling because of increasing risks, such as security threats and disruptions like the COVID-19 health pandemic. Regardless of the industry, from SMEs to ASX companies, the pressure is mounting on business enterprises to tighten their belts.
Unfortunately, IT is one of the main areas where many businesses and companies are trying to make savings by slashing their budget. According to a study, healthcare, industrial manufacturing, and retail were making the biggest cuts to their information technology budgets.
Businesses, small and medium-sized organizations, fundamentally work with their clients or customers on the basis of loyalty and trust. However, keep in mind that in the event of a ransomware attack or data-loss disaster, these important relationships can easily be compromised.
While many organizations and businesses have disaster recovery and business continuity plans in place, crucial data can still be at risk if these plans and systems aren’t foolproof.
Did you know that failed disaster recovery and inadequate security measures may cause irreversible damage to your business resulting in the loss of customers, productivity, and revenue? It can even threaten your entire business operation.
High Reliance on IT Systems and Disasters
Many businesses and companies today rely heavily on their IT systems and security infrastructure to access, store and maintain vital data that’s needed to complete daily tasks and activities. Computers, files, servers, and communication tools help modern enterprises stay connected with their customers and clients, enabling their teams to advance toward corporate goals. However, what happens when a disaster, such as a security breach, strikes, and these critical systems go down?
If your SME has a disaster recovery plan, you are on the right track. However, note that these plans do not always go into the details of how your enterprise will function and regain access to your crucial data during a disaster or outage.
To create reliable contingencies for these disruptive events, a BCP (Business Continuity Plan) is the answer. Also, outsourcing business continuity planning will help your SME resume operations and achieve peace of mind during an unplanned service disruption.
What is Business Continuity as a Service?
We can define business continuity as a service as the process of contracting with a third-party firm in order to design, develop, execute, and maintain your security and resiliency program. For example, CyberX works with a variety of businesses, such as architectural and engineering firms, to design, develop, and maintain their business continuity programs.
The company offers business continuity as a service to companies of different sizes in different industries, from small consulting firms to healthcare organizations and manufacturing firms.
Components of a Recovery Strategy
The two key areas of a well-developed recovery strategy should be redundancy and backup. Many companies and SMEs do not appreciate the required preparation in these areas. This is because they do not understand their significance usually until it’s too late.
While the concepts of data backups and redundancy might seem similar, there are some essential differences between the two. For example, backups are exclusively about creating copies of important data in the event that your SME experiences an incident, such as a data breach, where data loss occurs.
On the other hand, redundancy is considerably more than merely data storage. You should know that redundancy ensures that your business is able to provide continuity in its services regardless of what happens. Redundancy is crucial as it ensures that your data is stored in several geographically disparate regions and locations.
Data Backup Solutions
When it comes to backing up and securing data and managing security risks, businesses can choose to manage these functions in-house or outsource the work to a professional MSP (Managed Service Provider).
No matter how an organization or company chooses to manage backups, one thing is sure—a general data backup strategy is no longer sufficient to keep data secured and protected. Your business needs to combine data protection with adequate cyber security in order to develop a fully integrated and robust protection plan that addresses issues and threats like malware attacks.
You may know that ransomware attacks cause complete or partial shutdowns of business-critical functions. And this is the same impact as that caused by business continuity events. As a result, business continuity planning is one of the simplest and best ways to plan for the risk that your organization will become a victim of a malicious ransomware attack.
Outsourcing vs. In-House
Traditional disaster recovery and BCP and outsourced disaster recovery and BCP use different kinds of business resources and infrastructure.
It is worth noting that traditional disaster recovery and business continuity planning rely on internal infrastructure and resources to manage data protection and business recovery operations. In contrast, outsourcing relies on third-party infrastructure and resources to protect both data and applications from both natural disasters and human error.
Business continuity is usually at stake if you have not planned, even when the disaster is unforeseeable. If a significant disruptive event or natural disaster occurs, having a BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) partner is useful as they can continue to provide services for you.
For example, during physical events or cyber threats, an off-site backup strategy can be really valuable to get your business going with almost no downtime.
Data loss and operational downtime can have a lasting and considerable effect on the bottom line of any business. This is why planning and investing in a redundant data backup contingency solution or outsourcing partner is essential for any business.
While traditional disaster recovery tools are usually kept on-site and are hence secure, data recovery and resuming operations may be more difficult if you don’t have the required personnel and resources on hand to initiate this process.
There is no doubt that developing a disaster-resilient infrastructure requires considerable investment in servers, IT, and storage equipment. You will also have to develop a well-equipped, dedicated, and knowledgeable maintenance team. For small- and mid-sized organizations, outsourcing backup, risk management, and security may be more beneficial and cost-effective than managing them in-house. One reason is scalability.
For example, as your company expands, the amount of data also increases. Outsourcing backups and security through an MSP provides a scalable and robust solution in this case.
The Business Case for Outsourcing Business Continuity
Your business continuity plan must have all pertinent details regarding your information technology systems as well as business processes, including the location of off-site backup storage and contingencies for assets and human resources.
Often, this can be a lot for one designated individual or a small team to manage. This is why many companies and businesses focus on outsourcing business continuity planning and disaster recovery so that a trusted and reliable third-party can develop a customized solution.
Outsourcing is Cost Effective
Let’s assume you try to implement a full disaster recovery and BCP system in-house. Note that the investment needed is substantially higher than just creating an on-site backup system. You’ll have to design and develop your off-site facility to ensure that all your systems and applications conform to the latest data protection protocols and standards. Also, you will have to dedicate resources – financial and human resources – to do this.
In contrast, when you outsource your business continuity and disaster recovery service and systems, all this is done for you. You will simply pay a regular fee for access to the latest and most sophisticated hardware and infrastructure and a dedicated customer service team.
More Expertise
Most enterprises heavily depend on their IT systems to run and manage their business. Outsourcing will help you stay more resilient. Managed service providers, such as CyberX, are disaster planning and BCP experts. They know exactly how to design a business continuity plan for your company’s specific needs and preferences.
The best part is that you will have access to a reliable team of experts who stay on top of the latest technology and security threats, freeing you up to concentrate on what’s important. So, outsourcing your business continuity needs means that your business will stay online despite a storm or a malware attack.
Enhanced Cybersecurity Planning
You probably know that cybersecurity is essential for any successful business, but it can all get a bit complicated. For instance, hackers and cybercriminals are increasingly sophisticated, with the threat landscape changing constantly.
Outsourcing business continuity helps eliminate these concerns. This is because you are outsourcing your security and backup needs to professionals with access to the latest cybersecurity tools and technology. And while it is not possible to eliminate every threat, you know you will get back online as quickly as possible.
Let CyberX Manage the Unpredictable
Managed data backup, business continuity, and disaster recovery services can provide you with a safety net. This will ensure that your data can be easily and quickly recovered. When you work with CyberX, your business continuity management is customized based on what is vital to your business. Your crucial systems and data may need to be recovered as soon as possible. On the other hand, non-critical data may be backed up less frequently using budget-friendly tools and apps.
The result is an adequately optimized solution that lets your business operate effectively even when things go south. CyberX focuses on your recovery, so you never skip a beat.
