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3 reasons why CEOs need to care more about cybersecurity

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When it comes to things like cybersecurity, the person in the company with the most to say is generally someone from the IT department. CEOs and other executives obviously are aware of the ever-present possibility of a cyberattack, but when your day-to-day responsibilities involve work outside of technology, it can be easy to forget just how vigilant hackers are.

While this is a pretty big trend in multiple industries, we believe those outside IT need to take a step back and understand the reality of the situation they’re dealing with. Cybercriminals are a lot more active than the general populace thinks, and sticking your head in the sand and ignoring the problem doesn’t fix anything. CEOs shouldn’t just be scared of cyberattacks – they should be terrified.

Cybersecurity is a big concern. CEOs need to be more concerned with cybersecurity than they currently are.

1. Hackers work tirelessly to steal your company’s data

One of the biggest mistakes company leaders make when discussing cybersecurity is underestimating what hackers can do. A lot of people have this idea in their heads that breaking the law is taking “the easy way out,” and as such many executives assume these individuals are lazy.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. Although stealing information and data from helpless businesses is certainly a detestable act, being able to do so demands immense amounts of time and energy. Hackers are often highly skilled individuals, and one of the perks of a cybercriminal lifestyle is the challenge of breaking into new and interesting systems.

“Hackers created 317 million new bits of malware in 2014.”

Breaking into these networks often requires malware that has been designed to exploit a particular vulnerability, so it’s no surprise that hackers created 317 million new bits of malware in 2014, according to CNNMoney. These men and women are working constantly to steal what’s yours, and any CEO should keep this in mind when developing a cybersecurity strategy.

2. The company’s reputation may never recover

With all the data breach incidents covered by the news in recent years, clients are warier than ever about trusting companies with their personal information. Choosing the wrong business used to just mean a bad service, but now it could very well translate to losing money as well as control over your online life. The modern consumer is constantly taking this risk when he gives his personal information to a company, and he’ll drop any business that can’t adequately protect it.

This is why it isn’t shocking that the Ponemon Institute found that a data breach could force a decline in the value of your company’s reputation by as much as 31 percent, depending on the specific incident. clients simply cannot give second chances these days, and companies are quickly discovering the pitfalls of having a lax cybersecurity managed services provider. It just isn’t worth the risk, and any CEO who doesn’t value security should absolutely prepare herself for the inevitable reputation damage of a serious data breach.

3. Your reputation may never recover

Although you’re obviously very concerned about your company, let’s be honest: Your own reputation matters to you. It’s not vanity or an overinflated ego that’s driving that feeling; it just means you value all the hard work you’ve put into getting yourself to where you are today.

That being said, the only reputation that won’t recover as quickly as your company’s after a data breach will be yours. Clients are obviously extremely fickle in today’s market, but their opinion of your company can possibly be slowly swayed with a lot of hard work and rebranding.

A CEO’s reputation, on the other hand, will be pretty much destroyed if the company becomes the victim of a data breach on a large scale. Just take a look at Target’s former CEO, Gregg Steinhafel. After the dust settled from a 2013 hack that allowed 100 million clients’ personal data to be stolen, Steinhafel agreed to give up control of the company and step down, according to Forbes.

Steinhafel isn’t the only CEO to have his reputation irreparably damaged following a massive data breach. Noel Biderman, CEO of Ashley Madison, left the company he founded in 2001 after a massive cyberattack exposed the information of many of the site’s users in July 2015.

While the IT department is obviously very concerned about the possibility of a cyberattack, CEOs need to be even more involved in the process of looking into cybersecurity managed services. Malware removal, disaster recovery solutions in the event of a cyberattack and 100 other things all need to be considered in this modern world. Thankfully, CEOs don’t need to go about this alone.

ISG Technology has years of experience in the cybersecurity managed services space, and can help you make sure your company is as secure as it can be. Although hackers and cybercriminals are certainly scary, this fear doesn’t have to be paralyzing. Contact an ISG Technology cybersecurity expert today!

Involve IT in strategic planning

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When it comes to ensuring business continuity and keeping all parts working properly, it’s crucial for communications between departments to be easy and effective. You especially want interactions between executives and IT administrators to be productive. In those conversations, if there is any kind of disconnect with either party, bottom lines could suffer.

How does the proper implementation of IT impact corporate objectives? Having the right technology solution in place can make a difference in the long run across the board, but decision-makers sometimes don’t consult their IT departments before investing in something new. According to InformationWeek contributor Andrew Froehlich, this may be due in part to the fact that new technologies are constantly coming out, sometimes so quickly that tech staff can’t keep up.

Shadow IT is creating cybersecurity vulnerabilities for enterprises.Shadow IT is creating cybersecurity vulnerabilities for enterprises.

Shadow IT is compounding this issue even further. With the continued implementation of bring-your-own-device policies, extraneous technologies make their way into companies’ networks. Employees are carrying their own smartphones and tablets into the workplace and downloading different – and perhaps unapproved – applications to use with their jobs. This creates cybersecurity and compliance issues due to the entrance of unknown actors on the network.

For instance, one study on the information systems of health care organizations from 2014 found that the average provider has 928 cloud services running on its systems – only 10 percent of which are known to their IT departments. In addition, only 7 percent of the total cloud are compliant with industry-specific standards. These kinds of statistics illustrate why it’s crucial for the IT department to be involved in the decision-making process of any company. To ensure compliance and maintain security, technology teams and executives need to be on the same page.

What’s the solution?

“Communication between IT staff and the executive board needs to be efficient.”

Different departments need to work together to elicit the best outcome for a business – meaning that to achieve the best bottom line, communication between IT staff and the executive board needs to be efficient. Computer Weekly contributor Marc Cercere noted that the agendas of both the business technology and IT departments are equally as important to focus on and improve.

For instance, due to the increase in shadow IT and the continuing focus on cybersecurity across every industry, the IT department should be consulted about any change to the business’s technology strategy. Instead of implementing tech “solutions” that may or may not solve a company’s problems, getting the go-ahead from the IT department allows every portion of the company to work in unison toward the same goal.

In today’s business climate, technology should align with corporate objectives. You want IT to work in your favor. If relationships within your business between executives and the IT department aren’t up to par, costly disconnect can occur and business processes can be hampered.

You want to make sure you’re keeping the IT department looped into the discussion about new tools and strategies, and that can be made simpler when partnering with a managed service provider. Get in touch with the managed services professionals at ISG Technology today to see how our expertise can contribute to your specific objectives.

Top 5 benefits of optimizing your IT infrastructure

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Maintaining computing infrastructure is one of the most important parts of owning and operating a company. Without technology, organizations wouldn’t be as productive and wouldn’t be able to conduct business in the same way – so in order to utilize your IT infrastructure to its fullest potential, you have to make sure it’s optimized and ready for whatever you throw at it.

Let’s take a look at some of the best benefits of prioritizing your IT portfolio and giving your organization the best tools possible:

1. Provide better client service

Investing in technology solutions that will help your company provide better service and create better products should always be at the top of any “to-do” list for the IT department. Incorporating tools like client relations management software and enterprise resource planning into your cloud environments can offer your company a chance at higher revenue and better client engagement, according to Demand Media’s Alexis Writing. Your IT infrastructure needs to be at peak performance if you’re going to get everything you can out of your CRM solutions.

“Businesses need to maintain clear visibility into their entire IT environments.”

2. Boost agility

Virtualized and cloud infrastructure tools both offer benefits that would allow a business to practice better data management and, in the long run, more effectively and efficiently meet client needs. Together, they add complexity to your computing environment, which can sometimes equal slowdowns. According to eWeek contributor Chris Preimesberger, businesses need to maintain clear visibility into their entire environments if optimization is to occur – meaning it’s crucial for the IT infrastructure to be as transparent as possible. When IT managers can have a holistic view of their computing equipment, it becomes easier to practice business agility.

3. Increase productivity

Making sure your technology solutions are all on the same page also contributes to hefty increases in productivity. There are several kinds of solutions tailored to this kind of function, and one of them would be unified communications technology. UC incorporates multiple forms of communications – unified messaging, email, phone, etc. – into one solution, making it easier to disseminate information across an entire organization.

Recent projections from the researchers at MarketsandMarkets indicated that the unified-communications-as-a-service market will be worth a total of $24.88 billion by 2020, demonstrating the clear demand for these types of solutions. Implementing UC across your company not only helps you stay abreast of what’s going on – it can also boost productivity across the board as employees have the ability to work from home or on the go.

4. Get more out of your servers

When it comes to physical infrastructure within the data center, making sure it works for you is crucial. That includes giving your servers a tuneup every once in a while and investing in data center technologies like cooling and monitoring solutions that keep an eye on your equipment so you don’t have to.

Part of optimizing server functionalities also includes investing time and money to make sure you’re energy efficient. A recent Anthesis Group study found that nearly 30 percent of servers worldwide are comatose – in other words, they are sitting in data centers around the globe, sucking up energy but not doing any real computing. Taking those servers and consolidating them in order to get more out of virtualization and the cloud is one way to optimize and strategize in the IT department, according to Data Center Knowledge. When less energy is taken up by servers, your business can be more efficient and save money in the long run.

Consolidating servers can lead to energy efficiency and distinct cost savings.Consolidating servers can lead to energy efficiency and distinct cost savings.

5. Strengthen networks

Investing in networking solutions can increase the functionality of your data center and enhance computing power – an important step to take when you want to more quickly complete tasks and balance workloads. TechTarget noted that network function virtualization, for instance, has the ability to decrease the amount of necessary network hardware and thus decrease complexity across the board. This contributes to improved business processes and, eventually, better bottom lines.

When it comes to investing in and maintaining an efficient, effective computing portfolio, it helps to have a team of experts on hand. Contact the managed services professionals at ISG Technology today for more information about how having an optimized IT infrastructure can improve your business functions and make sure you’re keeping up with – and exceeding – the competition.

Enterprise cloud computing vs. virtualization: When should you invest?

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As companies grow, their technology needs expand with them. Decision-makers have their work cut out when it’s time to choose new IT solutions, and where and how to store your data is one of the biggest considerations an IT executive must make.

Consolidating servers using virtualization technology and migrating data and applications to the cloud are both options for companies to take advantage of as they increase their computing power and need to improve functionality. But, how do you know which option is the correct one for your specific business needs?

Managing your own virtualized infrastructure

Server virtualization has been touted for its usefulness in consolidating IT environments and making computing portfolios easier to manage. According to a study published by TechNavio in October 2014, the market for server virtualization and related services was projected to grow at a compound annual rate of around 28.1 percent over the forecast period from 2014 to 2018, indicating a clear demand for these kinds of capabilities.

When should you consider server virtualization? In the data center environment, consolidating servers into fewer pieces of physical equipment elicits a number of benefits. TechRepublic named reduced hardware cost, fewer hot spots and streamlined data backups as top advantages of deploying virtual machines in the data center. When you’re managing your own VMs, you also have the distinct benefit of not being locked in to a specific vendor, which is one potential issue with the cloud.

Virtualizing your IT infrastructure can be an important way to consolidate servers and cut costs.Virtualizing your IT infrastructure can be an important way to consolidate servers and cut costs.

When should you outsource to the cloud?

TechTarget noted that enterprise cloud computing can help companies lower operational expenses and further enhance collaboration with business partners. Indeed, Verizon’s recent 2016 State of the Market: Enterprise Cloud report found that 88 percent of IT executives surveyed said the cloud improves responsiveness to business needs, and 65 percent of respondents said it gives a boost to operations in general.

“The cloud improves responsiveness to business needs.”

Cloud storage services negate the need for you to operate your own server room to house all of your company’s data. By outsourcing this function to a cloud provider, it potentially frees up your IT team for other important tasks and can thus enhance the level of productivity in your tech department.

No matter which computing solution you choose, you should consult IT professionals before deploying your environments. Contact the cloud and virtualization experts at ISG Technology for more information about how we can pair you with the correct cloud solution for your specific business needs.

Virtualization: The time is now

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Keeping up with the latest and greatest of technological advancements can be really hard to do, especially when you’re running a business. There are simply too many other things to worry about before upgrading, particularly if the old infrastructure is still getting the job done.

That being said, relying on older technology because it hasn’t broken down yet is an extremely inefficient way to run a business. This is especially true when talking about server virtualization. There are so many benefits to upgrading to a virtualized environment that we took some time to write up a list of why you should consider virtualization right now:

1. Reduce your ecological footprint

Everybody working in technology can attest to how much energy is consumed by IT systems every year. Time writer Bryan Walsh stated that in 2013, the “information-communications-technologies ecosystem” took up about 10 percent of the entire world’s electricity generation. He even went on to state that the world uses 50 percent more energy to move data around than it does keeping planes in the sky.

More energy is used to move data then to keep planes airborne. Entirely too much energy is used within IT and virtualization can help.

This massive amount of energy used simply for upkeep of physical systems shows the massive ecological impact server virtualization offers the world. Server virtualization takes multiple physical machines and brings them to the digital space, storing them all on a single piece of hardware.

This means we can get the processing power of multiple servers while only using valuable resources to power one of them. From purely an environmental standpoint, server virtualization just makes sense.

2. Reduce your costs

While you are most likely more than happy to reduce your company’s intake of natural resources, you’re probably more concerned about what server virtualization can bring to your company in a more financial space. This is yet another area where virtualized machines dominate their physical counterparts.

Having some sort of virtualized environment is going to seriously cut your company’s electric bill. Server virtualization is where you’ll see the majority of these benefits. A lot of server processing power goes unused when the machine is only running a single environment. By combining multiple servers on a shared physical platform, less overall energy is used. This accounts for a huge amount of savings.

Server virtualization can also bring about some great savings in terms of hardware costs. When you virtualize assets, the machines running your operations may be owned and operated by a managed service provider at its specific data center. These facilities are state-of-the-art, which means you’ll be able to benefit from the best hardware money can buy without actually purchasing it yourself.

Finally, but perhaps most importantly, virtualization can substantially cut the costs and complexity of a disaster recovery solution. The time it takes to recover after a disastrous event is severely reduced when operating in a virtualized environment. This has a lot to do with the fact that you won’t have to rebuild servers or applications after a disaster with server virtualization. The shorter recovery time will allow you to meet RTO/RPO goals at a fraction of the cost of a physical server.

“IT workers are generally spread pretty thin in the modern workplace.”

3. You get to focus on internal IT goals

For your IT department, this is going to be an absolutely life-changing benefit if and when you decide to embrace virtualization. IT workers are generally spread pretty thin in the modern workplace. Conducting business in this age means having the technology and systems to do so, and making sure those systems are running is a huge time sink.

A survey conducted by Forrester Research of IT professionals from more than 3,700 companies found that the IT department is constantly putting out fires, with an average of 72 percent of the budget being used for “keep-the-lights-on” functions. By utilizing server virtualization, you can push many of these problems off onto your MSP. While your virtualization provider works out the problems your server is having, your IT department can get back to focusing on internal IT goals. You get the experience of an MSP’s employees in terms of hardware maintenance and repair while also utilizing your own workers to build your business. It’s the purest definition of a win-win scenario.

If you’d like to see what else server virtualization can do for you, or if you’d like to learn more about this amazing technology, make sure to check out ISG Technology’s virtualization page.

ISG Technology's parent company Twin Valley deploys gigabit speed

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A new article published by Broadband Communities Magazine recently shed some light on the hard work of ISG Technology’s parent company, Twin Valley. This telecommunications provider is unique, not only because of its constant need for innovation in servicing the community, but also because it’s been a family-owned establishment since 1947 and has grown to service 6,000 clients over 2,400 square miles.

Although finding a good old-fashioned family business in today’s corporate world is newsworthy enough, this isn’t the focus of Masha Zager’s article. Rather, Zager took a look at the amazing gigabit service that Twin Valley is providing to more than 2,000 businesses and residential homes in Clay Center.

Twin Valley: Always one step ahead

Considering the family business had the foresight to invest in data center and cloud storage services in ISG Technology in 2011, it’s clear Twin Valley has always seen the value of keeping one eye on the horizon. After reviewing the needs of their many clients, Twin Valley administrators decided that a gigabit Internet service was a good direction to head in. This service, which Twin Valley has named Pulse Internet, would provide speeds that were unheard of in the region.

Twin Valley has always wanted to be a leader of technological innovation.Twin Valley has always wanted to be a leader of technological innovation.

Other companies may have had trouble setting up such a feat, but Twin Valley has consistently seen the value of looking ahead. The fiber infrastructure that the business had implemented in 2008 was future-proof, meaning it could leverage this toward its gigabit service.

Clients couldn’t be happier

Zager’s article also focused in on the client side of this equation. Many times, when a company implements a new and innovative service, clients need a little time to adjust. Clay Center residents obviously didn’t need this time, as those provided with Pulse seemed overjoyed by it.

However, there’s something to be said about providing these managed services to smaller, tight-knit communities. Providing technological services like Pulse allows smaller communities to show their worth in the marketplace.Lori Huber, director of the Clay County Economic Development Group, noted that Pulse Internet is a “game changer” in terms of its Internet speeds. She also remarked that such innovation was going to push “economic growth opportunities,” which is something a community of any size can get behind.

Even President Obama agrees with this statement. While visiting Cedar Falls, Iowa, to view the city’s fiber-fed gigabit infrastructure, Obama stated: “You don’t have to be the biggest community to do really big things; you just have to have some vision, and you have to work together.”

Twin Valley’s perceptiveness towards technological innovation in the area of gigabit Internet obviously shows vision, but Scott Leitzel, vice president of operations and a board member on the Economic Development Group for Clay Center, also wanted to stress the company’s commitment toward working with the community.

“We’re privileged to empower our clients to do whatever they want to do – whether that’s to connect all their devices or run businesses out of their homes – all at an affordable rate,” he said.




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Hybrid IT: The basics

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Massive innovations in technology are rapidly shifting the current business landscape. Products and services that were once seen as unnecessary luxuries are now quickly becoming vital to a company’s operation. The cloud can most definitely be counted within these services, especially in the world of IT.

We’ve previously discussed the wonders of the hybrid cloud and managed services and what they can bring to your business, but the cloud is so much more than infrastructure. IT resources can leverage a hybrid cloud set up in order to receive similar benefits in what industry experts are calling hybrid IT.

“By 2020, 78 % of businesses will have integrated cloud computing.”

Bringing the benefits of hybrid cloud to IT resources

The cloud is a huge part of modern business, and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Forbes contributor Louis Columbus stated that by 2020, 78 percent of businesses will have integrated cloud computing into their current business model. That’s a huge jump from the 37 percent that have adopted cloud managed services today, and this massive increase just goes to show the high demand cloud services have in the business world.

So, with this predicted success of the overall market in mind, the question still remains: What is hybrid IT?

To understand the answer to this question, the demands of IT organizations must first be fleshed out. These companies have set up their business model around the fact that their clients require IT resources such as the development and testing of mission-critical applications.

As the technology developed, cloud storage services began to be more economical and efficient than internal deployment on the part of the client. And so, cloud-based IT managed services was born.

However, there was a problem with this that needed to be fixed. Many IT organizations leveraged public cloud infrastructure in order to meet the needs of their clients. This works just fine for applications and data that are business-critical. That being said, problems began to arise when sensitive information needed to be hosted on the cloud.

As we discussed in our earlier article on public and private clouds, the public cloud has some security concerns. Due to the fact that you’re sharing a public cloud infrastructure with other clients, the data contained on these clouds simply isn’t as safe as those within an on-site, private cloud. On the flip side of this, private cloud infrastructures are very safe, but they’re also a lot more expensive to set up and implement.

Utilizing hybrid cloud managed services is the answer

So what do you do when you need the security of the private cloud but don’t want to pay for the entirety of your IT resources to be implemented on one? You have your cake and eat it too, of course.

Hybrid IT allows for security and cost effectiveness. Have your public cloud and secure your applications, too!

As managing vice president of Gartner Chris Howard said on the subject, “The cloud will simply become one of the ways that we ‘do’ computing, and workloads will move around in hybrid internal/external IT environments.” Basically, IT organizations are beginning to see that certain client applications simply can’t be hosted on the public cloud and have decided to implement a hybrid cloud solution.

The hybrid cloud combines the security of mission-critical IT applications in a private cloud infrastructure with the cost-effectiveness of a public cloud for data that isn’t business-critical. Hybrid IT is a revolutionary new concept and it’s sweeping enterprise IT right now, as providers like ISG Technology help IT organizations implement these solutions.

Next time, we’ll discuss the use cases of hybrid IT as well as its applications that span multiple industries and business models.

Cloud types and their business applications: Hybrid clouds

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As we discussed in our previous article on the subject, there are multiple options to choose from when looking into cloud-based managed services. Public and private are the two opposing clouds, and each have their own advantages and disadvantages. However, due to massive advancements in cloud technology, companies don’t have to actually choose between these two.

These services can be combined into something called the hybrid cloud. This is a model that is rapidly growing, with MarketsandMarkets predicting the market to be worth $84.67 billion by 2019.

Hybrid cloud is the future

Although hybrid cloud data storage is a combination of the public and private cloud, it’s important to note that these are two completely separate services. They can talk to each other via an encrypted network. However, they aren’t a singular product. Rather, the hybrid cloud combines the advantages of the two while also tossing out many of the disadvantages.

Say you’re the owner of a medium-sized business. You have data storage needs and are looking into cloud storage services. You’ve got a lot of data that isn’t very sensitive that needs storing, but you also have very important information you’d like to keep private. Compounding this further, imagine that your business is in an industry with very strict compliance standards.

These stringent requirements, coupled with the fact that you need heightened security for your sensitive data might point you toward a private cloud data storage package. You wouldn’t exactly be wrong in doing so, but you’d certainly be throwing money away storing data that doesn’t have the security requirements of the information that must meet compliance guidelines.

This is where the hybrid cloud comes in. You could leverage a public cloud data storage option, allowing you to cut costs, along with a private cloud plan that would allow you to keep your important information close to the chest. In effect, you’re combining what you need from the private cloud without having to pay the full price of it.

The hybrid cloud can help you save money. Don’t go through budgetary headaches. Get a hybrid cloud storage solution!

As a bonus, the hybrid cloud would allow you to keep your private cloud infrastructure on-site. Not only is this a great option for things like disaster recovery, it makes sure that your information is getting the security it needs. And with one 2015 study finding that the average cost of a data breach is roughly $3.8 million, security should always be a high priority for your sensitive data.

ISG Technology can help you implement a hybrid cloud option

Obviously, setting up this network is no small task. You’re going to need a managed service provider with years of experience in implementing a hybrid cloud data storage solution. Thankfully, ISG Technology has all the expertise necessary to help you take advantage of this amazing technology.

If cloud storage services interest you, or if you’d like to learn more about how the hybrid cloud can benefit your business, make sure to check out ISG Technology’s cloud services page.

Disaster recovery sites: Part 2 of 2

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In Part 1 of this series, we discussed cold and warm disaster recovery sites and gave reasons for using either. To recap:

  • Cold sites are backup computing environments – complete with power equipment, cooling systems and servers – that are comparatively inexpensive, but that take more time to boot up following an emergency.
  • Warm sites are similar to cold sites, but these have software already installed – and a backup of company data may already exist on-premises – so the recovery time objective for these sites is considerably shorter.

Now, let’s talk about hot DR sites and see how all of these kinds of disaster recovery plans can help your company maintain business continuity in the event of an emergency.

“Hot sites have the shortest RTO.”

Hot sites: Overview

As disaster recovery strategies go, ones that include a hot site are generally top-of-the-line. BizTech Magazine contributor Mike Chapple compared hot sites to Cadillac cars – nice, runs smoothly and generally more expensive than other options. Hot sites are much like warm ones in that the machines are updated with the software and technology necessary to conduct a full backup in the event that the original computing equipment is incapacitated.

The main difference between hot and warm sites, however, is the fact that the backed up data is already loaded onto the machines.

As a result, hot sites have the shortest RTO because there is minimal loading required to get the equipment in working order. It is also the most expensive of the options because your company has to keep this alternate site up and running even when you’re not using it, as a precautionary measure.

Bringing it together

It’s crucial to have a dedicated DR plan so that when the unthinkable occurs, your company isn’t left high and dry with no data or applications. The Institute for Business and Home Safety found that 25 percent of businesses don’t recover from a major disaster, according to the Small Business Administration. You do not want your company to be on that list. So the question remains: What kind of DR site should you invest in?

Is a hot site your best option for business continuity?Is a hot site your best option for business continuity?

An important point to note is that by determining the recovery point objectives for your business-critical data, it may be easier to make a decision concerning the nature of your DR plan. Continuity Central Archive’s Charlie Maclean-Bristol noted that it’s important to assess the maximum tolerable period of disruption – or the amount of time it would take for disruption of business to become unacceptable.

To this end, another option would be to consider utilizing a hybrid approach by combining different capabilities of each of these DR solutions. You may be able to utilize one solution that nets you a shorter RTO, which should be the ultimate goal of any strategy.

Which kind of DR site do you think your company would most benefit from? Contact ISG Technology today for more information about how each could impact business continuity for your specific business.

Disaster recovery sites: Part 1 of 2

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Having an effective disaster recovery plan is a crucial aspect of any business strategy. PC Magazine reported that despite the clear importance of having a good DR plan in place for every level of your business for when the unthinkable happens, an estimated 60 percent of companies that experience data loss will shut their doors within six months, according to the National Archives and Records Administration. Not only that, but 93 percent of companies that lose a data center for more than ten days following a natural or other kind of disaster filed for bankruptcy within one year.

It is clear that when it comes to ensuring business continuity and making the most out of an emergency situation, the plan you have in place can make or break your organization.

There are different kinds of DR plans. In this part 1 of 2, let's take a look at a couple strategies that involve cold and warm sites and see how they can be used in certain events or situations:

1. Cold DR sites

A cold DR server or data center is one that exists to serve as backup infrastructure in the event that the main server is compromised. This kind of backup is useful in situations where the first site were to become completely unviable, as in the case of weather emergencies like fires or hurricanes. When you invest in a cold site, you basically set up a completely new data center, complete with ventilation units, cooling equipment and dedicated servers – but, according to BizTech Magazine's Mike Chapple, everything is dark until it's needed.

These kinds of strategies tend to be less expensive than the others, because companies do not have to maintain heating or electricity costs that fully functioning equipment would incur. The downside to cold sites, however, is that the recovery time objective is often longer, because the equipment has to be booted, applications have to be installed and data has to be loaded from backup tapes.

"It should be no surprise that the recovery time for cold sites is measured in days or weeks rather than in hours," Chapple noted.

"Warm sites can reduce RTO following a disaster."

2. Warm DR sites

Warm disaster recovery backup sites, on the other hand, represent a step up from the cold DR servers as far as RTO is concerned. With a little bit more expense, companies can invest in an off-premises solution that functions similarly to a cold site, except for the fact that the servers boot up every once in a while to do updates based on the replicated equipment – meaning the applications or software required upon disaster recovery would already be loaded onto these servers. Company data is often also stored at a warm site.

This can take RTO down from days or weeks to mere hours or minutes following a disaster. While it is more expensive, for some companies, the risk of having their operations down for days or weeks while a cold site boots up is not feasible. Warm sites, therefore, offer a reduced time frame and better support business continuity practices. However, according to Data Center Knowledge, it takes longer for companies to boot up warm sites than hot ones.

Does your company have a cold or warm DR site?Does your company have a cold or warm DR site?

In Part 2, we will explore hot DR sites and see how to bring all of this information together into a cohesive DR strategy that will positively impact your company. For more information about DR plans and how to implement them, contact ISG Technology today.