Business Impact Analysis
The “Business Impact Analysis” stage takes note of how lost data and compromised applications impact overall business operations and revenue generation. Synthesizing this information, IT teams work with a DRaaS provider to tier applications into groups by order of importance.
Implementation & Onboarding
During the “Implementation and Onboarding” stage, companies select the right DRaaS solution for each tier, accounting for required service level agreements (SLAs), technology capabilities, and budget. A DRaaS provider gives advice based upon potential risk scenarios and assists in the architectural design and networking details. After the onboarding process has been completed, copies of data and applications are replicated into their chosen recovery environments for safe-keeping.
Playbook Development
In the “Playbook Development” stage, IT teams consult with the DRaaS provider to document the order of operations for recovery, customizing steps for every scenario under the sun and noting each team member’s responsibilities. The more comprehensive the better. The DRaaS provider helps map out which operations need to occur before systems are returned to end users.
DRaaS Operations
In the “DRaaS Operations” stage, the DRaaS provider focuses on the daily maintenance that ensures healthy DR environments remain healthy. This includes environment changes and resource monitoring.
DRaaS Health Management
Similarly, the “DRaaS Health Management” stage emphasizes real-time monitoring, but with a focus on security, budget and compliance settings.
Recovery Testing
Then comes the “Recovery Testing” stage. DR testing should be always on-demand and comprehensive. In some instances, tests should invoke your full IT team and DRaaS provider, and cut crucial members out to simulate a real-life scenario. Host pre- and post-event consultations to determine updates to the recovery playbook.
Recovery Event Management
The “Playbook Development,” “DRaaS Operations,” “DRaaS Health Management” and “Recovery Testing” stages repeat themselves indefinitely, until the event of a real-life disaster, at which time the recovery process is executed in the “Recovery Event Management” stage.