Win More Managed Services Opportunities with Managed DRaaS

These days, organizations of all sizes are adopting DRaaS solutions. DRaaS is an important tool for business continuity if an organization’s infrastructure goes offline. However, many organizations do not realize that most DRaaS solutions do not work “out of the box.”

It is easy to setup Zerto replication groups and ensure that an organization’s data is replicated to the DR site. But just because the data is there, does not mean the DRaaS solution will work properly when needed.  In fact, most solutions DataBank sets up for customers do not work out of the box upon failover. These solutions require significant work to properly configure, and regular testing to maintain.

This is why DataBank offers fully managed DRaaS solutions with Zerto as our replication tool. DataBank’s solutions include validation of replication data and testing of failover. As part of our standard implementation, we also help the customer write their disaster recovery runbook and then run exercises to validate that it works.

Here are some of the major advantages of DataBank’s managed DRaaS solutions over traditional DRaaS:

More Complete Solution: Since DataBank’s solutions are tested and validated during configuration, and then re-tested annually, they are a more complete solution than standard DRaaS offerings. The testing process allows DataBank to identify and address any possible issues proactively, giving customers peace of mind and confidence in their solution.

Discovery questions:

• “Do you currently have a DRaaS solution?”
  • If yes:
    • “How confident are you in your solution?”
    • “When was the last time you tested it?”
    • “Do you have a disaster recovery runbook?”
    • “How confident are you in your IT team’s ability to execute failover?”
  • If no:
    • “Why not? Are you considering a solution?”
    • “Which solutions are you evaluating?”
    • “What disaster recovery measures do you currently have in place?”

Compliant DRaaS: For customers who need to meet SSAE-18, PCI DSS, or HIPAA compliance, DataBank’s DRaaS is a perfect solution because we offer replication sites that meet those compliance standards. For customers looking for secure, compliant DRaaS, there is no better solution than DataBank’s managed DRaaS.

Discovery questions:

• “What compliance standards do you need to meet?”
• “Do you have any security concerns around DRaaS?”
• “What are you currently using for your disaster recovery solution, and how is it working?”

Geographic Diversity: In general, most of the time when a company needs to activate DR failover, it is in response to an issue like a hardware or network failure or an on-premises power outage. However, in some cases, a natural disaster impacts the area, and an organization needs to rely on a DRaaS site outside of the region.

DataBank has replication sites in data centers across the United States. Our locations include Baltimore, MD; Dallas, TX; Kansas City, KS; Minneapolis, MN; and Salt Lake City, UT. With replication sites spread throughout the country, DataBank has the geographic diversity to handle any organization’s disaster recovery, no matter where they are located.

Discovery Questions:

• “Where is your DRaaS site?”
• “How confident are you in your business continuity strategy in the event of a natural disaster?”

Planning and Support: : As part of our fully managed DRaaS solution, DataBank helps organizations build a runbook to lay out the necessary steps to recover in the event of a disaster. The runbook serves as the organization’s blueprint to follow for seamless disaster recovery. This ensures that organizations are fully prepared for a disaster.

Discovery Questions:

• “What does your business continuity strategy look like?”
• “Do you have a disaster recovery runbook?”
• “How confident are you in your team’s ability to implement your disaster recovery plan?”