Cloud computing has revolutionized the way almost all organizations approach business continuity. The speed with which the cloud revolution has occurred is mainly due to the ease with which companies adopt cloud models.
This model allows organizations to outsource significant parts of their IT and data management functions. Everything from disk capacities to secure access is taken care of by the cloud provider.
It can be tempting for organizations to forget about business continuity planning after moving to a cloud model.
That’s why in today’s post, we’ll delve deeper into the considerations you need to make when implementing business continuity for your new cloud configuration. Come on?
Business Continuity
Business continuity involves a higher-level set of plans than those related to disaster recovery. It is intended to ensure that your business can continue functioning even as it safely recovers from a disaster. Business continuity is a process that aims to build resilience rather than solve immediate problems.
Because of this, the best business continuity plans tend to take a holistic approach, which defines how your company will react to the difficulties of dealing with various groups. Ensuring business continuity involves clear communication with customers, employees, and contractors.
It means working collaboratively with your business partners, particularly your cloud provider.
Business continuity planning is often confused with many similar processes, which is why many companies overlook its importance. There is a distinction between business continuity planning and disaster recovery planning. Meet below.
Business Continuity And Disaster Recovery
Disaster recovery planning covers how you react to natural and artificial disasters, from insider threats to the aftermath of a massive data breach. Because of this, disaster recovery plans often define many acute issues and explain how they can be resolved.
Business Continuity In Cloud Computing
Moving to cloud systems can make your business more efficient, more adaptable, and, ultimately, more profitable. In many ways, the SaaS and IaaS models have become massively used because they are so easy for companies not to take advantage of their services. As a result, providers typically offer to take care of all aspects of the system and data management at a low price.
This can understandably cause companies to forget critical aspects of their business continuity planning and assume that their cloud provider will take care of them.
Moving your company to cloud systems requires you to assess whether the provider you choose can contribute to your company’s resilience. It’s essential to recognize that cloud providers vary significantly in the support level.
Some oversee the execution of your business continuity and disaster recovery plans, while others can execute the program on your behalf.
Move To Cloud Infrastructure
A move to cloud infrastructure, there are four key considerations:
- Make sure your provider can provide the level of data access you need. The service agreement should contain this information and acknowledge that you are unlikely to be the only company your cloud provider does business with.
- Ensure you know how to access your data in an emergency that affects you or your cloud provider. For most organizations, this means doing regular local backups of critical data.
- Check the level of support offered by your cloud provider. It would help if you clarified how much support they provide and at what times.
- Have a plan for what will happen if your cloud provider experiences a disaster. Business continuity plans must include contingencies for a total (and potentially permanent) loss of all data stored in the cloud. More continuity planning is needed if you don’t know how to keep your business running under these circumstances.
Cloud Provider
As we’ve seen, the strength of your business continuity planning and the resilience of your business depends on your cloud provider. Along with recognition of the range of cloud services that are now available, this indicates that choosing the right cloud provider is one of the most critical business decisions most companies will make.
Therefore, performing due diligence on your cloud provider is essential. Here are some critical questions to ask in your research:
- Are they guiding you through the process?
- Do they validate what you need?
- Are they providing a positive return on investment?
- Do they support your business and users?
The best cloud providers support the customer and accurately explain their responsibilities during and after a disaster. The best may even ask to share business resilience plans so the two of you can determine how to support each other.
Moving to the cloud brings many opportunities. After migrating to the cloud, it is essential to re-evaluate business continuity plans because you may not need to be as resilient internally as you have a specific SaaS solution.
