Losses caused by unplanned downtime of IT infrastructures put the very survival of companies at risk
A comprehensive study conducted two years ago by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) involving a population of over 400 IT professionals working in companies of various sizes in North America, EMEA and APAC found that the average cost per minute of unplanned downtime in an IT infrastructure was US$12,900. This figure far exceeded the US$5,600 that the market then believed to be a benchmark. In the two years since, this cost has only increased, and is now estimated at US$14,056 per minute, reaching US$14,750 for large companies.
Photographer: Robson de Almeida
“With these numbers on the table, and they do not include damage to the company's image and fines issued by regulators, it is easy to deduce the danger that unplanned downtime represents for the very survival of an organization,” analyzes Caio Sposito, country manager for Brazil at Arcserve, the world's most experienced provider of immutable backup, recovery and storage solutions for unified data resilience against ransomware.
In this scenario, it is vital for the company to have a solid business continuity plan, defining strategies, procedures and processes to ensure that the organization continues to operate during and after a disaster or interruption. “The main objectives here are to maintain essential functions and restore data to minimize downtime and protect critical assets,” explains the executive.
As an initial guide, Caio Sposito proposes the adoption of five measures, starting with the involvement of the company's Senior Management. “Executives and senior management have the decision-making power not only to release the necessary financial resources but to define which data and assets are the most valuable to the organization, defining recovery priorities.”
The second step is to create a Business Continuity Response Team that can execute the plan, coordinate recovery efforts, and minimize downtime. It should be comprehensive, with representatives from departments directly involved in this issue, such as IT, Operations, Human Resources, Legal, and Communications.
The third step involves creating a comprehensive Business Impact Analysis, including an inventory of all critical assets such as data and IT infrastructure, an assessment of how threats could impact these components, and an assessment of the potential for downtime, data loss, and regulatory implications.
It is also essential that the Business Continuity Plan identifies which systems, applications and processes are critical, determining the acceptable downtime for each and establishing recovery time and point objectives (RTO/RPO) for what is truly essential. This plan must be tested, updated and adjusted periodically to ensure its effectiveness when necessary.
The fifth and final recommendation is to implement a unified data protection strategy. “Every business continuity plan necessarily involves investing in effective and accessible technologies that guarantee data protection and recovery, no matter what happens,” highlights the executive. “With the very survival of companies at stake, implementing an effective Business Continuity Plan must be seen as an absolute priority,” concludes Caio Sposito.
About Arcserve – Arcserve, a top-five global data protection vendor and unified data resilience platform provider, offers the broadest set of best-in-class solutions to manage, protect and recover all data workloads, from small and midsize businesses to large enterprises, regardless of location or complexity. Arcserve solutions eliminate complexity while delivering best-in-class protection and security, with cost-effectiveness, agility and broad scalability for all data environments. This includes on-premises, off-premises (including DRaaS, BaaS and Cloud-to-Cloud), hyperconverged and edge infrastructures. The company’s four decades of award-winning technologies, combined with a continuous focus on innovation, means partners and customers, including MSPs, VARs, LARs and end users, are assured the fastest path to next-generation data workloads and infrastructures. A 100% channel company, Arcserve operates in over 150 countries with 19,000 channel partners helping protect critical data assets for 235,000 customers. Explore more at arcserve.com and follow @Arcserve in X.
