No business plans to go offline, but the reality is, it happens – and often when you least expect it. Cyber-attacks are rising at an alarming rate, and AI-driven threats mean organisations now have hours, not days, to respond.
Ransomware attacks have increased by 350% since 2020, and 70% of those attacks target small and medium-sized businesses. Yet, despite the risk, 81% of businesses admit they’re not prepared for a cyber-attack, and only 17% of SMBs have a Disaster Recovery plan in place.
The numbers paint a clear picture: the old “set and forget” backup approach isn’t enough anymore. Modern threats don’t just compromise your systems – they compromise your backups too.
In fact, 94% of ransomware attacks attempt to encrypt backups, and 60% of recovery attempts fail when they’re needed most.
Our recent webinar on Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery as a Service (BCDR/DRaaS) explored this new reality. The session covered why traditional backups fall short, what real resilience looks like, and how DRaaS gives businesses the ability to recover quickly and confidently.
Backups aren’t enough
A common misconception is that having backups equals having a disaster recovery plan. It doesn’t. A backup is like a spare tyre – helpful, but if your engine fails, you’re still stuck. DRaaS is like full roadside assistance, ready to keep you moving no matter what.
The real issue is time. Downtime costs SMBs anywhere from $1,000 to $25,000 per hour, adding up to as much as $200,000 per day.
Recovery speed matters. If it takes days or weeks to get back online, the financial and reputational impact can be devastating. Some businesses never recover.
What’s at stake? More than lost revenue
Downtime doesn’t just stop operations; it hits your reputation and erodes client trust. Clients don’t care if the outage was out of your control – they care that you couldn’t deliver. In competitive industries, that can mean losing business permanently.
The harsh truth is that 34% of SMBs take more than 30 days to recover from ransomware, and many don’t survive at all without a structured recovery plan.
What does best practice look like?
So, what does a robust disaster recovery solution include? According to our experts, it’s not just about data storage; it’s about resilience:
- Clear RTO and RPO Objectives: Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) define how quickly you need systems restored and how much data loss is acceptable. These should be documented, tested and realistic for your business.
- Automated, Secure Backups: Regular, verified backups stored in secure, separate environments – protected from tampering and ransomware.
- Immutable Storage and Virtualisation: Backups that can’t be altered and can be spun up instantly in the cloud if your primary systems fail.
- Pre-Defined Recovery Procedures: Steps that have been mapped out and tested, so there’s no guesswork when disaster strikes.
- Regular Testing: Simulations to validate recovery processes and ensure your team knows exactly what to do in a real-world scenario.
Why DRaaS changes the game
Unlike traditional backups, DRaaS is a fully managed, structured recovery service. It’s designed to take the complexity out of disaster planning and replace uncertainty with certainty.
With DRaaS, businesses get:
- Fast Recovery: Get systems back online in hours, not days.
- One provider, bases covered: Disaster Recovery as a Service from your MSP means breach management supported by the people who know your IT systems inside and out. No delay, no finger pointing just fast recovery, limiting your downtime.
- Predictable Costs: Enterprise-grade resilience without the enterprise price tag.
- Better Cyber Insurance Outcomes: Insurers look for MSPs who deliver strong security and recovery capabilities – this can lead to easier approvals and lower premiums for businesses.
- Scalability: Solutions that adapt to your business, whether you’re a growing SME or a multi-site operation.
Your next step: from vulnerable to resilient
The message from our webinar was clear: businesses that thrive are the ones that plan ahead. Disasters aren’t a matter of if – they’re a matter of when. With DRaaS in place, worst-case scenarios become minor disruptions, not business-ending events.
Check out our webinar: The Hidden Gaps in your Disaster Recovery Plan
Available on-demand, hear from our experts as they share practical advice, proven strategies and real-world examples to help your business stay ahead of disruption.
Your IT and Cybersecurity needs have changed, has your MSP?
Get in touch with our team to explore how to become Cyber Secure, Future Ready.
