Outsourcing disaster recovery 'cost-effective'

In-house disaster recovery may appeal to many businesses who want to utilise the skills of their employees but experience has shown that outsourcing this IT task is more effective, a report has said.

SearchDisasterRecovery.com referred to a recent IDC study which found that firms which do not outsource this function lost an average $4 million (£2.4 million) per disaster incident.

This is reduced to $1.1 million per incident when disaster recovery is outsourced.

Companies which are currently addressing the cost-effectiveness of their operations should not turn their back on disaster recovery, the publication noted.

"Instead, go with a lower, less-expensive tier that gives reasonable protection for the available budget. Not having a disaster recovery plan should never be an option," SearchDisasterRecovery.com stated.

Virtual private servers are central to disaster recovery for many IT leaders, a recent survey by Harris Interactive found.

Its State of Disaster Recovery study discovered that 60 per cent of such professionals use virtual private servers as a recovery tool.

Written by Tim Dunton