Desktop-as-a-Service is widely getting referred to as the smarter DR strategy with more features. To get an idea of why this virtual desktop solution can be used as insurance against disasters, you need to understand exactly what it has to offer to clients in the wider context of business continuity and uninterrupted availability.
DR strategy
Disaster recovery strategy, also known as DR strategy is an integral part of every growing business’ continuity plan in the digital era. It is a strategy that considers all the odds in an event of a natural disaster like a flood or fire and requires a physical backup of business data in a second location, far away from where critical infrastructure is kept. There are a large number of DR strategies in the marketplace, based on the individual company approach: from hot and cold sites, where businesses keep backup infrastructure, to data centers and Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) options on a subscription basis. Businesses can choose between a wide range of options to make sure that there is a DR plan for their infrastructure AND their data. If one or the other is not insured against disasters, the business can suffer significant losses, downtime, and poor customer satisfaction as a result.
Plan costs
To have a comprehensive DR strategy in place, you need to consider your data and business continuity with the same weight. This is what makes a DR strategy very difficult to define in an estimate. Every business has different needs and some value minimum downtime more than others. Companies that can’t afford to waste time and require immediate recovery from third-party backup and DRaaS providers, need to pay something similar to a data insurance charge every month so they can rely on instant business continuity in case of a natural disaster. Organizations that prefer to deal with their data in-house often set up a secondary (off-site) location with virtual machines, removable hardware, and traditional desktop infrastructure for the employees covered in the DR strategy . Whichever the approach, the price ends up being comparatively high, if you need to consider all the costs for hardware along and skilled workforce, responsible for monitoring different components of the DR strategy round the clock (crisis management, IT applications, impact assessment teams, and so on).
DaaS (Desktop-as-a-Service)
In case you haven’t heard of DaaS already, we will explain briefly how the solution works. Desktop-as-a-Service is a computing technology delivering virtual desktops with applications, hosted on the cloud servers of third-party providers like we-IT. Companies that use DaaS can utilize a Bring-Your-Own-Device model for their employees, inviting them to access their workstations from a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or any other available smart device at any time and place, provided that they have a stable internet connection. What’s revolutionary about Desktop-as-a-Service is the advanced functionality and availability of the technology to support remote operations not only during critical times but at all times .This makes DaaS the perfect constituent in a DR strategy, requiring multi-geography data locations where data is safely captured and backed up, while still in use. The data centers of cloud providers are closely monitored by experienced technical staff to ensure that the systems are fully secure and highly available 24/7. Cloud services providers like we-IT offer customers a comprehensive DR strategy by keeping corporate data safe on data centers of multiple geographic locations. This way, you know that in a misfortunate event of a fire, flood, or another natural disaster in the data center of the provider, your information will always be safe and your service will go uninterrupted.
Plan costs
Compared to a traditional DR strategy that looks at business continuity and data separately and tackles them one step at a time, DaaS does everything, all at once. With Desktop-as-a-Service, companies don’t need to worry about the costs associated with downtime, infrastructure loss, and operational expenses for staff implementing the DR strategy in-house. DaaS plans are offered on a month-by-month basis and customers have no responsibility to manage or maintain any hardware off-site or on-side. The virtual desktops are deployed from the cloud servers directly to the employee devices and all your data is safely stored in a remote location, protected from natural disasters and unwanted disruptions.This way, customers are paying only the company subscription per number of desktop tenants using the service every month. There is no better solution than DaaS currently on the marketplace for the value customers receive.
Final words
A comprehensive DR strategy requires a multi-lateral approach that tackles data and business continuity equally well. DaaS does this successfully by being the smart DR solution which safes the data on multiple locations whilst delivering a seamless desktop environment for all employees at all times!