Hidden Data Recovery Costs, Revealed
Recovering your data after a business interruption comes at a cost, and it’s hard to anticipate the financial impact of such an uncertainty. But here’s how to budget for a data emergency.
Creating a business-continuity plan that includes the right kind of data backup and smart provisions for data recovery is a vital task. Any business, even yours, can suffer from a technology breakdown, leading to expensive downtime that can instantly affect your bottom line. Understanding how much you have to lose will inspire you to make sure that data backup and recovery is a technology priority for your business.
Budgeting for a backup program isn’t terribly mysterious. The technologies are well known, and you can easily calculate the amount of data you need to protect. You’ll find a variety of good backup options from excellent third-party partners for sensible onsite and offsite programs.
But what about the recovery part? The unfortunate truth is that data recovery can surprise you with all sorts of hidden costs, unless you set up a plan that locks in the appropriate services as a vital component of your overall business continuity plan.
Discovering the High Cost of a Crisis
When you tumble into a crisis involving lost or damaged data or records, you may find yourself both emotionally and financially vulnerable. Data recovery service providers hope you come to them saying, “We need to get that data back, no matter what it costs!” What better kind of customer to have? Just the fact that so many data recovery services promise “no hidden costs” tells you that hidden fees are a potentially big problem. Unfortunately, you won’t know just how big until the final bill arrives.
Even when a data recovery service promises a flat fee—a red flag unto itself—the fine print may reveal hidden fees for:
- Parts and/or handling
- Rush or same-day service
- Use of a clean room for data recovery
- Media holding your recovered data
- Recovery from RAID systems or non-Windows operating systems
A truly professional data recovery company won’t offer a single price for all types of data recovery. If it ignores the size of the data set or the type of media, it’s just paving the way for fistful of hidden fees later in the game.
Identify Your Pain Points
When budgeting for data recovery, start by providing for the protection and recovery of any technology and data that support your core business. From that point, remember that recovering data is only one of several costs you may incur if your business suffers a serious setback. You may also need to account for a) increased labor costs to rebuild what’s been lost and get back up to speed and b) equipment costs incurred as you reestablish your basic infrastructure.
A trusted backup and recovery partner can help you analyze what your downtime will truly cost you in terms of business, infrastructure and labor. Keep all those elements in mind, or you may find yourself in a financial hole by the time you complete the recovery process.
Confirm Your Recovery Terms in Writing
In an emergency data recovery situation, it’s essential to secure a written, guaranteed estimate. That way, you can prevent having your data “held hostage” by your provider as you haggle over a spiraling estimate.
Can you avoid this kind of situation altogether? Yes. When you work with a trusted partner for data backup and recovery, you will create a service level agreement (SLA) that outlines in very specific detail precisely what kind of backup and data recovery services you’ll receive. Be sure to require time windows, (measured in hours or days) which guarantee the return of data by a specific deadline.
The bottom line: Avoid a panic situation by planning for—and budgeting for—data recovery even before you need it. When it comes to your vital business information, you never want to be on the defensive. Build your data backup and recovery plan so that should a problem occur, the solution is only minutes away.
The Costs of Doing Nothing
You can always opt to avoid assessing your potential data recovery costs. But before you do that, ask yourself these questions:
- If we’re cut off from our vital business records—databases, customer files, schedules, and invoices—how long will it be before we face a serious problem? When will we start losing money?
- How will the problems manifest themselves? What will our lost productivity cost us? Will it damage our reputation?
- Who will tally our dollar losses if our business is interrupted, and how will we recover?
Iron Mountain Suggests:
Plan Data Backup and Recovery with a Trusted Partner
Teaming up with a trusted information management partner that understands data backup and recovery is a smart way to grasp the information flow of your business, identify risks, and learn how to address them before downtime takes its toll on your bottom line.
- Look for a firm that’s adept at evaluating the true costs of downtime.
- Consider backup strategies that include offsite media storage in a secure, protected facility.
- Work with your partner to make sure that the “recovery” part of backup and recovery is fast, accurate and, most important, clearly and fairly priced. Remember, if your business systems are compromised in any way, every minute will be costly. It’s important to maintain control over whatever costs you can.
Do you have questions about data backup and recovery? Read additional Knowledge Center stories on this subject, or contact Iron Mountain’s Data Backup and Recovery team. You’ll be connected with a knowledgeable product and services specialist who can address your specific challenges.
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