Brandon Butler of CIO takes a look at the ‘newer’ Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service (DRaaS) and interviews Gartner expert John Morency on tips for organizations looking to find the right DRaaS provider.
What to look for from your provider?
- The provider’s standing in the market and financial stability.
- Understand their business history – number of years in service, ownership, offices, client lists and length of relationships.
- A look at their organizational chart will allow you to see what key personnel will be assigned to you.
- Do they have customized or generic service level agreements?
- Review the size of their install base.
- How many recoveries have they performed?
What to look for in the SLA?
- Performance of virtual machines.
- What is the geographic location of the provider’s support centers?
- Disaster declaration procedure and incident management triage process.
- What is their targeted time to recover? Compare that to industry benchmarks.
What to look for from your provider’s data center?
- SSAE – Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements – 16, SOC –Service Organization Control – 1, 2 and 3 formal certifications. Or, SAS –Statements on Auditing Standards) 70 Type II certification. SSAE supersedes SAS 70 certification.
- The vendor’s data center should meet the requirements of the Uptime Institute’s Tier 4 recommendations.
- 99.995% uptime guarantee.
- Find out the number of customers per virtual machine.
- Ensure that user testing is allowed
- The provider should also have a continuously manned site.
