MSPmentor

The SMB disaster recovery market is poised for some change in 2012, according to new predictions released by cloud-based recovery services provider Doyenz Inc. The company forecasts that as the continuing consumerization of IT makes its way into the disaster recovery market, SMBs will have greater expectations around application availability, ease of use, intuitive web-based management with 24×7 data accessibility, and faster time-to-recovery with improved security of their data. Doyenz goes as far as saying these changes will drive a “disruptive shift” in the disaster recovery market next year.

While making such bold statements about the near-term future of disaster recovery is certainly good press for a service provider like Doyenz, a closer look at the company’s specific predicted SMB-related disaster recovery trends shows that they make a lot of sense. Following is a brief synopsis.

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1. Cloud Recovery Overtakes Cloud Storage. Cloud storage has become highly commoditized, and as a result Doyenz says cloud storage, which is really file backup and retrieval rather than classic “storage,” will be pushed aside by recovery-as-a-service technology which enables SMBs to replicate and recover production environments in the cloud.
2. Applications Must be Available. Doyenz predicts that in 2012, SMBs will demand not only data recovery capabilities, but full application recovery so that they can continue to run their businesses, which generally rely heavily on apps to make up for a lack of onsite IT personnel, even in the face of a disaster.
3. Full Access to Recovery Environments. In 2012, Doyenz predicts the SMB market will require cloud companies to provide intuitive web management environments that enable instant access to production applications in recovery environments.  SMBs will expect their IT service providers to be able to access and manage their data in the cloud so they can not only test recovery, but perform recovery operations. Furthermore, this access must be available anywhere, anytime, from any device. This prediction dovetails with numerous data suggesting a large number of SMBs now allow employees partial or complete access to corporate systems via personal mobile devices.
4. Verification Replaces Trust. Doyenz expects days of SMBs blindly trusting a cloud provider will be traded in for hard proof that applications are backed up in the cloud and ready to be recovered. At any time, SMBs should be able to verify the integrity of their data and server images, and instantly access their applications.

All of these predictions are not so much disruptive as an indication that SMBs are becoming more aggressive in demanding the same type of disaster recovery reliability and robustness their larger competitors already enjoy. The big solution providers are not likely to do it for them, but MSPs can certainly help fill gaps in SMB disaster recovery services. In 2012, disaster (and avoidance thereof) just may be your ticket to success.

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