A business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) policy is essential for protecting client environments from disruptive events. Traditional BCDR plans explain how to recover critical functions and restore data, but they often stop short of addressing the full complexity of modern IT setups. That’s where managed service providers (MSPs) become indispensable partners, as we explore in this edition of Tip Tuesday.
The current limits for BCDR policies
Creating a BCDR policy begins with a risk assessment and business impact analysis, which generally looks at the operations that may halt business functions. For cloud environments, this can involve cyberattacks and technology failures. For on-premises environments, storms, fires, and other natural disasters are typical disruptors.
The findings of those assessments result in preventive measures to protect the most attack-prone and critical functions. However, without an MSP’s involvement, many businesses lack the resources to implement and maintain these measures effectively.
Are hybrid environments the new normal?
BCDR policies must evolve beyond the binary of cloud-based versus on-premises infrastructure, as most companies now operate in both realms. In fact, 88 percent of enterprise IT environments are hybrid.
Hybrid environments offer flexible, comprehensive control over critical data. High-demand workloads can be scaled efficiently in the cloud, while on-premises infrastructure supports essential operations that benefit from physical oversight. This dual setup also allows organizations to explore emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning without sacrificing the reliability of traditional systems.
MSPs can help businesses navigate this complexity by delivering integrated solutions that span both environments—ensuring seamless operations, enhanced resilience, and future-ready IT strategies.
Addressing the challenges of a hybrid environment
Hybrid IT environments pose new factors that can influence BCDR policies. Here’s an overview of how you can adapt BCDR standards to fit your workflows:
Assessing the newer risks
Managing cloud and on-premises infrastructure offers much more complexity, as you have to ensure minimal interruptions online and offline. There is a shared set of risks, such as physical tampering or equipment breakdown. You also have to consider data synchronization issues, as you’re operating on two different fronts. Stable connectivity and advanced software that can ensure timely and streamlined updates are ideal to minimize inconsistencies during a disaster.
Define recovery objectives
Preventive measures can only do so much for hybrid infrastructures, especially in an age of incessant cyber incidents. In 2024, at least 32 percent of them were cases of data theft and leaks. MSPs assist in setting realistic recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs) based on industry benchmarks and client-specific needs, ensuring continuity and minimizing data loss.
Develop actionable strategies
Once objectives have been established, integrate BCDR-oriented solutions. For instance, enterprise-grade systems should manage both cloud and on-premises infrastructure. Power generators and stable internet connections are ideal to keep operations running smoothly.
Hybrid environments should also have a clean and well-insulated space so that inclement weather or outside noise does not cause disruptions. If your risk assessment reveals vulnerability to break-ins, add video monitoring solutions to get a handle on the situation.
Implement solutions
Remember to implement solutions based on BCDR policies as they are necessary to ensure minimal downtime and data loss across your diverse infrastructures. MSPs play a key role in executing the policies, find suitable solutions, allocate resources, restore breached systems, and safeguard unaffected infrastructure. They also manage secure backups of critical data and applications. Security features for these backups are critical considerations, too, as 44 percent of people say they’ve experienced a cloud data breach.
Benefits of protecting hybrid environments
BCDR policies that protect hybrid environments can ensure you are maintaining diversity and resilience in how you handle your data. Your online infrastructure can serve as a fail-safe for the on-premises one and vice versa when breaches occur.
More comprehensive risk assessments and solutions also mean better long-term cost efficiency. A study found that 88 percent of businesses experience one or more attacks, with 70 percent of cloud or in-house applications suffering downtime. Each attack can cost $942,000 on average.
The necessity of updates to BCDR policies
If you already have a BCDR policy, there may be some resistance to changing it. However, these shifts are warranted when you have a newer IT environment. Hybrid ones face a wider set of risks that warrant tighter security to maintain their performance levels.
That said, updates are generally necessary when there are any other shifts in operations. For instance, data breaches are becoming more frequent, and the impact gets larger. A comparison study found that the stocks of breached companies performed worse than the NASDAQ by 3.2 percent in the six months after disclosure.
Similar to crafting new BCDR policies for hybrid environments, it’s essential to conduct reviews and make changes where applicable. You can also make it a point to conduct assessments of these regulations annually to improve their effectiveness.
MSP—Key to successful BCDR strategies
MSPs are increasingly vital in crafting and maintaining BCDR strategies. As external IT partners, MSPs offer specialized expertise and scalable solutions that adapt to both cloud and on-premises environments. Their proactive monitoring, automated backups, and disaster recovery planning ensure that even small to mid-sized businesses can achieve enterprise-grade resilience. By partnering with an MSP, organizations gain access to continuous support and strategic guidance which is critical for navigating the complexities of hybrid infrastructure and evolving threats.
Read the Tip Tuesday series for more insights on how to better your MSP business.
Photo: Vadym Pastukh / Shutterstock
This post originally appeared on Smarter MSP.