How MSPs Can Determine the Cost of Downtime

The cost of a few hours of downtime, never mind days or weeks, can be devastating for a business. When a business is down, customers cannot make purchases or access account information. Employees can’t work. The lost revenue adds up quickly. There was a time when taking days or weeks to recover didn’t have the lasting impact it does now. Tape backups that required physical transportation were reliable enough for the time. But in 2019, businesses can’t wait weeks or even days to get moving again. In today’s world, downtime is no longer acceptable. The good news: BCDR solutions eliminate downtime. Companies that don’t make BCDR implementation a priority are just asking for trouble.

From server failure and power outages to cyber threats, downtime can be caused by a number of factors. As ransomware continues to attack businesses everywhere, we asked 2,400 MSPs we partner with around the world to shed some light on the cost of these attacks. MSPs reported the average ransom requested was ~$4,300, and the cost of downtime from an attack was 10X greater at ~$46,800. 

These are figures no company can afford. Think about the number of employees affected by a disaster, their wages, the associated overhead costs and the revenue lost because of the disaster and add it all up for every hour of downtime. Add to that the negative impact of a downtime incident on a company’s reputation (i.e. loss of trust and/or business) and you’ve got a significant blow to the bottom line on your hands.

Manual backups and outdated technology won’t help the businesses of today. Solutions designed 40 years ago were created to solve the problems of 40 years ago. Backup tools that add more work for employees aren’t going to function optimally. People make mistakes. The threat landscape businesses face has evolved dramatically. 

Customers that cling to outdated or manually-driven backup processes may achieve the goal of backing up their data in one sense, but they can’t guarantee its availability when needed, nor can they ensure the process is actually working. Business continuity cannot be guaranteed with backups that are dependent on employees remembering to copy data at the end of the week. That means automation. In particular, a hybrid cloud backup promotes continuity. 

The most cost-effective solution for companies looking to back up critical workloads is in the cloud. In 2019, resistance to the cloud over reliability issues is no longer sensible, it’s just holding organizations back. Hybrid cloud-based backup solutions give companies access to a local backup stored onsite and an additional copy of their entire network stored in the cloud. The local backup enables quick access to data when necessary. Meanwhile, the cloud keeps another copy available to fail over when a larger-scale issue occurs and gives companies the ability to avoid extended downtime. Hybrid cloud backup gives organizations the security they need to quickly get back up and running for both small and major data disasters. 

No company is immune to data disaster. It’s clear that the revenue lost when a problem leads to extended downtime is far too substantial to let it become a possibility. Moreover, outdated technology is not the answer.

Companies that want security for the growing list of threats need to consider what they stand to lose, as well the solutions designed to minimize downtime entirely. The RTO/RPO Pitch is a great way to quickly justify the higher cost of an all in-one a business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) solution over a plain old Backup solution. The goal is to highlight the value of business continuity vs. backup. Here’s a quick and easy way to do this using Datto’s free Recovery Time Calculator. Here is how it works.

To learn more about how to communicate the value of a true BCDR solution, check out our new eBook, Selling BCDR Made MSPeasy. In this eBook you will learn the benefits of BCDR solutions over traditional backup, how BCDR solutions can reduce the financial impact of downtime, and more. Check it out today!