Offering Disaster Recovery to SMEs: Key Arguments

Here at Jotelulu, we have designed our Disaster Recovery service specifically with SMEs in mind. But what arguments should you use when trying to offer this service to your customers? In this article, we’ve compiled some key information and data about Disaster Recovery and IT security around Europe. Hopefully, this will help your customers better understand the benefits and importance of this brand-new product.

Disaster Recovery – The Ideal Solution for SMEs

In Europe right now, the current situation for SMEs is rather complex.

Firstly, companies are having to scrutinise their expenses more than ever. Purchasing departments (and even senior management) are often carefully reviewing every quote, purchase or service contract. In many cases, quotes are rejected because the product or service isn’t believed to add enough value.

In addition, during 2022 and 2023, SMEs in the EU reported a significant increase in cyberattacks. One report claimed that ransomware attacks increased by 57% in countries like France, Germany, Italy and Spain, further highlighting the need for companies to strengthen their cybersecurity measures (1). Similarly, more than 40% of companies claimed to have suffered significant interruptions due to human error at some point in the last three years, and 85% of these incidents were due to faulty procedures or a failure to follow any at all (2)

So, against this backdrop, how should you approach your customers when trying to sell Disaster Recovery? What are the best sales arguments to use? Below, you will find some of the most important facts and figures to help you with your sales pitch.

1. Expenses and IT Security

Here are some key figures on IT security and SMEs in Europe at the moment:

IT security is a big issue for SMEs

• 43% of SMEs believe IT security is the biggest technological challenge they need to address in the next 12 months (11).
• 80% claim that a cybersecurity incident would have serious consequences for their business within a week of the incident (3).
• 57% believe they would probably go out of business (3) if they suffered a successful cyberattack.

Most SMEs are underprepared for business interruptions

• Around 75% of small businesses have no disaster recovery plan. This leaves them exposed to the risk of prolonged downtime or potential closure (4).
• Only 24% of organisations have a mature, well-documented, tested and up-to-date disaster recovery plan (5).

Many SMEs don’t see the need to invest in IT security

• 56% of small businesses in Europe say they do not intend to increase their IT security budget this year (10).

The consequences of inaction could be catastrophic

• For SMEs, the average cost of suffering a cyberattack is estimated at €35,000 (6). This includes the cost of lost production, data recovery and implementing additional security measures.
• The average time to restore data availability following a security incident is 200 minutes (7).

2. The True Impact of Failing to Invest in IT Security

A security breach, human error or system failure can have dire consequences for a company’s finances and reputation.

Financial Impact

• Direct impact: Obviously, in the event of a system failure, human error or ransomware attack, there will likely be costs that can be directly attributed to the incident. Recovering business systems will take time, and additional security measures may need to be implemented following the event. But there may also be fines or compensation to pay if the company is found in breach of its obligations.
• Indirect impact: When programs or data are unavailable, many business processes can grind to a halt. As well as operations, it may be that sales or even the company’s administrative processes completely cease to function. This can have a serious impact on the company’s revenues and potential sales. Similarly, employee wages for those who cannot work are another expense that will never be recovered.

Reputational Impact

Any prolonged business interruption is also likely to significantly damage the company’s reputation. This damage can take a long time to repair, and it may even mean that suppliers or business partners think twice before working with the company in the future. Even employees may question whether they want to continue working for the company. This damage to the business’s reputation can put off new potential customers, affect sales figures and hinder growth. It is often overlooked, but the company’s image and standing are absolutely at stake in this situation.

Any interruption to business operations can put a company’s long-term financial prospects and reputation at risk. If business cannot be resumed quickly or data losses are too great, the cost may be too much to bear for many SMEs. The combination of these direct losses, compensation and reputational damage may mean that there is no coming back for some businesses.

Around 60% of small and medium-sized businesses in Europe would probably have to close if they suffered a cyberattack or a prolonged systems failure (9).

For more information, you might like to check out these articles:

• What Is The Real Cost of Not Investing in Security?
• Risk and Threat Assessment for SMEs

3. Backups aren’t enough

While backups are an important way to ensure data protection and availability (allowing you to recover data from a previous point in time), disaster recovery is a comprehensive service focused on systems, resources (such as instances, firewall rules, disks, networks, etc.) and services (configurations, applications, etc.).

Given the scope of each one, they should be seen as complementary measures, rather than mutually exclusive ones. For any critical environment, both strategies should definitely be applied.

However, some customers may still ask why they should use both backups and disaster recovery to protect their IT resources. There are essentially two main reasons:

Backups have a limited scope

Traditional backups are solely to protect data. They copy your data at a certain point in time so that you can recover it in the future if you need to. But they do nothing to protect your systems or the multiple dependencies between your resources and applications. This means that getting your systems up and running again following a disaster will be much more arduous and time-consuming.

Recovery Time

When disaster strikes, time is of the essence. To restore services to customers, you don’t just need to recover your data but also all the other resources the service depends on. This can require a lot of time and hard work. Recovering your backed-up data isn’t enough. This is where disaster recovery comes in. It replicates all of your resources (instances, disks, firewall rules, networks, etc.) so that, when the unthinkable happens, you can run them at a different location almost instantaneously. This seamless switch ensures true business continuity is maintained.

4. Disaster Recovery Offers Many Benefits for SMEs

The truth is that systems fail from time to time. Things will occasionally go wrong, and if you’re not prepared, the consequences can be disastrous. Security is important for all companies, regardless of how big they are. The problem is that, until recently, the vast majority of business continuity solutions were simply unaffordable for all but the largest companies.

This is where the Jotelulu Disaster Recovery service comes in. This product allows you to replicate any existing Jotelulu subscription (Servers or Remote Desktop) on a different availability zone. The main benefits are:

• Increased system resilience against potential failures or threats.
• An affordable price. The service is within the budget of any company, regardless of size or turnover.

Disaster Recovery is an additional layer of security that allows you to replicate all your critical resources, including users, applications, configurations, server instances, firewall rules and disks. In the event of an incident, the service ensures that you can rapidly and precisely recover all your systems and data and guarantee full business continuity.

The 5 main benefits of Disaster Recovery for SMEs

1. Reduced downtime: it ensures that you can quickly recover your critical data and systems, reducing downtime and associated costs.
2. Protection for data and applications: it provides added protection against data loss and ensures business continuity in the event of a cyberattack, natural disaster or human error.
3. Regulatory compliance: it helps comply with data protection and business continuity requirements, including the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). It not only allows you to restore data access and availability but also includes a feature enabling you to test the effectiveness of the measures you have implemented (Drills feature).
4. Protection for your company’s reputation: it demonstrates to customers and stakeholders that the company is reliable and prepared for any eventuality.
5. Affordable price: Until now, many business continuity services were too expensive and complex for all but the biggest companies. Jotelulu Disaster Recovery is an affordable solution for any company, regardless of size.

Conclusion

In a world where online threats are multiplying all the time, disaster recovery is an absolute must for any business. By investing in robust data protection and recovery measures, it is possible to minimise business disruption and financial losses, preserve the company’s reputation and ensure regulatory compliance. The Jotelulu Disaster Recovery feature is the ideal solution for SMEs when it comes to IT security, compliance and business continuity.