Recovery time objective (RTO) is the targeted amount of time it would take a business to maintain productivity and return to normal after a disruption or a disaster, while recovery point objective (RPO) is the last point at which a recoverable data set or server is available so, in essence, it’s the last backed up date and time.
Several things contribute to the total cost of a business’s downtime, but not all businesses have the same RTO and RPO to be able to withstand:
- a loss of productivity
- a loss of income
- the cost to recover operations
- the cost of a possibly tarnished reputation
RTO and RPO are the two most critical considerations in disaster recovery planning.
Every business should consider acceptable RTOs and RPOs in order to properly estimate risk and to develop a plan of action to mitigate the impact of a disruptive event.
Keep this handy formula in mind when calculating your risk:
Total cost of downtime = loss of productivity + loss of revenue + cost to restore operations + cost of reputational damage
Questions to ask around RTO and RPO are:
- What’s the unrecoverable revenue loss for every hour of downtime?
- How much downtime can my clients live with before they seek alternative providers?
- How much data can I afford to lose in the event of a disruption?
- What would it cost to recreate the data I might lose?
- What would it cost in services to get operations back on track?
- What would the cost of damage to your brand be?
With the advanced online technologies now available, a business can improve its RTO and RPO considerably. In the past, an attractive recovery time was four hours. Today, the global market leader in cloud data management, Rubrik, boasts nearly zero recovery time objectives and minimal data loss with its advanced data management solution.
By making use of the latest technology businesses can calculate their risk differently and expect more productivity and an enhanced reputation.
IronTree has partnered with Rubrik to provide advanced data management and a near zero RTO.
