One of the costliest experiences your business can face is network downtime. It can result in tremendous loss of profit if contracts are not fulfilled or services are not provided simply because you cannot access the relevant information you need.
While there are many advantages to moving to a cloud network, there are also some things that can go wrong. As with any business practice, it is important to plan for what can go wrong and protect yourself when this happens.
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Expect the Unexpected:
Downtime can occur at any point with little notice. When this happens, it can fully interrupt your daily business plan and can leave you spinning and looking for something to do until you can get online.
To minimize the loss in this time, it is imperative that you develop a full continuity plan to be utilized in the event of downtime. You may also need to check any service level agreements (or SLAs) that you may have with a third party to make sure that you are protected from any action from then during downtime.
Appreciate That It Might Sometimes Be You:
These frustrating periods of downtime are not always caused by the cloud provider. Sometimes it might be as simple as a dodgy script or piece of code causing your cloud to go down. In this scenario, the onus is on you to fix it and not upon the cloud provider since the problem originated from you.
Check everything frequently to ensure that you are completing things to the best of your ability. Any coding needs to be properly checked before it goes live on the site and bugs need to be found and fixed as quickly as possible. If you are introducing something from a third-party developer, make sure that is from a reputable source so that it does not damage any of the structure that you have worked so hard to build. Do not add anything to your cloud unless you know exactly what it is and where it has come from.
Use a Multi-Cloud Structure:
By using a multi-cloud structure which operates across different accessibility zones, you are decreasing the likelihood of your business being completely cut off from its work. This may not eliminate your downtime risk but it can certainly help to minimize it.
Check that the individual cloud providers you are using for your hybrid structure aren’t using the same data centre and the same resources. If this is the case, having a multi-cloud structure for the purpose of reducing downtime is completely redundant.
Prepare for Recovery:
Sudden downtime can result in some awful loss of data and projects if you are not careful. Sometimes, this loss can occur even if you follow the best online practices. To best recover from downtime and data loss, you will need to use some proactive measures and potentially contact an expert to help.
Disaster Recover as a Service (or DRaaS) is a service which can be implemented as part of your overall cloud package from the right provider. Along with other services like infrastructure or software, many should be able to offer disaster recovery. Find out more about DRaaS from ukcloud.com; these experts know all about it.
Downtime may seem like a scary prospect which can seriously affect your performance depending on how you handle it. Like many aspects of business, you will be able to weather even periods of unexpected downtime if you have a proactive business plan in place. Be sensible, and you will be able to protect your company properly no matter what is thrown at it.
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