With 70% of organizations reporting an increase in cloud outages in the last 12 months, disaster recovery in the cloud should be top of mind. The emergence of cloud computing trends like multi-cloud, serverless computing, and edge computing, have put additional pressure on and impacted enterprises’ ability to recover from disaster events and outages.
In this article, we’ll unveil findings from Cutover’s 2024 IT disaster recovery survey including key cloud technology trends.
Confidence in cloud resilience vs. the reality of outages
Cloud is perceived as a tool to increase resilience. Unsurprisingly, nearly two-thirds (59%) of organizations think operating in the cloud makes you more resilient, and only 21% think it makes you less resilient. Additionally, 82% of enterprises agree that disaster recovery is a key focus in the cloud.
However, if we dive into the cloud disaster recovery (DR) trends further, there’s a difference in how companies of varying sizes view resilience in the cloud. Reviewing the companies with 1,000 - 4,999 employees compared to large enterprises (5,000+ employees) there is a disparity: 90% of enterprises think DR is a focus in the cloud, but only 76% of large enterprises agree.
Yet, 72% of organizations have experienced some degree of IT-related business disruption in the last 12 months. While operating in the cloud provides significant benefits and is seen as a key driver of resilience, outages remain a persistent challenge.
Rising cloud outages and slower recovery times
While there’s a clear indication of confidence, the cloud computing trends show companies are facing an increase in cloud outages coupled with longer recovery times for full recovery. The survey shows:
- 70% have experienced an increase in cloud outages
- 83% of companies believe that cloud outages take longer to fully recover from
Organizations cited many factors that contributed to the cloud outages, including:
- IT skills shortages in the business and more widely
- Increased cyber threats (e.g. ransomware)
- The rise of remote workforces introducing more network complexity
- An increase in multi-cloud environments
- Digital transformation outpacing resilience efforts
- Pressure to reduce operational costs and headcount
- Shifting regulatory requirements
- The proliferation of new applications
The shortage of IT skills in the business was the top factor contributing to technology outages. However, organizations cited people, technology and business factors as contributing to outages indicating there are multiple ways to address outage persistence.
Progress in cloud disaster recovery adaptation
There is a silver lining. The survey shows that fewer enterprises struggle to adapt IT DR plans from on-premises to the cloud (from 65% in 2023 to 55% now). Improved disaster recovery planning for cloud services, along with evolving cloud technology trends, contributes to quicker responses during outages, lowering risks of customer satisfaction issues, negative financial impacts, and more.
Increased regulation driving strategic DR focus
Regulatory pressures, such as the DORA banking regulation, are reshaping disaster recovery strategies, with nearly 48% of enterprises more thoroughly evaluating IT vendors and partners. Additionally, 45% of organizations are reassessing which applications to host in the cloud to ensure compliance and reliability.
This cloud computing trend highlights a need for a more strategic approach to cloud DR in a highly regulated environment.
Cyber attacks and cloud architecture: Growing risks to resilience
In the last 12 months, 65% of organizations experienced an increase in cyber attacks, and 89% of companies are most concerned about recovering from a cyber attack.
Additionally, 80% of organizations think fully recovering from a cyber attack takes longer now than it did previously. However, slightly more organizations are concerned about the length of time it takes to recover from cloud outages, with 83% saying that recovering from a cloud outage takes longer than it did previously.
Cloud outages and cyber attacks are both increasing in risk and impacting resilience. Organizations need to implement best practices for cloud disaster recovery to ensure they can continue to reduce risk and maintain resilience amidst growing cyber attacks and risks in cloud computing architecture. Staying informed about cloud disaster recovery trends is also essential for adapting to emerging threats and improving recovery strategies.
Cutover runbooks address cloud computing trends
These cloud trends show that organizations need to take a new approach to tackling cloud-related risks. Fortunately, cloud disaster recovery software can help to reduce downtime and increase resilience. Cutover’s SaaS platform and automated runbooks standardize and automate cloud disaster recovery plans to increase efficiency with greater visibility and control. Whether your organization uses a single cloud provider or requires a multi-cloud disaster recovery, gain confidence that you can recover 50% faster.
To learn more, schedule a demo today.