The terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, got businesses large and small to think about disaster recovery. Hurricane Katrina, just a year ago, then pushed many to get serious about adopting those plans.
Still, many solution providers expected disaster-recovery solutions to continue to be a hard sell in the small- and midsize-business segment. But now, falling product costs along with new technology, new services, and even new business pressures are opening the doors for solution providers to boost sales of disaster-recovery solutions to their SMB customers.
Even more important, the combination of high-profile disasters, regulatory and compliance issues, fiduciary responsibility and other business concerns has taken away every excuse solution providers may have for not bringing disaster-recovery solutions to customers of every size.
Businesses are more aware now of the interdependencies of their equipment and how a problem with one impacts another, said Michael Croy, director of business-continuity solutions at Forsythe Solutions Group, a solution provider in Skokie, Ill. And, he said, they are looking for a return on investment from disaster recovery. Investments in this space used to be a black hole for companies, Croy said, but not anymore. "Now customers want to invest in disaster recovery and business continuity not only to recover from a disaster but to improve IT performance and resiliency."
For small and midsize businesses, disaster recovery is a balance between cost and risk, said Steven Robb, vice president and general manager at LaSalle Business Solutions, Rosemont, Ill. "They know they need it," he said, but the ever-present question has always been, can they afford it?
With the move to the cloud, CISOs must shift priorities from operating security programs to overseeing (monitoring and auditing) outsourced cybersecurity programs.
2022 was a boon year for IT salaries. 2023 came in like a beast with layoffs, raise freezes, and ChatGPT, but that beast has few teeth.
Age is only a number. Don't let a high number cancel your career.
