Cloud News

DRaaS Solution Market Growth Assists Health IT Infrastructure

Disaster recovery as-a-service is expected to grow significantly over the next several years, replacing traditional physical backup and disaster recovery solutions.

By Elizabeth O'Dowd

- Traditional disaster recovery solutions are falling by the wayside as cloud-based disaster recovery-as-a-service (DRaaS) solutions are expected to continue to grow rapidly over the next several years. Healthcare organizations looking to shed the weight of a traditional disaster recovery solution can utilize a DRaaS solution for their data backup efforts. 

Research conducted by Transparency Market Research predicts that the DRaaS market will reach $21.55 billion by 2024, growing 35.7 percent CAGR between 2016 and 2024.

The research found that the market for traditional backup and disaster recovery solutions has changed greatly over the past decade due to the rise of cloud computing. DRaaS has transformed the market, replacing many traditional solutions and encouraging disaster recovery vendors to produce DRaaS solutions in place of traditional DRaaS solutions.

The growing popularity of DRaaS solutions has introduced a large number of companies into the market significantly intensifying competition as well as providing consumers a vast number of options to choose from, the research found.

The DRaaS market has grown from just five vendors in the past decade to over 100 today. The research observed a significant change in competitive dynamics. The market is fragmented between startup vendors and large legacy vendors who have transitioned from traditional disaster recovery solutions to providing DRaaS solutions.

Cloud-based disaster recovery solutions are more flexible and scalable compared to traditional disaster recovery solutions. Traditional solutions require setting up servers and configuring them to match the host site for a smooth transition when recovery is needed. Traditional solutions can also be expensive as organizations may need to purchase both the main and recovery servers at the same time to avoid configuration incompatibility.

A DRaaS solution protects data from being lost due to service disruptions while information is being accessed and updated by recovering that data in the cloud. After the initial deployment by IT, the process becomes automated and does not need to be monitored on a consistent basis.

“Usage of technologies such as converged infrastructure allow DRaaS solutions to eliminate this difference between the primary and secondary sites, allowing little scope for issues associated with synchronization,” said Transparency Market Research analysts. “This makes DRaaS a more flexible as well as a much more cost-efficient disaster recovery solution compared to traditional disaster recovery solutions. These factors have been central to the vast level of adoption witnessed by DRaaS solutions in the past years and will continue to remain a significant force driving the market over the forecast period.”

Disaster recovery is highly important to health IT infrastructure because it prevents protected health information (PHI) from being lost in the event of a malware attack or a natural disaster. It’s important for healthcare organizations to think about the future when it comes to archiving images and keeping data secure.

Before implementing a DRaaS solution, coming up with a disaster recovery plan (DRP) will help determine what an institution needs from a recovery service. Analyzing the daily interaction of employees with data being accessed using the healthcare cloud solution and the rate which new data is entering the cloud are important things to consider when it comes to disaster protocol and backup automation.

The Department of Health & Human Services states that a risk analysis needs to be conducted for a DRP based on:

  • Administrative, physical and technical safeguards
  • Policies and procedures
  • Organizational standard

With cloud implementation rising rapidly across the healthcare industry, disaster recovery moving to the cloud is a natural process. Simplifying the recovery process and understanding cloud recovery puts doctors and patients at ease knowing that their records are protected.

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