Enterprise BCDR ensures critical systems like ERP remain operational during disruptions, minimizing costly downtime. BCDR combines business continuity (maintaining operations) and disaster recovery (restoring systems post-incident) to address outages that can cost organizations up to $1,000,000/hour.² For example, a retailer might implement BCDR strategies to protect critical inventory systems against cyberattacks. 

Nutanix offers a suite of native capabilities—including snapshots and async, NearSync, and sync replication. These capabilities make BCDR simpler and more cost effective for many enterprises. Nutanix also integrates with solutions from leading backup vendors including Commvault, HYCU, and Veeam.

2. IT outages cost companies up to $1M per hour: CIO Dive

An enterprise should test its BCDR plan at least annually, and more frequently for critical components or after significant changes to IT infrastructure or business processes. Regular testing is vital to ensure the plan remains effective and reflects the current operational environment. Tests can range from tabletop exercises, where teams walk through the plan verbally, to full-scale simulations involving actual system failovers and data recoveries. Frequent testing helps identify weaknesses, outdated information, and gaps in the plan, allowing for necessary adjustments. It also familiarizes personnel with their roles and responsibilities during an actual event, improving response times and overall recovery efficiency.

Nutanix facilitates BCDR testing through non-disruptive test failovers using replicated snapshots. This allows organizations to validate DR plans, uncover potential gaps, and meet compliance requirements without impacting ongoing operations or risking downtime.

Cloud services enhance BCDR by enabling scalable, geographically distributed, and cost-effective recovery options.

Cloud platforms provide flexible infrastructure for data backup, application failover, and disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS). Enterprises can replicate workloads across cloud regions or to a secondary cloud provider, ensuring redundancy. Cloud also enables on-demand expansion, quickly scaling a pilot light DR location when a full failover is required. Tools from major providers (like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform) enable automated failover, snapshot recovery, and hybrid disaster recovery. However, effective cloud-based BCDR still requires planning, configuration, testing, and integration with on-premises systems where relevant.

Nutanix provides multiple strategies for utilizing cloud resources as part of your BCDR plan, while reducing the need to master skills specific to each cloud. Nutanix Cloud Clusters runs in AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, making it simpler to re-start on-premises applications in your preferred cloud or to implement DR between different cloud providers. Nutanix Multicloud Snapshot Technology (MST) enables you to store Nutanix snapshots directly on S3-compatible storage for cloud recovery.

Ransomware can cripple IT systems, so BCDR plans must include strategies for rapid, secure recovery without paying ransoms. Ransomware attacks encrypt data and demand payment, often targeting backup systems as well. A resilient BCDR strategy includes immutable and air-gapped backups, endpoint protection, and clear recovery workflows. Regular backup testing is critical to ensure data can be restored cleanly and quickly. Additionally, identifying and isolating infected systems fast can prevent spread. Tabletop exercises and recovery simulations help teams prepare for high-stress ransomware scenarios. A strong ransomware-resilient BCDR plan reduces the pressure to pay attackers and helps maintain operational continuity.

Nutanix provides a suite of BCDR capabilities plus integrations with leading backup providers. Immutable storage and rapid restore capabilities facilitate recovery from cyber attacks.

Nutanix Data Lens can detect and block threats, containing damage from a ransomware attack within 10 minutes. Signature-based detection identifies known threats while behavior-based analysis is used to detect suspicious behavior.

RTO is the maximum acceptable downtime, while RPO is the maximum acceptable data loss measured in time. RTO defines how quickly systems must be restored after a disruption—for example, restoring email service within 2 hours. RPO measures how much data loss is acceptable, based on the frequency of backups—for example, losing no more than 15 minutes of data. These metrics guide the design of backup, failover, and restoration strategies. A mission-critical application might require an RTO of minutes and an RPO of near-zero, while less critical services may allow hours or days. Aligning RTO and RPO with business needs is central to effective BCDR planning.

With its flexible suite of capabilities for BCDR, Nutanix enables you to cost-effectively satisfy diverse RPO and RTO goals for your entire fleet of applications including the most demanding business-critical applications.