Disaster Recovery as a Service for Canadian Businesses

Your workplace

Why this matters.

A hosted disaster recovery arrangement can provide another environment for selected systems when the primary location is unavailable. Its usefulness depends on more than having a copy of a server. Staff need a supported way to connect, application services need their dependencies, and the business needs to understand how the recovery environment will be activated and maintained.

Reviewing those requirements before selecting a service helps your business compare the operating design, costs and provider responsibilities. Netsmart works with your team and application vendors to plan suitable workloads, connectivity and recovery checks. A documented activation process and a route back to normal operations give the recovery arrangement a practical role in the broader business continuity plan.

The IT work

What Netsmart can help with.

1. Review suitable workloads

   We examine the systems your business wants to recover through a hosted service, confirming application support, licensing and infrastructure dependencies with the relevant vendors. The review considers data change, resource requirements and how users would reach the application if the primary office or equipment were unavailable. Your recovery priorities guide the comparison of provider options and supported methods. We document suitable workloads, constraints and remaining questions so the business can assess the proposed service’s costs and operating requirements before committing to a recovery design.

2. Plan the recovery environment

   We work with the chosen provider to define supported replication or recovery-copy arrangements, hosted capacity and the network connections required by the selected systems. Identity services, administrative access and staff connectivity are included in the design, along with dependencies that remain outside the hosted environment. We coordinate application-provider requirements and confirm who maintains each component. The plan records resources, access paths, operating costs and technical responsibilities, giving the team a common reference for configuration and the checks needed before a recovery exercise takes place.

3. Prepare operation and testing

   We document how the hosted recovery arrangement is activated, who authorises its use and how users are directed to the recovered services. An agreed exercise checks selected application workflows, connectivity and required accounts with the provider and business staff. Results identify gaps and inform updates to the operating instructions, including ongoing maintenance and the route back to the primary environment. Handover brings together configuration details, test findings, supplier contacts and outstanding actions so the recovery service can be maintained as part of your wider IT environment.

Hosted recovery needs a workable operating design for the selected systems. We review how recovery copies reach the provider, what capacity is available and how staff will connect if the primary environment is unavailable. Application support, identity services and external dependencies are considered alongside the hosted resources. A planned exercise checks the agreed activation process and user workflow, while documentation covers ongoing maintenance, provider responsibilities and the route back to normal operations.

A practical example

How this works in practice.

For example, a company wants a hosted recovery option for a supported server application. We would review provider and vendor requirements, plan staff connectivity, and test a representative recovery workflow before documenting what the selected arrangement can support.

Checks and handover

What the work can include.

• Workload suitability and dependency review
• Hosted recovery operating plan
• Activation test results and follow-up actions