Capability · Secure
Backup & Disaster Recovery, planned around what you need back first.
Every business has backups until it needs one. ZARS backs up endpoints, servers and Microsoft 365, then plans and tests recovery around the systems and data your business cannot operate without.
01Recovery planning
Recovery starts with priorities, not software
The right backup setup depends on two business questions: how much recent work could you lose, and how long could you be without each system?
Rank what matters
Which systems and data the business needs back first, and which can wait.
Set tolerances
How much recent work you could afford to lose, and how long you could operate without each system.
Back up to match
Backup scope and frequency chosen to meet those tolerances, not a default setting.
Protect the copies
Backups kept separate from the systems they protect, so an attack on one does not reach the other.
Test restores
A backup is only proven when something has been restored from it.
Write the runbook
Who decides, who does what, and in what order when something goes wrong.
02Coverage
What gets backed up
- Laptops and desktops
- Files people keep locally, and the device configuration needed to rebuild.
- Servers
- Where they still exist: file shares, line-of-business applications and databases.
- Microsoft 365 and SaaS
- Email, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams. Cloud services keep running, but they are not the same as a backup you control.
03Scope
Typical scope
Typically part of the relationship
- Endpoint backup
- Server backup for covered servers
- Microsoft 365 and SaaS backup
- Backup monitoring and restore requests
- Recovery planning support
- Recovery testing where included in the agreement
Scoped, packaged or billed separately
- Advanced BCDR and standby systems
- Formal business continuity planning
- Recovery of systems outside the agreed scope
05Questions
Backup and recovery questions
Doesn’t Microsoft already back up Microsoft 365?
Microsoft keeps the service available and offers limited retention and recovery features, but that is not the same as an independent backup you control. A separate Microsoft 365 backup protects against accidental deletion, malicious deletion and ransomware affecting synced files.
What is the difference between backup and disaster recovery?
Backup is having a copy of the data. Disaster recovery is the plan and capability to get the business working again: which systems come back first, how fast, from where and who decides. Business continuity extends that to how the business operates in the meantime.
Is disaster recovery included in Managed IT?
Backup of covered systems and recovery support are part of ZARS Managed IT. Advanced business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR), such as standby systems, may be scoped and packaged separately.
When did you last restore something?
If the answer is unclear, start there. The IT Assessment reviews what is backed up today and how it would come back.