From completely submerged homes to massive, widespread power outages, the destruction wrought by Hurricanes Harvey and Maria this past summer was astounding. For businesses throughout America, it was also a stark reminder of the importance of having a robust disaster recovery plan in place.

Using a nearby data center to back up your company’s information is certainly one option for recovery from a natural disaster. But what if the same disaster that affects your business also knocks your backup data facility offline?

Since power outages are a serious concern during a crisis, companies small and large are realizing the benefits of using the cloud for disaster recovery purposes instead of a physical site.

Cloud disaster recovery services are not vulnerable to the same risks that impact physical data centers in a natural disaster. With the cloud, you have a variety of options for storing your data. Choosing a provider in a distant geographic location can help your business be more disaster-proof in the event of a regional crisis.

Here are some key advantages of making the cloud part of your disaster recovery strategy.

Reduced overhead costs. Maintaining a backup of your data at a secondary site involves the expenses of securing a duplicate infrastructure there — including physical space, servers, and connectivity. In contrast, cloud-based disaster recovery services require none of this; instead, they provide virtual machine snapshots of servers at your primary data center. You pay only for recovery services when you need them and only for the duration of time that you need them. If you’re fortunate enough to never experience a disaster, your costs will be even lower still.

Faster recovery time. When your data is backed up to the cloud, recovery of your applications and files typically takes several minutes versus the several hours (or even days) that traditional modes of data recovery require. Reduced downtime means less impact on your productivity — and on your bottom line. A cloud-based disaster recovery strategy can usually be activated right from a laptop.

Superior scalability. With a traditional data recovery scenario, it’s essential to ensure you have enough server space in your secondary data center to meet performance requirements. However, the cloud gives you the ability to quickly scale capacity up or down according to your business needs. The advantage of this is that even if a disaster occurs, your end users will still have a good experience with your applications.

There are certain instances where a cloud-based disaster recovery strategy is not appropriate — for example, when a business has applications that require high response times and low latency. The experts at LEK can help you determine the best disaster recovery approach for your organization’s needs.