Sound Familiar?
Why Recovery Targets Rarely Match Reality
The CEO assumes the order system would be back in an hour. The backup setup could restore it by tomorrow evening, with yesterday’s data. Nobody has ever compared the two. Setting RTO and RPO targets means agreeing how fast each system must recover and how much data you can afford to lose.
Why Now
When Recovery Targets Get Questioned
A customer contract specifies recovery times A new contract commits you to restoring service within a set time. Nobody has checked whether you can.
A failure loses a day of data A system is restored from last night’s backup. The business has to recreate a full day of transactions by hand.
The board asks how long you’d be down Leadership wants to understand the impact of a major outage. You need numbers you can stand behind.
What Changes
What’s Different Afterwards
Where to Start
How We’d Help You Meet RTO and RPO Targets
Start with the free review
We compare what the business expects with what your current setup can actually deliver for each critical system.
What you’ll have: The gap between expected and actual recovery
Agree realistic targets
We help the business and IT agree targets for each system, with the cost of each option made clear.
What you’ll have: Signed-off targets for critical systems
Design and test to match
We help adjust protection and recovery methods, then test that each target is really met.
What you’ll have: Targets you’ve proven in practice
Want the full method? See Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning.
Your First Step
Start with a Free Recovery Targets Review
We’ll compare what the business expects with what your setup can deliver for each critical system. You’ll get a clear view of the gaps and realistic options for closing them.
Book a Recovery Targets Review
- We walk you through the findings on a call.
- Then it’s your decision, with no obligation to go further.
Scope
- Your most critical systems
- Current backup, replication and recovery methods
You Provide
- A list of critical systems
- Access to backup and recovery settings
- Time with business and IT owners
You Receive
- Expected versus actual recovery for each
- Realistic target suggestions per system
- Options and trade-offs to close gaps
Cost and Timing
- Free, with a fixed scope
- Timing depends on your estate, so talk to us
Try This First
Quick Checks on Your RTO and RPO
These checks show whether your recovery targets exist, match the business and are actually achievable.
Ask a business leader and an IT lead separately
Ask how quickly one critical system must be back and how much data could be lost. Compare the answers.
Check how often critical data is backed up
Nightly backups mean up to a day of data loss. See if that matches what the business would accept.
Time a restore of your largest critical system
Or check the last real one. Large restores are where recovery time targets usually fall apart.
List systems sharing one backup schedule
If critical and minor systems share the same schedule, protection probably doesn’t match their importance.
Find any recovery times promised in contracts
Customer and supplier contracts sometimes commit you to targets nobody in IT knows about.
Why Signisys
Why Take Our Advice on This
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens after the review?
We walk you through what we found on a call. You can act on it with your own team, or ask us to help with the bigger changes. Either way, it’s your decision and there’s no obligation.
What do RTO and RPO mean?
RTO, the recovery time objective, is how quickly a system must be working again. RPO, the recovery point objective, is how much data you can afford to lose, measured in time. Both are set per system.
Should every system have the same targets?
No. Faster recovery and less data loss cost more, so they should be reserved for systems the business can’t do without. Less critical systems can have longer targets and cheaper protection.
How do we get the business to agree targets?
Show the options and their costs side by side. When leaders see what an hour versus a day of recovery costs, decisions become much easier and far more realistic for everyone involved.
What if we can’t afford to meet our targets?
Then the targets or the priorities need revisiting, openly. Sometimes a cheaper option gets close enough, or targets can be met in stages. The key is that everyone knows the real position.
How do RTO and RPO relate to disaster recovery testing?
Targets say what recovery should achieve, and testing proves whether it does. Without regular testing, RTO and RPO targets are only promises on paper, so the two work best when planned together.
Set Targets You Can Meet
A free review compares expected and actual recovery for your critical systems, and how to close the gap.
Related Content
Keep Reading
Business Outcome