Disaster recovery and IT security remain some of the most pressing topics across today’s data-driven landscape — and with threats from a diverse range of disruptive events raising concerns for businesses, it’s easy to see why. Reports reveal thousands of surveyed organizations see human error, security flaws, out of date hardware and increasingly complex IT configurations to be some of the biggest issues for reliability. Yet, regardless of what causes reliability to suffer, business disruption and downtime is disastrous in an era that depends on the continued availability and use of digital capabilities. Today, the question is not if an enterprise should implement thorough disaster recovery strategies, it’s how.

There are many facets to disaster recovery planning, and solutions will differ depending on individual requirements. Nevertheless, creating proper protection means completing risk assessments, which involve taking stock of all IT equipment, mapping dependencies and assessing the most pressing threats. Enterprises should also prioritize individual applications and data before outlining recovery objectives to help define what business-critical information should be recovered first in the event of an outage.

Of course, choosing the right tools to accomplish these objectives while avoiding concerns of human error, legacy hardware and complex systems is another challenge. It’s for this reason that enterprises value colocation solutions, facilities, hosting options and managed services that eliminate complexity and stress when preparing a disaster recovery plan. Allying with a strategic data center partner has become crucial for enabling internal teams to remain focused on core competencies and initiatives while still getting the best of IT and business security.

Colocation enables mission-critical data and IT to reside in a dedicated data center and be managed and maintained by experts — advantages that other strategies don’t often provide. However, not every data center or provider is created equal. In order to find the ideal partner, there are a few key considerations to be mindful of, including physical security, location and service excellence.

The Bluebird Underground Data Center (BBU) is an ideal disaster recovery site, delivering on all the key considerations. With its underground advantage, this facility offers unparalleled physical security — it’s 85 feet underground and surrounded by solid limestone rock, keeping it safe from natural and manmade disruptions while maintaining a consistent and stable year-round environment. Plus, its reliability is supported by dual-fed substations with UPS (uninterruptible power supply), three generators and battery back-up. This redundant critical infrastructure (which is 100% underground and built to N+1 standards), combined with highly strategic location-based advantages, ensures continuous data accessibility and business continuity throughout any event. Not to mention, the facility is undergoing a major expansion to ensure top-tier value, reliability and capabilities for customers.

Bluebird Network bolsters the Underground’s value with a world-class fiber network, offering strength and speed for all BBU customers. Always-on connections paired with 24/7 professional technical support and remote hands capabilities keep customers protected and prepared in the event of any unplanned outage. These services help effectively plan installation and maintenance activities, reduce trips to the data center, improve uptime and further reduce the cost of infrastructure management and maintenance.

Anyone and everyone can become a victim of unforeseen circumstances, which is why disaster recovery is only growing in importance. While the threat of outages, natural disasters, hacking incidents and beyond can make businesses lose sleep, partnering with the right data center ally can help put enterprises at ease — no matter what the future may bring.