After witnessing the devastating effect Hurricane Sandy had on the private sector, decision-makers around the United States realized the importance of establishing a robust disaster recovery program. This was highlighted in a recent study by Acronis, which found that Sandy caused more than $65 billion in losses and left thousands of companies without power for weeks, preventing them from operating at even a basic level.

As any pundit in the IT industry will say, external storage is a crucial part of any disaster recovery program. For this reason, organizations across the country are beginning to migrate applications and sensitive data to cloud computing environments in the hopes of keeping mission-critical resources out of the line of fire of catastrophic events.

Cloud storage services can be an effective way to ensure crucial solutions are available at any given time, especially in the wake of an emergency, Acronis said. After all, if a firm cannot use the information in its possession, it will have trouble remaining competitive in today's business world.

"There's no question that today's world cannot function without the data we create every day," said Blaine Raddon of Acronis. "Without our data, we cannot operate - at least not in the way we are accustomed. That's why having a plan in place and knowing what technology is out there to help keep data protected and secure at all times - during a hurricane or in our everyday lives - is so vital."

A separate report by Network World highlighted how cloud services are quickly becoming more commonly incorporated into disaster recovery plans, especially as remote working trends continue to pick up speed.

If decision-makers fail to plan business continuity strategies ahead of time, they will find the ability to restore operations in the wake of an emergency is much more difficult than expected.