Key Takeaways
- Workload repatriation and other critical industry trends are creating new disaster recovery risks for organizations in nearly every industry.
- Expedient offers a DR footprint with facilities across the U.S., backed up by our authorized VMware Cloud Service Provider (VCSP) status and 24x7x365 U.S.-based support
- You can schedule a quick, no-obligations meeting with the Expedient DR team to assess your current posture and get recommendations for improvement.
“Expect the unexpected.” It’s an old saying, but it couldn’t be more relevant to today’s tech-reliant businesses. Even the most sophisticated IT systems, innovative architectures, and savvy IT leaders can’t stay ahead of every surprise that Mother Nature will inevitably throw their way—whether that’s a flood, winter storm, tornado, wildfire, or any other natural disaster.
Of course, many organizations already have some kind of disaster recovery (DR) plan in place. But what happens when the power is out for days, or even weeks? What if the impacted area of a flood or earthquake extends to the nearby regional data centers you’re relying on for recovery? With IT systems playing a pivotal role in almost every aspect of modern organizations—and with workloads now being distributed across multiple locations—questions like these are causing forward-thinking IT teams to reconsider and fine-tune their DR approach.
The New Challenges of DR
As tech stacks have evolved around current trends and market shifts, the realities of effective DR planning have shifted too. Here are just a few of the new considerations that are emerging:
Workload repatriation: With 21% of cloud workloads having already been moved back to on-premises or private cloud, those that are hosted regionally are at higher risk.1
Untested failover: Plans that haven’t been tested are still hypothetical.
Procurement delays: Replacement hardware lead times can now take months—and natural disasters don’t wait for procurement sign-off.
VMware pressure: Broadcom’s consolidation of the VCSP program means DR licensing has gotten more complicated for many organizations that rely on VMware virtualization for recovery.
Compliance scrutiny: Insurance companies increasingly require proper documentation for business interruption coverage. Failed audits or poor plans can increase premiums or result in fines.
These challenges combine to create real risks for businesses and organizations across industries:
- Failover sites that are facing the same problems as the primary ones
- Servers that can’t be easily replaced when a deep-freeze renders them inoperable
- DR plans that require IT staff to physically reach the data center
Meanwhile, reliance on the traditional “build it yourself” DR model means that organizations can end up paying full licensing costs for standby capacity that mostly just sits idle. And, if you’re working with a DR provider has lost its VCSP program status, they can’t legally host your VMware workloads past their authorization end date.
How Expedient Can Help
Expedient offers modern disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) that combines continuous replication, failover orchestration, and rigorous testing to ensure you can bounce back with confidence. Resilience is built in so you’re ready to handle any disaster.
As one of only 14 Broadcom-authorized VCSPs in the U.S., we’re uniquely positioned to support your VMware-based needs and ensure you don’t experience any gaps in protection. No matter the workload, we offer three tiers of RPO and RTO objectives so you can balance costs and risks.
Here’s what makes our offering different—and ensures you can handle today’s emerging continuity challenges:
Continuous replication with orchestration: Avoid data loss and eliminate the manual failover steps that introduce human error.
Clean failover environment: In the event of a cyberattack, isolated recovery sandboxes protect you from reinfection.
24x7x365 U.S.-based support and runbooks: Experienced engineers can guide you step by step in the event of a crisis.
Regular recovery testing: Test as often you’d like to verify that your plan will work when it matters most.
Deep integration with the Expedient stack: Recovery can sit side-by-side with your core workloads for faster failover and simpler management.
National footprint: Facilities across the U.S. ensure that you have the infrastructure you need during widespread regional events.
Say Goodbye to Downtime with Expedient
Savings, assurance, and uptime. That’s what Expedient DRaaS offers. If you’re looking for a way to rest easier at night while optimizing your DR costs, we’re ready to help.
Our business continuity specialists are available for a no-obligations 30-minute meeting where we can assess your current architecture and provide our POV on your strengths, gaps, and recommended options. If you have questions, feel free to bring them to the meeting as well. You’ll walk away with a holistic view of your DR posture and written recommendations for your next steps.
Book your DR posture review today.
FAQs
How does cloud repatriation impact DR planning?
As organizations pull workloads back from the public cloud, they typically end up in regional private cloud or on-premises environments. These are often located in close physical proximity to core facilities—which means that natural disasters can impact the DR site and production site at the same time. Organizations need to ensure their DR plans will remain effective when natural disasters impact widespread geographic areas.
Do recent Broadcom/VMware changes impact DR planning?
Yes. If you’re running VMware and your DR provider isn’t one of the 14 approved VCSPs in North America, they will not be able to host your workloads past their authorization date. Expedient is one of the 14.
How often can we test our DR plan when we work with Expedient?
As often as you’d like. We give customers testing flexibility to ensure you’re confident in your plan and that everything performs as planned when unexpected conditions arise.
Sources
- Flexera, 2026 State of the Cloud Report, 2026
