Is your IT disaster strategy truly resilient or are you falling behind the curve? Cutover’s IT disaster recovery survey findings suggests that while organizations, both the U.S. and U.K. face similar overarching challenges in IT disaster recovery, such as increasing outages and skills gaps, there are notable differences in specific areas.
The U.K. appears to be more focused on achieving shorter recovery times and faces more concern regarding vendor selection for automation. On the other hand, the U.S., sees scalability of automation and leadership buy-in as more significant hurdles. Both regions acknowledge the opportunities presented by automation and artificial intelligence (AI), but are grappling with the practicalities of implementation.
In this article, we explore the similarities and differences between IT disaster recovery in the U.S. and U.K., key benefits of IT disaster recovery automation, and how runbook automation software can help bridge the gap between strategy and execution.
Why compare disaster recovery strategies between the U.S. and U.K.?
While enterprises in both regions report experiencing an increase in IT service outages, there are notable differences between the U.S. and U.K. There are many external factors that can directly impact the practical implementation and maturity of IT disaster recovery. This includes environmental factors, regulations, economic conditions, technologies, and culture. Understanding the variants across regions provides a lens into what areas to benchmark your resilience strategies against peers.
Cloud confidence and recovery: U.K. leads in RTO, but U.S. sees more automation challenges
While both regions show strong confidence in the cloud’s potential for resilience, U.K. firms seem better prepared when it comes to effective cloud-based disaster recovery execution. U.K. organizations are 10 percentage points more likely than their US counterparts to meet a recovery time objective (RTO) of one hour or less.
Additionally, U.S. enterprises report more challenges with scalability, leadership, and buy-in for automation of IT disaster recovery. These differences reflect varying levels of maturity in cloud strategy and highlight the need for tailored approaches based on regional constraints.
Learn more about best practices for cloud disaster recovery.
IT disaster recovery plans remain outdated—on both U.K. and U.S.
Overall, one in three enterprises are not evaluating or updating their IT disaster recovery plans in the past 12 months. This trend holds true when comparing regional responses. Similarly, enterprises in both regions understand and cite multiple risks to the organization of outdated DR procedures. Respondents aligned on majority of the biggest risks, but U.S. enterprises were more concerned with two key areas:
- Reputational damage - 16 percentage points higher
- Loss of revenue due to customer churn - 13 percentage points higher
These findings highlight the need for continuous evaluation and improvement of DR plans, regardless of location.
Investment in IT disaster recovery automation grows—but U.K. and U.S. face different concerns
The majority of enterprises, 82%, recognize the necessity to increase investment in disaster recovery automation. The anticipated benefits of DR automation remain consistent across both the US and UK, with productivity gains, increased efficiency, and cost reduction being the most frequently cited advantages.
Additionally, skills gaps are a significant concern in both the U.S. and U.K. when it comes to implementing and supporting more automated DR approaches and incorporating AI.Automation of disaster recovery elements and tech tools
When asked which elements of IT disaster recovery they already automated or plan to automate, enterprises across both regions responded similarly, but with one exception: U.S. enterprises were 20 percentage points more likely to already have automated communication or collaboration tools. Additionally, when asked about their use of technology tools, U.S. enterprises were 12 percentage points more likely to use an information technology service management (ITSM) or configuration management database (CMDB) platform, suggesting a more mature integration of operational technology in DR workflows.
Barriers to automating IT disaster recovery - U.K. vs. U.S.
In the U.K., the primary concern lies in identifying suitable vendors for automation, with 41% of enterprises citing this as a key hurdle. Conversely, U.S. enterprises are more likely to emphasize the scalability of automation solutions (35%) and securing buy-in from leadership (31%) as major obstacles.
There are three notable differences between the two regions. U.S. enterprises cite the following key barriers to automating IT disaster recovery:
- 10 percentage points more likely to find the ‘lack of urgency/not seen as a priority’ as a key barrier to automating disaster recovery
- 17 percentage points more likely to cite ‘buy in from the leadership team’
- 10 percentage points less likely to cite ‘finding suitable vendors or specialist support’ as a key barrier
Best-in-class IT disaster recovery automation - U.S. vs. U.K.
Enterprises in both regions aligned when characterizing best-in-class IT disaster automation, with a few key differences:
- U.S. enterprises are 20 percentage points more likely to characterize ‘frequent review of disaster recovery strategy and processes’ as best-in-class IT disaster recovery automation
- U.S. enterprises are 15 percentage points more likely to perceive ‘process improvements in other parts of the business’ as a top benefit of incorporating automation in IT disaster recovery
- U.K. enterprises are 15 percentage points more likely to perceive ‘strengthened recovery posture’ as a top benefit of incorporating automation in IT disaster recovery
AI disaster recovery momentum slowed by skills shortages and complexity
Overall, there is excitement in both regions about the potential positive impact of AI on IT disaster recovery, but this is tempered by multiple concerns. Over 75% of enterprises in both the U.S. and U.K. expect AI to significantly transform the design and execution of IT disaster recovery strategies.
Emerging technology such as AI-powered runbooks is likely to have a big impact on recovery strategies in the next 2-3 years. However, momentum is slowed by:
- A shortage of internal AI skills
- The complexity of integration
- Concerns around vendor readiness and ROI
Regional differences in how organizations approach AI
When it comes to AI adoption, enterprises in the U.K. prioritize compliance and regulatory concerns. In contrast, U.S. enterprises are more focused on practical challenges like a lack of internal AI skills, cost implications, and data quality concerns. This difference is particularly evident in disaster recovery, where U.S. enterprises are 13 percentage points more likely to consider 'finding the appropriate vendors or partners' for incorporating AI.
Strengthen your IT disaster recovery with Cutover AI-powered runbooks
Cutover’s IT disaster recovery solution enables enterprises in the U.S., U.K., and globally to mature processes with automation, orchestration, and visibility.
Contact Cutover today to get started on your way to incorporating AI-powered, automated runbooks into your disaster recovery strategy.