Key Considerations When Switching Disaster Recovery Providers in 2025
Many organizations are re-evaluating their DR strategies heading into 2026, due to vendor changes, compliance updates, and performance concerns. Here are the key considerations when switching DR providers to protect against downtime, compliance violations, or worse.
Business Continuity, Compliance, Data Protection, Disaster Recovery, DRaaS
If your disaster recovery (DR) provider is shutting down operations, sunsetting data centers, or simply no longer meeting your business needs, you’re not alone. Many organizations are re-evaluating their DR strategies heading into 2026, due to vendor changes, compliance updates, and performance concerns.
Switching DR providers isn’t just a technical task, it’s a business-critical move. Your disaster recovery solution is your last line of defense against ransomware, outages, and data loss. A misstep during migration could mean downtime, compliance violations, or worse.
Here are the key considerations for every organization when switching DR providers in 2025:
1. Understand Why You’re Switching and What You Need Next
Before choosing a new provider, be crystal clear on what’s driving the change. It could be any or all of the following:
- Is your current DR vendor shutting down or exiting key data center locations?
- Are you looking for better performance, more geographic diversity, or improved RPO/RTO guarantees?
- Do you need compliance upgrades (e.g., HIPAA, FedRAMP, ISO 27001)?
- Are you planning a cloud-first or hybrid cloud transformation?
Tip: Don’t start talking to vendors until you’ve documented your key requirements across technical, compliance, and business continuity dimensions. Build a simple but structured evaluation matrix so you can score each provider based on your actual needs, not just what their sales decks emphasize.
2. Plan for a Smooth Migration, Before it’s Time-Sensitive
A common concern: Will switching providers interrupt our disaster recovery coverage?
The best providers offer fully managed, low-risk migration paths that include:
- Environment assessment of current workloads and dependencies
- Staged replication into the new DRaaS platform
- Testing and validation of failover capabilities
- Cutover coordination to ensure no lapse in coverage
- Final testing and validation of migration completion
Red flag: If a DR provider expects you to handle the migration on your own, or doesn’t provide a detailed migration plan up front, that’s a sign they aren’t set up to support critical enterprise transitions. Disaster recovery isn’t a DIY project when time and resilience are on the line.
At Recovery Point, we’ve migrated dozens of organizations from legacy DR platforms with zero data loss or downtime.
3. Evaluate RTO/RPO Capabilities
Not all DRaaS solutions are created equal. In fact, some vendors overpromise and underdeliver when it matters most.
As part of the migration, be sure to verify:
- Recovery Time Objective (RTO): How fast can your critical apps be restored?
- Recovery Point Objective (RPO): How much data loss can you tolerate?
- Failover orchestration: Is it automated? Can you test it easily?
- Performance SLAs: Are they contractually backed?
4. Prioritize Security and Compliance from Day One
Security breaches and compliance failures during DR transitions are not hypothetical, they are real risks.
Evaluate your next DR provider’s ability to meet standards such as:
- SOC 2 Type II
- ISO 27001
- HIPAA
- PCI DSS
- FedRAMP (if federal)
Also assess role-based access, audit logging, and encryption protocols. Some vendors stop at checkbox compliance. Make sure your provider can demonstrate real operational controls and regular third-party audits. Ask for documentation of data handling practices, retention policies, and customer-specific security configurations.
5. Choose a Provider Who Understands Your Industry’s Compliance and Continuity Needs
Disaster recovery isn’t one-size-fits-all, especially when you operate in highly regulated or mission-critical sectors like healthcare, government, finance, or education. The needs of a regional hospital group differ dramatically from those of a manufacturing firm or a local municipality.
Look for a DR provider with experience in your specific industry, and one that can demonstrate:
- Knowledge of regulatory requirements (e.g., HIPAA, CJIS, GLBA)
- Integration with common industry platforms and IT stacks
- Historical performance data from similar clients
- Audit and reporting features tailored to your compliance needs
Ask whether your prospective provider can share anonymized reference architectures or case studies from your particular industry. An industry vertical-aligned partner reduces ramp time, improves security alignment, and can often guide your team through audits more effectively.
Bonus: If your organization needs to work with U.S.-only data residency or personnel, confirm that the provider’s support and data center teams operate within that jurisdiction.
6. Factor in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), Not Just Pricing
Cheaper isn’t always better when it comes to DR. Focus on value and outcomes by asking:
- Is migration included?
- Are test failovers unlimited or metered?
- Is support available 24/7 or just during business hours?
- Are upgrades and scaling seamless?
Many vendors offer low entry prices, then charge heavily for usage, tests, or exceeding thresholds. Build a 3- to 5-year TCO projection that includes growth, compliance costs, support tiers, and disaster scenarios. This is especially important when budgeting for board or compliance committee approvals.
7. Choose a Partner, Not Just a Platform
At the end of the day, you’re not just buying software and services, you’re buying peace of mind.
Look for a provider that offers:
- Dedicated onboarding engineers
- Real-world references from companies like yours
- Transparent SLAs and ongoing testing support
The best DR providers function as an extension of your IT team, not just a vendor.
Real-World Example: Seamless Migration for a Global Research Leader
Still wondering what switching DR providers looks like?
One of the world’s leading scientific research organizations recently faced the challenge of migrating away from its legacy disaster recovery provider without risking downtime, data loss, or compliance gaps. With mission-critical x86 and mainframe systems on the line, and regulatory compliance at stake, the client needed a fast, secure, and zero-disruption transition. They turned to Recovery Point for our deep expertise in complex DR environments and rapid migrations under pressure.
The result?
- The development of a thorough and customized migration plan
- A seamless migration on an accelerated timeline
- Zero disruption to critical operations
- Successful validation of the migrated environment
- An integrated, fully managed DRaaS solution ready for continuous testing and validation
“Working with Recovery Point never disappoints. Everyone from Recovery Point is a pleasure to work with and always available. Thank you for all you do.”
— Enterprise Compute Manager, Global Research Organization
Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late
If your current provider is sunsetting operations or no longer meeting your needs, now is the time to act. A rushed or poorly planned transition can expose your organization to real risk.
At Recovery Point, we specialize in helping companies switch disaster recovery providers quickly, securely, and with no disruption. Our white-glove migration team will help you build a custom plan before deadlines force you into reactive mode. Reach out to our experts today for a Free DRaaS Consultation.
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