Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery IT Services

This page sits under our managed IT support pillar: business continuity is the discipline that keeps the rest of your IT estate recoverable when something goes wrong.

What is business continuity and disaster recovery?

Business continuity (BC) keeps your operations running during disruption; disaster recovery (DR) is the technical process of restoring IT systems and data afterwards. Together they answer one question an MD cares about: how fast are we back, and how much do we lose? Strong plans pair both with tested, documented runbooks.

• Business continuity — the people, processes and priorities that keep the business trading
• Disaster recovery — the backups, replicas and failover that restore the IT behind them
• RTO — Recovery Time Objective: the maximum downtime you can tolerate
• RPO — Recovery Point Objective: the maximum data loss, measured in time

A plan you have never tested is a hope, not a plan. AMVIA runs recovery drills, not just backups.

Why do UK SMEs need a continuity plan?

Disruption is now a when, not an if. The UK government's Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025 found 43% of UK businesses experienced a cyber breach or attack in the last 12 months — and downtime, not the breach itself, is what costs you customers. A tested continuity plan turns a crisis into an inconvenience.

• 43% of UK businesses experienced a cyber breach or attack in the last 12 months (Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025, DSIT)
• 85% of identified breaches involved phishing — the most common entry point for ransomware
• £3,550 average cost of a disruptive breach for UK businesses
• 19,000 UK businesses hit by ransomware in the past year

The NCSC's guidance on backups is blunt: offline, tested backups are the single most effective defence against ransomware. We build to that standard.

What's included in AMVIA business continuity?

AMVIA delivers continuity as a managed service: we design, deploy, monitor and test the whole stack so recovery is proven, not assumed. UK-based engineers own the configuration, the runbooks and the drills, and you get plain-English reporting on where you stand each month.

• Proactive protection — continuous monitoring and threat detection to stop incidents before they spread
• Expert management — UK-based engineers handle backup configuration, replication, updates and incident response
• Regular reporting — monthly reports on recovery posture, incidents handled and recommended improvements
• Dedicated support — direct access to your account team for changes, questions and escalations

For data specifically, we pair on-premise backup with cloud replication — including Microsoft 365 backup, because Microsoft's shared-responsibility model means your Exchange, SharePoint and OneDrive data is yours to protect.

How does AMVIA build your continuity plan?

We build continuity in four stages, each documented and signed off with your team. The goal is a plan your staff can execute under pressure — with recovery targets agreed in advance, not guessed at during an outage.

1. Business Impact Analysis — we identify critical systems, acceptable downtime thresholds and recovery priorities with your team 2. Recovery design — we architect backup, replication and failover tailored to your RPO and RTO targets 3. Implementation — backup systems, cloud replicas and DR runbooks are deployed and documented 4. Testing and drills — recovery drills verify the plan works under real conditions, with results reviewed and plans updated quarterly

This integrates with your wider IT infrastructure and any in-flight cloud migration, so continuity is designed in, not bolted on.

In-house DR vs managed continuity: what's the difference?

In-house disaster recovery depends on one or two people remembering an untested process at 2am. Managed continuity gives you tested runbooks, monitored backups and a 24/7 team that has rehearsed the recovery. The table below shows where the gap usually bites.

Why choose AMVIA for business continuity?

AMVIA runs IT and security for UK SMEs as a single accountable provider, with security built into every continuity plan. We hold Cyber Essentials Plus certification and Microsoft Solutions Partner status, so your recovery design meets recognised UK security standards — not a reseller's best guess.

• Sheffield-based, UK-focused — our engineering and support team operates from Sheffield and understands UK compliance, network infrastructure and the realities facing British businesses
• Accredited and certified — AMVIA holds Cyber Essentials Plus certification and Microsoft Solutions Partner status
• 1,200+ UK businesses managed by AMVIA — across legal, finance, healthcare and professional services
• Fast, responsive support — critical issues responded to within one hour by phone, email and portal, with account managers who know your environment

When recovery does need a security response, it ties straight into our incident response capability — containment and restoration handled by the same team.

How much does business continuity cost?

Continuity is usually priced per user alongside managed IT, scaled to your recovery targets and data volumes. AMVIA IT support starts from £30/user/month, with continuity scoped to your RPO/RTO requirements after a business impact analysis. The right number depends on how much downtime your business can actually absorb.

• AMVIA IT support from £30/user/month
• SME IT support costs typically range £35–£65/user/month (typical UK 2026 market rates)
• Continuity and DR scoped per environment after a business impact analysis

For a managed estate, continuity often pairs with managed IT support so backups, patching and recovery sit with one team.