Backup and Disaster Recovery Vendor Scorecard for Santa Ana, CA

Recovery Time Objective (RTO) Commitment

Evaluate how quickly the vendor can restore critical systems and applications after an outage, and whether they commit to that target in writing.

Score 5 if they document a tiered RTO with critical systems back in under 4 hours and back it with an SLA; score 1 if they offer no defined RTO and recovery time is left open-ended.

Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Backup Frequency

Assess how much data the business could lose between backups, driven by how often the vendor captures changes across servers, endpoints, and cloud workloads.

Score 5 if they support continuous or sub-hourly backup intervals with an RPO measured in minutes for critical data; score 1 if backups run once daily or less with no flexibility per workload.

Local and Cloud Recovery Options

Review whether the vendor can spin up failover locally on a backup appliance and in the cloud, so a Santa Ana office can keep operating even if the building is inaccessible.

Score 5 if they offer instant local virtualization plus cloud failover with a documented runbook; score 1 if recovery requires shipping media or manual rebuilds with no failover path.

Coverage Across Workloads

Determine whether the vendor protects the full environment, including physical servers, virtual machines, Microsoft 365, and SaaS data, not just file shares.

Score 5 if they protect servers, endpoints, Microsoft 365, and key SaaS platforms under one plan; score 1 if coverage is limited to a single server or file backup only.

Immutable and Air-Gapped Backups

Evaluate whether backups are immutable and isolated so ransomware cannot encrypt or delete them, which is the difference between recovering and paying.

Score 5 if they use immutable storage with an air-gapped or logically isolated copy and documented retention locks; score 1 if backups sit on the same network with no protection against deletion.

Encryption In Transit and At Rest

Confirm the vendor encrypts backup data both while moving offsite and while stored, and that key management is handled responsibly.

Score 5 if they apply strong encryption in transit and at rest with clear key handling; score 1 if encryption is partial, optional, or undocumented.

3-2-1 Backup Architecture

Assess whether the vendor follows a 3-2-1 model: three copies of data, on two media types, with one stored offsite from the Santa Ana location.

Score 5 if they clearly implement and explain a 3-2-1 or stronger architecture; score 1 if data lives in a single location with no offsite copy.

Access Controls and Audit Logging

Review who can access, restore, or delete backups, and whether those actions are logged and require multi-factor authentication.

Score 5 if administrative access requires multi-factor authentication with full audit logging and role separation; score 1 if shared credentials control backups with no logging.

Recovery Testing Frequency

Determine how often the vendor actually tests restores rather than assuming backups work, and whether they share the results with you.

Score 5 if they perform documented test restores at least quarterly and provide reports; score 1 if recovery has never been tested or results are not shared.

Backup Monitoring and Verification

Assess whether backups are monitored daily for success and verified for integrity, so a silent failure does not surface only during a real outage.

Score 5 if backups are monitored daily with automated integrity verification and alerting; score 1 if failed backups go unnoticed until someone needs a restore.

Documented DR Runbook

Review whether the vendor maintains a written disaster recovery runbook specific to your environment, with roles, contacts, and recovery order defined.

Score 5 if a current runbook exists with defined recovery sequence, contacts, and responsibilities; score 1 if recovery would be improvised with no written plan.

Incident Response and Communication

Evaluate how the vendor communicates during a recovery event, including who declares a disaster and how status updates reach your team.

Score 5 if they have a clear declaration process and proactive status updates during an event; score 1 if communication during an outage is unclear or reactive.

Local Response and On-Site Capability

Measure the vendor's ability to support a recovery on-site at a Santa Ana location when hardware or facility issues require hands-on work.

Score 5 if they have technicians based in Orange County who can be on-site quickly during a recovery; score 1 if support is remote only or travels from outside the region.

Pricing Model Clarity

Evaluate whether the vendor provides predictable pricing with a clear breakdown of storage, retention, restores, and any disaster declaration fees.

Score 5 if pricing is flat and predictable with all recovery and restore costs disclosed up front; score 1 if restores or declarations trigger surprise charges.

Data Ownership and Portability

Confirm you retain ownership of your backup data and can retrieve it cleanly if you change providers.

Score 5 if the contract states clear data ownership with a defined export and transition process; score 1 if data is held in a proprietary format with no clean exit.

Contract Terms and SLA Accountability

Review the length and flexibility of the agreement and whether the vendor stands behind its RTO and RPO commitments with measurable SLAs.

Score 5 if terms are flexible with measurable, enforceable SLAs tied to recovery objectives; score 1 if there are multi-year lock-ins with no accountability for missed recovery targets.