Does managed IT include disaster recovery? What engineering firms should check
If your engineering firm pays for managed IT and backups, does that mean disaster recovery is included?
Book a CallThe short answer: not automatically
Backup management and disaster recovery are related, but they are not the same commitment. A backup service looks after the agreed copies of your data. A recovery plan sets out how people, systems and suppliers will get the business working again, in what order and within what target time.
This guide is for Brisbane engineering firms comparing fully managed IT: directors and operations managers who need project files, business applications and staff access to work together. The question is not simply “Are we backed up?” It is “What can we recover, who owns the work, and what have we actually tested?”
What Connected Platforms includes — and where the boundary sits
Our current managed IT inclusions list Microsoft 365 backup and monitoring of selected server and workstation backups. The selected users, systems, locations and products still need to be confirmed in your proposal and agreement.
Our Managed Service Agreement covers backup management for selected backup products, not every system or data source by default. Disaster-recovery planning and data-recovery projects may be charged separately. Specialist incident response, forensic investigation and major recovery work can require a separate scope and approval.
That is an important limit, not fine print to skip. Do not read “backup oversight” or “disaster recovery management” on a service summary as an unlimited recovery project or a guaranteed return-to-work time. The signed service documents determine your actual scope.
A recovered drawing is not the same as a working project team
Consider a hypothetical engineering firm whose project files are recoverable, but whose staff also need a specialist application, valid licences and access to a separate project system. Restoring a file alone would not resolve every dependency. This is a planning example, not a Connected Platforms client result.
For your own environment, ask the provider to map the complete workflow: where the current drawings live, which systems open them, who can sign in, which suppliers must help and what a usable recovery looks like to the project team.
The useful evidence is a recorded test of the agreed scenario, including what was restored, what a user could actually do, how long it took and what remained unresolved. A successful backup report and a successful recovery test answer different questions.
Six questions to ask before you sign
1. What is covered? Ask for a named list of data sources, systems and backup products. Check Microsoft 365, servers, workstations and specialist applications separately rather than assuming every location is protected.
2. Which versions can we recover? Confirm the backup schedule, retention and exclusions. Decide how much recent project work the business could tolerate losing; do not assume the newest copy will always be usable.
3. How soon do we need to work again? Set a target for each critical workflow, not one vague target for the whole business. Ask what infrastructure, supplier access and testing would be needed to make the target credible.
4. Who does what during recovery? Name the provider lead, your authorised decision-maker and any application or cloud suppliers. Agree who approves spending, sets priorities and updates staff.
5. What has been tested? Ask for the date, scope, outcome and unresolved issues from the last relevant restore test. A test of one file is not evidence that an entire application or office can be recovered.
6. What is included in the fee? Separate monitoring, routine restores, planning, testing, major recovery work and after-hours support. Have the quote say what is included and what needs approval.
What might cost extra?
Depending on your scope, disaster-recovery planning, data-recovery projects and after-hours support may be charged separately. Review the agreement alongside your individual schedule to understand what is included in your fee and what would require separate approval.
Connected Platforms publishes managed IT pricing, but the recurring user fee is not a price for every recovery scenario. There is no responsible universal recovery-project figure without a scope. Ask for the planning, test work, additional products and specialist supplier work to be identified before deciding.
A useful quote should explain what you are paying to prepare, what you are paying to maintain and what would require approval during an incident. Do not compare two monthly fees until those boundaries are visible.
When is a separate recovery plan worth considering?
More likely to matter: your firm has time-sensitive project deliverables, several dependent systems, specialist software or a low tolerance for being unable to work. Ask for a scoped plan and a test that reflects those dependencies.
A smaller scope may be enough: your environment is simple, the business can tolerate a longer interruption and a limited restore process has been tested against those expectations. Buying the most elaborate solution is not automatically the best decision.
Not a fit: expecting a standard support fee to guarantee uninterrupted operations or unlimited specialist recovery. If your organisation already has a capable internal recovery owner, agree a clear shared-responsibility model instead of duplicating their work.
Compare the recovery scope before the next outage
Bring your current backup scope, critical application list and last restore-test report to the discussion. If a report does not exist, make that an explicit gap to resolve rather than treating recovery as proven. Our manufacturing and engineering IT services page provides the wider service context.
The next decision should be concrete: which recovery gaps matter, what needs a separate scope, who approves it and when the agreed test will happen.
Know what your recovery plan actually covers
Talk through the service boundaries and decide what your engineering firm needs before committing to a proposal.
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