Test a claim of guaranteed business continuity by asking what the user can do when the primary environment is unavailable. Disaster recovery tiers should describe a verified recovery outcome, its limits, and its price. Bronze, silver, and gold are labels you assign; they don't establish a recovery time. A metal name has never restored a database.
I'd build the options from the client's business activities, then price the delivery required for each. Keep the recovery objective separate from the result demonstrated in a test. You need both before a salesperson can explain what the client is choosing.
Define What the Client Needs to Resume
Start with the activity that must continue and the effect of losing it. Ask the client which work can wait and what temporary alternative is acceptable. The critical application list should follow that business decision, rather than whichever systems are easiest to restore.
A recovery time objective is the intended time to restore a service. A recovery point objective identifies the point in time to which its data must be recovered. Ask the client to approve each for the activity in question, then check whether the proposed delivery can support them.
A tier is like a delivery service level: the label is useful only when the destination and conditions are clear. Keep the covered business outcome beside it. Don't imply that selecting the top option removes every possible disruption or data-loss scenario.
Build a Scoped Comparison
Use the following as a hypothetical offer structure, not an industry definition of these names. Replace the scope with capabilities you can actually deliver. A level isn't ready to quote until the supporting recovery procedure and cost are established.
| Example Label | Outcome to Define | Evidence Needed Before Quoting | Price Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze: Recover the Agreed Data | Restore the specified data to an approved destination for the client’s agreed use | Verify retrieval and usable data, and state what application recovery is excluded | Cost the agreed backup/retrieval service and MSP work; state what the recurring fee includes |
| Silver: Recover the Agreed Application | Restore the named application with its required dependencies | Exercise the application task through an authorized user and record the test conditions | Add the resources and engineering needed for the application recovery commitment |
| Gold: Resume the Agreed Workload Elsewhere | Provide the defined business workload in the approved alternate environment | Test the alternate workflow and the controlled return to the normal environment | Include alternate capacity and the work required to maintain, exercise, and return it |
The rows must remain comparable. If the application scope differs, explain that difference rather than presenting the fee as a price for speed alone. A lower-cost option that restores files isn't the same product as a usable application in an alternate environment.
Put the agreed time and data objectives into each completed offer, with the demonstrated result beside them. The model doesn't set tier-specific recovery durations or dollar prices. Use your validated delivery and actual costs to fill those fields, not a tidy set of numbers chosen for the sales page.
Test the Failure the Label Can Hide
It depends on the workload's dependencies, the usable recovery location, and the resources available when the primary service fails. Those conditions decide whether an option fits the client's need. A successful test under different conditions should be identified as such.
For a hypothetical application recovery, test the user's agreed task after restoring the supporting components. If the exercise ends at a server boot, the client may discover the missing dependency only when staff try to work. Record that gap before you sell the option as application recovery.
Ask what happens when the usual administrator or authentication route is unavailable. Check that the authorized responder can reach the recovery instructions and required access. A service that needs the failed environment to authorize its recovery has a dependency to resolve.
For an alternate-environment option, include the return path in the scope and test plan. Agree who decides that normal operation may resume. Don't stop the commercial description at the attractive failover demonstration while leaving the subsequent work unfunded.
Cost Each Revenue Line Correctly
Use the actual supplier charge and delivery work behind each option. Keep product resale separate from resold services, and keep MSP engineering visible. A single package name doesn't make those costs economically identical.
The model uses 70% gross margin for resold services, never for the managed seat. Gross margin is the proportion of revenue left after direct delivery cost. To calculate a resold-service price at that target, divide its direct cost by (1 − 70%).
The model uses about 30% margin for product and hardware revenue. For that calculation, divide the relevant direct cost by (1 − 30%). Keep the margin target matched to its revenue line; the two formulas produce different prices.
Managed services have a 50% fully loaded gross-margin target, including burdened delivery labor and tools. Don't apply the resold-service formula to a recovery package containing that work and assume the whole commitment is funded. Calculate the relevant components and review the total offer against the actual delivery obligation.
Include preparation and testing work in the capacity plan, along with the response the option promises. Record costs already funded elsewhere so you don't count them twice. Keep any separately quoted recovery or project work explicit instead of leaving the client to discover it during an outage.
Keep Baseline Protection in Every Plan
The model includes its security baseline in every plan. A recovery tier should not imply that buying the lower option removes it. The baseline comprises the following protections.
- Endpoint protection
- MFA
- Awareness training
- Email protection
Advanced tools can be add-ons. Keep those decisions clear in the service description.
Describe recovery scope independently from preventive security scope. They answer different client questions. The client needs to understand both the service you will recover and the limits of the arrangement, without a frightening scenario substituting for an explanation.
The model also calls for a flat monthly fee with plain inclusions and exclusions. State what the recurring recovery fee funds and how any work outside it is authorized. Don't use unlimited language while quietly relying on an unstated engineer allowance.
Let the Client Make a Documented Choice
Present the options with the client's agreed business consequence beside them. Show the evidence and limits behind the recommended level. If the client chooses less recovery capability, record that choice without pretending the business requirement has changed.
If no deliverable option meets the requirement, say so and resolve the missing capability or scope. Don't make the top label carry an unsupported promise. The useful next step is to complete the first client's comparison from its real recovery test and cost record, then have delivery check the offer before sales uses it.
mspoutpost.com/articles/disaster-recovery-tiers-scope-test-and-price-the-offer
Written by Dana Kowalski
MSP Outpost publishes information, not legal, financial, insurance, tax or compliance advice, and reading it creates no professional relationship. For decisions about your business, talk to a qualified professional.