Today’s data-driven economy requires businesses to protect their valuable information resources. Failure to take the necessary precautions to protect its data can have a devastating impact on an organization’s ability to maintain business operations. A company can be forced to close its doors in the wake of a data loss scenario.
Many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have adopted a multi-cloud approach to providing the IT products and services they need. Selecting items from multiple cloud service providers (CSPs) enables a company to create an environment that efficiently addresses all of its business objectives and requirements. The majority of organizations utilizing the public cloud opt for a multi-cloud strategy.
It’s vitally important for companies to protect the data resident in multi-cloud environments. Managed backups offer a cost-efficient and effective method of providing this protection.
Why You Need Backups to Protect Your Business
Multiple reasons make it essential that you implement an effective backup solution to protect your business. Your valuable data resources may be targeted by external threat actors or be subject to risks from intentional or unintentional insider activities. Without backups, data can be permanently lost or damaged with serious repercussions to your business.
Ransomware
Ransomware is one of the most virulent forms of malware and can be especially harmful to SMBs. Smaller organizations often cannot withstand an extended outage of business-critical systems that follow a successful ransomware attack. Without an effective backup and recovery scheme in place to restore these systems, a ransomware attack can put a small company out of business.
Destructive malware
External threat actors may launch malware attacks intended to corrupt or destroy data resources rather than holding them for ransom. These attacks may be initiated by market rivals or other hostile third parties. A viable backup solution enables an organization to recover affected data resources quickly and avoid the negative business impacts that accompany an extensive outage.
Accidental or deliberate data loss and corruption
Recovering from unintentional or deliberate data loss is another reason backups are essential in a multi-cloud environment. Trusted employees can make an honest mistake that results in the loss of important business data. A failed operating system or application upgrade can corrupt business-critical databases. In some cases, deliberate destructive actions may be taken by malicious or disgruntled insiders.
Disaster recovery
Backups are a critical component of disaster recovery and business continuity plans. Organizations need to ensure their ability to rapidly recover essential systems when confronted with natural or man-made disasters. The backup solution needs to be flexible enough to allow recovery in multiple locations to address conditions brought about by the disaster.
The Challenges of Protecting Multi-Cloud Environments
Multi-cloud environments pose some significant challenges to providing effective data protection. These challenges typically affect SMBs more than large organizations that can leverage extensive in-house technical skills.
Complex multi-cloud infrastructures
Multi-cloud environments have gained popularity due to the business benefits of selecting products and services from multiple CSPs. The complex infrastructures resulting from a multi-cloud approach can be difficult to effectively manage and protect. Using native backup solutions from each CSP involves learning and supporting multiple tools. The use of multiple backup solutions increases the probability that something will be missed, putting your valuable data at risk.
Lack of technical resources
A common challenge faced by SMBs is a lack of the technical resources necessary to optimize their IT environment. Small companies typically have individuals wearing many hats, one of which may be that of backup administrator. The failure to successfully optimize IT solutions can adversely affect business operations. When it affects the ability to effectively protect data resources, you risk your most valuable business assets.
The Benefits of a Managed Backup Solution
Companies opting for a managed backup solution can expect to enjoy several benefits. Taken together, these benefits make choosing a managed service provider (MSP) to manage your backups an excellent way of protecting your business and its multi-cloud environment.
Cost
Cost is almost always a factor when selecting IT solutions. Building and maintaining an efficient, on-premises backup infrastructure can be an expensive proposition. Managed backup solutions eliminate these costs by backing up your data over internet connections and using the cloud for storage.
Advanced technology
Using a managed backup solution typically gives an organization access to advanced technology that would be impossible to implement on-premises due to budget constraints. The availability of features such as immutable backups for additional data protection and regulatory compliance make managed backups a great fit for SMBs.
Technical expertise
The technical expertise required to provide the most effective data protection is provided by the MSP managing your backups. MSPs offering managed backups have dedicated resources on staff with the requisite expertise. This removes the responsibility for the customer to provide in-house technical resources and ensures the backup environment is optimized.
Enhanced data protection
The expertise and advanced technology offered by managed backups result in
enhanced data protection that is hard to replicate with other solutions. SMBs can achieve a high level of data protection with a managed backup service without breaking their IT budget.
Flexible recovery options
Managed backups employ cloud resources and storage accessible through internet connections. Leveraging the cloud allows data to be recovered virtually anywhere, for additional options when restoring systems after a disaster or emergency.
VAST’s Efficient Managed Backup Solution
VAST’s Cloud Backup-as-a-Service (CBaaS) offering provides customers with a robust managed backup platform designed to protect the most complex multi-cloud environments. The impressive features of the CBaaS product include:
- A backup infrastructure powered by Druva’s advanced data protection technology;
- Fully managed backups that align with your organization’s business objectives;
- Immutable backups for protecting sensitive data and addressing regulatory requirements;
- Eliminating the cost of building a reliable backup and recovery infrastructure;
- Fixed pricing to facilitate predictable budgeting.
VAST’s CBaaS solution can handle complex multi-cloud environments as well as enterprise endpoints, SaaS data from products such as Microsoft 365, and hybrid or on-premises infrastructures. It’s a comprehensive backup solution designed to protect all your valuable data.
Talk to VAST’s data protection experts and find out how easy it is to protect your multi-cloud environment with their CBaaS off
