Organizations need to protect their valuable data with a reliable backup solution. Without a backup strategy, companies risk disastrous business effects from data loss or corruption. Cloud backup solutions provide an efficient and effective method of protecting data resources. Decision-makers can choose from various cloud backup solutions to meet business objectives and requirements.
Why Backups Are Essential
Backups are an integral part of a comprehensive data protection strategy. The following reasons illustrate why backups are an essential practice for modern businesses.
- Protection against data loss – Teams can use backups to recover from a data loss scenario. Data loss can occur due to a variety of factors, including:
- Hardware or software failures;
- Natural disasters that destroy equipment;
- Sabotage from malicious insiders;
- Human error.
- Defense against cyber threats – Companies can quickly recover from a ransomware or other cyberattack with backups. Organizations can avoid negotiating with criminals who have encrypted their data and restore affected systems from recent backups.
- Business continuity – Businesses can quickly restore operations in a disaster to minimize financial losses and impacts to customer service.
- Regulatory compliance – Organizations may be required to retain backups of regulated data to maintain compliance with standards like HIPAA or PCI-DSS, or face legal and financial penalties.
Benefits of Cloud Backups
Companies can enjoy multiple benefits by adopting cloud backups over an on-premises solution.
- Cost savings – A cloud backup solution eliminates the need to build and maintain an on-premises backup infrastructure. Organizations replace backup hardware, software, and support personnel costs with subscription-based pricing for predictable budgeting.
- Business continuity – With cloud backups, companies can recover from data loss or disaster scenarios quickly and flexibly. Cloud backups eliminate the need to ship off-site backup media to an alternate site to perform the recovery. Teams can restore systems from any location with an internet connection to enhance disaster resilience and support remote work.
- Strong security – Cloud backups typically provide enterprise-level encryption to protect sensitive data from unauthorized use. Cloud providers employ authentication to control access to the backups. Backup data is stored off-site, protecting it from physical theft or tampering.
- Automation – Organizations can automate the backup process with a cloud solution. Automation reduces human error and missed backups and frees up staff members for other tasks. Teams can schedule backups aggressively to ensure fresh data for potential recoveries.
- Scalability – Companies can easily and quickly scale cloud backup solutions up or down to address evolving business needs. Efficient scaling may result in substantial savings as resources are optimized and not over-provisioned.
- Compliance – Teams can configure cloud backups to meet regulatory requirements and maintain compliance. The provider may have audit logs available to demonstrate compliance in an audit.
- Management – The cloud service provider (CSP) may assume management responsibilities for the backup solution. Companies can focus on their core business activities and keep their data safe with a managed backup solution.
Features of Effective Cloud Backup Solutions
Decision-makers should consider the following features when comparing cloud backup solutions.
Security and compliance
Providers should protect data with strong, end-to-end encryption in transit and at rest. Teams should implement strong authentication measures to safeguard user access to backups. The provider must offer compliance support for the type of regulated data a company processes. Immutable backups provide additional security to protect sensitive data and maintain compliance.
Backup and recovery capabilities
Companies must ensure the backup and recovery capabilities of the cloud solution align with their computing environment and business requirements. The solution must support the operating systems, virtual machines, and SaaS products like Microsoft 365 or Salesforce in the environment. The backup system should offer automatic and scheduled backups that mesh with a company’s data protection policies.
Recovery options also must align with business requirements. Features include granular restore capabilities to recover individual items and point-in-time recovery for business-critical systems. Teams should prioritize fast and accurate recovery capabilities to minimize downtime and business impacts.
Ease-of-use
Organizations should look for backup tools that are easy to use for monitoring and addressing issues. The solutions should include features like a centralized administrator dashboard with role-based access controls to limit unauthorized use. The tool must provide activity logs for audit trails and reports for monitoring system performance.
Managed cloud backups offer companies the ultimate ease-of-use solution. The managed service provider handles backup while the customer can concentrate on running their business, knowing their data is secure.
Pricing and support
Companies must understand the pricing structure and support offered by the backup solution provider. Some organizations may favor fixed pricing while others need flexibility to address rapidly changing requirements.
Scalability
A cloud backup solution should be scalable to handle a company’s evolving business needs. The solution should be capable of growing with the business and protecting its valuable information.
Selecting the Right Cloud Backup Solution for Your Business
It can be challenging to choose the right backup solution. You want to ensure you are protecting your data while taking advantage of the financial and flexibility advantages of the cloud. The solution has to align with your data protection policies and business requirements.
VAST has your back when it comes to selecting the right cloud backup solution for your business. We have extensive experience and strategic partnerships with leading data protection solution vendors such as Cohesity, Druva, Veeam, and Veritas. Our team can help you implement and manage a cloud backup solution that meets your business objectives.
We have partnered with Druva to offer a Cloud Backup-as-a-Service (CBaaS) solution that provides customers with managed backups tailored to their requirements. The service provides:
- Access to cutting-edge data protection technology;
- Immutable backups to protect sensitive data and for regulatory compliance;
- Fixed pricing for predictable budgeting without the cost of an on-premises backup infrastructure.
Our offering features four focused backup solutions that cover your complete IT environment.
The CBaaS solution protects:
- Microsoft 365 environments;
- Public cloud infrastructure;
- Hybrid and on-premises data centers;
- Enterprise endpoints.
Talk to VAST’s backup experts and start protecting your data with a modern approach to backup and recovery that leverages the benefits of the cloud.
