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18 Oct The importance of cloud backup for businesses
One of a business’s most important assets is its data. This includes everything from customer information and their previous invoices to documents containing marketing plans and budgets. Without easy access to this information, a business would be unable to function and with how easy it can be to lose this information, it is critical that businesses regularly backup all their data.
In the past, the best practice for data backup was to regularly back data up to a tape and store the tape in an offsite location. This ensured that even if there was a disaster where a business is located, they would still be able to restore the data from the tapes. This method was costly, and often resulted in significant downtime after a disaster whilst the tapes were sent back to a business. Similarly, as these backups were completed weekly, or even monthly, this meant that often there was still a significant amount of data lost after a disaster. Thankfully, cloud backup has solved many of the shortcomings associated with backup and disaster recovery. In this article we will discuss the benefits and importance of cloud backup for businesses.
Efficient Disaster Recovery
There are many risks to a business’s data, including natural disasters, hardware malfunction, accidental deletion, and ransomware attacks. When these disasters occur, it is important for businesses to have a disaster recovery plan in place to avoid significant downtime or loss of data. Similarly, these backups must be stored offsite, as if they are onsite and there is a fire or flood, all information will be lost. With a cloud backup solution, disaster recovery is efficient and streamlined. The data is stored offsite, but it is as simple as logging in and restoring previous data, whereas with traditional offsite storage, businesses would have to travel to collect their data, or have it sent via courier, which has the risk of the storage media being damaged or lost.
With a cloud backup solution, businesses are able to select what data is backed up and how often it should be backed up. These backups can be completed every day for data that is frequently updated. Having this option to frequently backup data significantly reduces the amount of data that is lost after a disaster.
Predictable Costs
Businesses collect and store a massive amount of data, and if businesses manage their backup storage themselves, this can be a costly expense. Between buying storage media, storing it offsite and managing version control, the entire process is difficult to manage and not easy to scale. Cloud backup simplifies this process as everything is automated, it does not take up physical space, and the costs are typically a monthly fee based on the amount of data being stored.
Increased Security and Compliance
There are many factors to consider when selecting the best method of backup for a business, but a key consideration should always be the security of the solution. If the backup solution is not secure, there is a chance the business will fall victim to a cyberattack. These cybercriminals may attack where the backup is stored and this may lead to a ransomware attack on the backup, or a data breach of all backed up data. Using a cloud backup solution allows businesses to rely on the expertise of backup providers. Often cloud backup is end to end encrypted, which greatly reduces the risk of a data breach. Some backup providers, such as Acronis Cyber Protect, also have built in ransomware protection. This means that even if a business is hit with a ransomware attack, the ransomware will be automatically removed, and the system will revert to a previous backup before the ransomware can spread across the system. This limits downtime and can save a business hundreds of thousands of pounds compared to if they paid the ransom.
Many businesses also must meet strict compliance requirements, such as GDPR or HIPAA. These often require businesses to retain financial information for a set period of time. Cloud backups are a method of ensuring this information will be retained, even if there is a disaster.
Regardless of the size or industry of a business, backup should be a top priority to limit downtime and data loss and ensure the longevity of a business. If you want to find out more about how cloud backup can benefit your business, get in touch with us today.