5 Cloud Backup Myths Debunked | OneNeck Hybrid IT Solutions
OneNeck IT Solutions |
Second only to your people, your data is your organization’s most important asset. Backup is crucial, especially since SMBs and large enterprises alike are increasingly requiring constant availability of business-critical data. In the absence of disaster preparedness, organizations face risks associated with loss of revenue, customer satisfaction, compliance and brand reputation.
Fortunately, businesses are catching on to the urgency of data recovery, with 78% of SMBs expected to integrate cloud backup by 2020. However, before investing in a third-party backup solution, it’s helpful to know what cloud backup is and isn’t.
Cloud Backup at a Glance
Cloud backup is a technology that involves sending a copy of your data to an offsite vendor – a cloud provider – that keeps the data secure and accessible. Companies often use cloud backup in conjunction with in-house recovery methods (e.g. local drive tape drive, network share/NAS).
Misconceptions about Cloud Backup
Some SMBs are still on the fence about cloud backup and stick to an in-house recovery plan, or, in some cases, no recovery plan at all. However, the hesitation often stems from common misconceptions, which we’ve laid out here…
- Cloud Backup is Cost-Prohibitive
While cloud backup is an investment, it can save you money in a number of ways. For starters, it eliminates the need to continuously invest in new infrastructure to meet increasing data storage demands and reduces data size via deduplication.
- Cloud Backup Performs Unreliably
Data volume can be immensely reduced with compression and deduplication. This enables much faster backups compared to traditional tape and other in-house backups. Cloud backup services may also use cache prefetching for recovery times up to 32x faster than legacy systems.
- Cloud Backup Forces Provider Lock-In
It is commonly believed that once data is stored in the cloud, companies are indefinitely locked into their specific provider. With most vendors now offering public cloud solutions via Google, Amazon, IBM and Microsoft Azure, this is no longer true. Today, businesses can freely move data from one provider to another, as business evolves or their needs change.
- Cloud Backup Lacks Strong Data Security
With data breaches on the rise, many businesses rightfully worry whether cloud backup can match the security of a private, in-house recovery solution. With most vendors now providing AES 256-bit encryption and transport layer security encryption, organizations can be more confident their providers can reliably protect data in transit and at rest.
- Cloud Backup is Overly Complex
A common concern is that cloud backup processes are too complex and implementation is disruptive. Most cloud-integrated appliances can easily be integrated with existing backup software and are managed from a central interface, accessible to multiple devices. Reduced disk and tape management requirements serve to simplify, rather than complicate backup administration.
Backup and Recovery Assessment Best Way to Start
Not sure where to start? OneNeck’s Backup and Recovery Assessment provides the first step towards creating an efficient, reliable and appropriate backup and recovery solution for your business. It allows you to gain visibility into your current backup environment, plan for future backup projects and ensure that your mission-critical data is protected.
LEARN MORE: Does Your Data Have a Plan B? Consider Cloud Based Backup
