How to choose the best cloud backup

Every business, whether a startup or a large enterprise, needs a cloud backup solution to safeguard all the essential business data. A running business incorporates confidential data, including customer contacts, private financial records, email contacts, inventory and sales data, company documents, and various others. All these data need to be protected carefully to eliminate any risks of valuable data being stolen, leading to the downfall of a business.

If you are still using a traditional backup solution, you need to switch to a cloud backup solution to ensure comprehensive protection. This article covers the importance of cloud solutions and the essential points to consider when choosing a cloud backup solution.

What exactly are cloud backup solutions?

Cloud backup solutions are also known as remote backup that involves making a copy of files and databases and storing them securely in an off-site location as a precautionary measure to protect the data from potential cybersecurity risks such as machine failure, human errors, or cyberattacks.

The cloud backup solutions involve a third-party cloud provider or SaaS provider. Companies need to pay a certain amount to these providers based on storage space used, user count, data retrieval frequency, server count, and data transmission bandwidth.

Take these ten critical factors into consideration before choosing the right cloud backup solution for your business:

There are various advantages of using a cloud backup solution, they ensure that your organization’s data remains protected and secured all the time while maintaining regulatory compliances. They are also cost-effective and highly scalable solutions that do not put extra workload pressure on your company’s IT staff.

Let’s discuss the key points that influence choosing the right cloud backup provider:

1. Performance: The performance of a cloud server depends on multiple factors, from network size to the number of backup streams as well as storage performance. What’s most important to consider is that the cloud service you choose must fulfill your company’s specific RPO (Recovery Point Objective) and RTO (Recovery Time Objective).

2. Security: Your chosen cloud backup solution must offer necessary security measures, such as encryption, credential management, support for SSH keys, multiple cloud accounts, object locking, and air gapping to secure the data from cyberattack risks like ransomware.

3. Efficiency: Your company must be able to write data to and extract data efficiently from the public cloud that you have chosen. Quality cloud backup providers include WAN optimization and data deduplication features with the efficiency of compressing and deduplicating data when it is still on-premises and before it is transferred and stored in the cloud.

4. Reliability: Check the reliability of the cloud backup service provider you choose. Gather knowledge about where the data is stored and if it is collocated with any other service before opting for a cloud backup solution.

5. Data management: There are various top-quality data backup providers who offer advanced security services, including archiving, e-discovery, and ransomware protection. But these features may require additional charges.

6. Data mobility: A good cloud backup solution enables effortless transfer of data from on-premises locations to public cloud. Make sure on-premises virtual machines are migrated securely to the public cloud.

7. Feature depth: assess the breadth and maturity of cloud backup services offered by the vendor you choose. Quality cloud backup service providers offer managed database backup features that provide users automated retention and backup scheduling as per your company’s policies.

8. Cost: Consider the total cost of adopting cloud backup solutions. Cloud service providers mostly charge extra depending on your storage tier and data transferring needs.

9. Availability: Cloud backup service providers include SLA (service level agreement) regarding data access and availability. Ensure the SLA your chosen vendor provides aligns with your company’s RTO and RPO.

10. Geographical coverage: if you choose a data center location that is near to your end users, you and your employees will enjoy an enhanced customer experience with reduced latency.

Conclusion:

Invest in a quality cloud backup solution that offers all the above-mentioned features within your budget. Data mobility, security, data management, and reliability are crucial points to remember while opting for a cloud backup service provider.