As of 2022, the cloud will have housed more than 60% of all corporate data. However, even for small businesses, the days of filing cabinets holding all their records and documents are long gone. Instead, small companies progressively require on-the-go access to their data without worrying about storage or hardware maintenance costs. As a result, protecting your company’s information entails more than locking the door and installing cameras – it also includes protecting your online data.
Many businesses use online storage technology and cloud backup to accomplish this. But what is cloud backup, and, more importantly, what is cloud storage? This guide will also explain the benefits of using the cloud for your business data and walk you through which features to consider when shopping for cloud storage. Our cloud backup and storage guide will help you understand what to look for in protecting and improving your small business.
Cloud Storage and Cloud Backup
Cloud storage is a cloud computing model that allows data to be stored on the internet via a cloud computing provider. Your data will be stored, managed, and maintained securely to ensure you can access the data whenever you want. So, cloud storage entails storing your data and files on a secure, cloud-based server. In addition, the data can only be accessed by authorized users, establishing flawless collaboration within your small business.
A cloud backup strategy entails sending a duplicate of a physical or virtual file or data to a secondary location. The physical location is off-site, and its primary purpose is to prevent potentially disastrous data losses if a cyber attack, server crash, human error, or technical failure occurs. When you store the data in the cloud, the third-party service provider will take care of maintenance and back-end support so that you will have peace of mind.
Cloud Storage and Backup Features
Besides real-time backups, data sync and restoration, and cloud security, the best cloud storage and backup providers include the following features.
Performance
You should search for a provider that offers performance tiers with additional support. For example, lower tiers typically offer limited storage space without providing upload speed and standard download when backing up your files and data. However, you will not have to worry about a slow recovery, low storage capacity, or bandwidth throttling with higher tiers.
Encryption
The American requirements for private data are 256-bit encryption. So, you need a third-party provider with that type of encryption to ensure that your data is secure.
Recovery
Unfortunately, disasters will happen. So, consider the recovery time objective and recovery point objective. RTO is the time window and service level in which a process should be reinstated after an obstruction. The largest tolerable period for data loss is defined as RPO. It is the frequency with which file backups are performed. You should constantly update the frequency with which you back up your data, so you won’t lose a lot of data if a disaster occurs. For example, you should back up the files every three hours if the RPO is 180 minutes.
Collaboration
Choosing a provider with collaborative features is essential since your team can access data from every device. File links protected with passwords shared chat threads, and fast notification delivery on files are some of the collaborative features you should consider.
Benefits of Cloud Backup
Below are some benefits of cloud backup services for your small business.
Cost-Effectiveness
On-site data centers are costly and hard to maintain, making them almost impossible for small businesses to establish. However, if you choose a cloud solution, you will save money since the cloud is inexpensive and is the best option for backing up critical data.
Security
Once in the cloud, your files are distributed across redundant servers to protect them from hardware failures. In addition, high-quality providers use military-grade encryption to ensure no one can access the data. The servers also include backups and snapshots automatically to provide extra data safety. Cloud backup generates a backup of all the data stored by your company.
Improved Management
The cloud computing providers will complete all backups correctly. As a result, no mistakes will happen that could interrupt the storage process, so you can concentrate on other business operations.
Wrapping Up
Cloud storage is an effective option that is increasing in popularity. With the rise of the internet came new tools for assisting small businesses in navigating a unique landscape that includes cloud storage and backup for all your data.
In addition, many small companies have remote employees and clients worldwide, so they must access data from anywhere at any time. Now that you know cloud storage and backup benefits and which features are essential, you can easily choose the best cloud computing provider for your small business.
