As an organization, what are your top priorities?
Like most, they likely range from increasing market share and revenues to improving and increasing your value propositions. And that’s understandable.
However, efforts and investments in such should not come at the expense of other essential elements that are easily ignored. One such element is data storage and security.
In the digital era, data is arguably the most valuable resource. Organizations that are best able to collect, analyze, and use data outperform competitors.
Therefore, you cannot afford to continue treating such a critical component of your success as an afterthought. Otherwise, you’re likely to face data-related challenges that result in lower productivity and loss of brand credibility.
Instead, you can take a proactive approach and capitalize on data to enhance your company’s performance levels. The first step towards achieving this is transitioning to cloud backup storage.
Here are some statistics demonstrating why companies need to backup to the cloud.
Read on to learn what cloud backup is, how it works, its benefits, and where to get the best cloud backup services.
Cloud backup storage is a service that helps you backup and store the data and applications in your servers on a remote server. It's also known as remote backup or online backup.
Cloud backup involves sending a copy of a physical or virtual file or database to a secondary offsite location. This is done as a contingency if something happens to primary data reserves. Depending on your needs, you can back up all or a portion of your files.
Usually, a third party will host the secondary server and data storage systems. In turn, you'll pay a subscription fee for services such as:
Due to the convenience cloud storage solutions offer, it’s become a popular solution among small and medium-sized businesses.
This is because it helps enhances your data protection efforts and is cost-efficient. Moreover, your IT team will not have to deal with an increased workload due to implementing cloud data backup.
You’ll need to take the following steps to set up cloud backup storage:
Your cloud backup system will be ready for use immediately after installation. Depending on your provider, you can:
One of the key features of cloud storage solutions is the automation of the backup process. To enjoy this, you'll need to customize the cloud backup process to suit your company's needs.
After that, only minimal input is necessary as the solution will back up data automatically and continuously.
Businesses are increasingly using technology. The efficiency and security it offers are great. However, organizations have become dependent on these technologies.
While this is not necessarily bad, it poses a significant risk should your technology fail or become compromised. Such events often translate to loss of data and downtime and can lead to business closure if severe.
And if you think you’re safe from such risks, think again. According to Accenture, 68% of business leaders believe cyber security threats are increasing. Moreover, findings from the 2021 Thales Data Threat Report suggest that nearly half of US companies suffered a breach in 2020.
Considering the level of risk you’re facing, it’s essential to safeguard your data.
Cloud backup storage can help with this. Think of it as your insurance policy in case you're breached, or disaster occurs.
Some of the benefits of cloud backup solutions include:
Technology is great, but it's continuously evolving and improving. As a result, to remain competitive, you need to upgrade to the latest hardware and systems regularly. However, this is often an expensive undertaking requiring much planning and time.
That’s not the case with cloud backup storage. There’ll be no need to invest in new hardware as you'll have access to your provider's equipment. Moreover, cloud storage services seamlessly integrate with your existing infrastructure.
Better yet, you will not have to worry about maintaining and upgrading hardware. To continue offering the best services and remain competitive, your provider will continually invest in modern infrastructure.
Depending on its capacity, you can save a lot of data in a hard drive. Beyond storage, they also offer easy and convenient data access.
But, to access the data on your hard drive, you need to access it physically, and hard drives are prone to crashing. When this happens, what usually follows is pandemonium.
This inability to access key information will disrupt operations and service delivery. Furthermore, any chance to retrieve the data in your hard drive will require paying for expensive restoration solutions.
This is where cloud storage comes in. You won't lose crucial data if your hard drives fail or become corrupted or damaged during a disaster.
Since you’ll have several backups in the cloud, you can access them remotely at any time. All you’ll need is an internet connection. Furthermore, there’ll be no disruption in business processes.
When you're working on something on your computer, you'll need to manually save the changes you make.
With cloud storage solutions, that will not be necessary. It automates file saving and updating and synchronizes everything. So, as employees work on projects, the files will be updated automatically and synchronized across all devices.
In most cases, multiple people will work on a file. Or, at the very least, the person responsible for preparing it will need to pass it on to another party.
By storing your files in the cloud, sharing them will be much easier. Since they're already in the cloud, there's no need to send them via email or upload them to a file transfer service.
Within each user’s cloud account, there’s a share button. By clicking it, you'll get a link that you can paste anywhere, allowing other parties to download the file.
Your capacity to capitalize on data will significantly influence performance as an organization. Therefore, you need to improve your data collection and analysis capabilities. However, doing this without enhancing data storage and security is counterproductive.
In this regard, cloud storage is an ideal solution. For starters, you'll have an offsite location managed by a third party to store your data. More importantly, your provider will maintain several copies of your files.
Therefore, if your onsite data reserves and a cloud backup are compromised, other backups will be counted.
With increasing technology adoption, IT teams are growing daily to handle the evolving IT tasks. Due to the diverse nature of business technology and systems, each new solution you adopt increases the workload of already-stretched IT teams.
Unfortunately, this often means IT personnel have little time to address some key functions as they work to keep systems running. As a result, your IT team becomes less productive.
The good thing with transitioning to cloud storage is that it will not increase your IT team’s workload. Instead, enabling them to complete tasks faster and more efficiently will increase their productivity.
Business executives appreciate the value of technology as a competitive advantage. However, the main obstacle is the cost of adopting new technologies and systems.
Unlike other technologies, you can capitalize on the power of cloud storage without incurring high costs. By using a third-party cloud storage provider, you'll eliminate the cost of investing in new infrastructure.
Therefore, the only cost you’ll incur is the subscription cost. Considering your vendor will handle all your cloud storage needs and offer additional services, it will be a worthwhile investment.
Over the last decade, remote work has been on the rise. And at the heart of this growth is cloud technology, which powers remote work.
It's through cloud technology that your employees can access files remotely. Otherwise, they would not be able to receive tasks and submit them without going to the office.
A reliable cloud storage solution is vital if you're transitioning to a remote or hybrid work model.
Most of your data comprise sensitive information about your employees, clients, and partners. Some of it includes personal information such as address and age to financial information such as credit card numbers.
Each client that gives you their information does so in the trust that you have the necessary security policies, procedures, and infrastructure to keep it safe.
This is because data breaches have become a big concern in recent years. When malicious parties access such data, it compromises your clients and employees.
There are numerous data protection regulations to prevent such scenarios, such as HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA, CPRA or PCI. Failure to comply with relevant industry regulations exposes your brand to breaches and non-compliance fines.
As you put in place compliance measures, cloud backup storage will be an invaluable asset. It ensures that your data is stored in multiple data centers and under the best protection from cyber threats, natural disasters, and internal threats.
Storing data on the internet may seem scary, especially considering the increasing risks of cyber threats.
But what’s the alternative?
Suppose you can store your files in a hard drive and keep it offline permanently. Even still, your data remains susceptible to hackers. Should they access your data, they can delete, alter, or ask for a ransom to restore your access.
On top of this, hard drives also have hardware issues that can cause data corruption or loss. If these incidents occur, you'll not have an alternative data reserve.
Beyond offering multiple backups of your data, cloud backup storage providers also encrypt your files. This means the files are scrambled into a string of unreadable code. They’ll issue you with an encryption key that makes the data readable.
So, the cloud backup provider will store your data in multiple locations under the best possible security frameworks. However, should a data center be breached, you have other backups to use, and the hacker will not be able to make sense of the data without the encryption key.
Each year, weather disasters hit different parts of the world. On top of the death, injuries, and damage they bring, such events have a significant economic impact.
For instance, in 2021, there were 47 billion-dollar weather events. The global cost of weather-related damage for the year was $329 billion.
Without exception, this impact also extends to businesses. A cloud storage solution will ensure you can resume operations swiftly if your onsite data center and hard drives become damaged during a hurricane.
The secret to getting the most out of cloud backup storage services is choosing the right provider that is well suited for your unique needs.
In this regard, Veritas is the ideal option. Veritas is committed to helping organizations manage and protect data, enhancing business efficiency and productivity.
Its unified data management solution delivers simplicity and control access across fragmented environments.
Here’s how Veritas can help you:
Veritas understands the importance of top-level security for your data. If you can't keep consumer data safe, they'll have no reason to trust you with their business.
More importantly, Veritas knows it only takes one breach to bring a company down. That’s why it offers a robust and integrated platform that helps organizations backup and secure data. More importantly, the data protection solution allows you to recover 100% of your files.
Compared to other solutions, Veritas closes all loopholes that hackers can use. And it's designed to accommodate increasing workloads to support your growth seamlessly.
Furthermore, Veritas experts are continually developing and implementing data protection measures to strengthen the solution.
Veritas takes no chances with data security. In addition to the robust security measures and keeping multiple backups, you’ll have an air gap backup.
The air gap technique is a backup and recovery strategy where a copy of sensitive data is kept offline and inaccessible via the internet. It becomes virtually impossible for hackers to access the data remotely by creating such an air gap.
Air gapping offers benefits such as:
Consider an air gap backup if you handle sensitive information that requires top-level security, like government data.
Securing data and maintaining several backups is great. That’s what most cloud storage providers offer, and it makes it difficult for your data to be accessed by unauthorized persons. And if there's a breach or damage, you can transition smoothly.
Veritas looks beyond data security and backups. Part of its data solutions involves helping you use your data better. This begins by bringing dark data to light, giving you more data to work with.
Secondly, Veritas enhances data manageability and compliance via a six-step process:
Having data is great. But it’s worthless if you can’t use it. By helping you improve manageability and compliance, Veritas will help you get more out of your data.
Data is a critical component in modern organizations. So, it should be at the forefront of all major company decisions.
And this is where Veritas can help you. The brand adopts a holistic data security, backup, and compliance approach. This is evident from the wide range of services Veritas offers, including:
As you can see, with Veritas, all your data needs will be addressed. You'll get the storage you need and training to empower your team.
Data is an invaluable resource for modern-day organizations. It can help you provide customized and enhanced customer experiences if used well. Moreover, it increases efficiency, cuts costs, and allows small businesses to compete with large corporations.
On the other hand, it also comes with risks for your company, personnel, and clients. So, as you seek to capitalize on your data, take necessary precautions to safeguard it.
In this regard, cloud backup storage services are one of the best options. They add multiple layers of safety and maintain several backups, ensuring you’ll always have access to your data.