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Your data is your business

Data is the lifeblood of modern organisations.

The data each individual and organisation creates is unique and needs to be stored safely and securely. To ensure the safety of your data, backups of this data must be done on a regular basis to mitigate the risk of your information being lost when your primary storage platform is damaged or destroyed.

A look back at traditional backup solutions

Traditional backup solutions enable you to make a copy of your data to a secondary backup device. Compliance and common sense require you to ensure the secondary backup device is not stored near your primary data storage location. This requirement exists to mitigate the risk of losing both your primary and backup storage in the event of a catastrophic event destroying the entire location where your data is stored.

The advantages of cloud backup solutions

The Internet, along with all its other benefits, has created the ability for individuals and business to safely and securely backup their data to platforms provided by cloud backup service providers.

This automatic offsite capability has eased the operational burden of needing to ensure backups are taken offsite. Cloud backup solutions have further benefits over traditional backup solutions in addition to the automatic offsite capability.

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Here are 5 key advantages of backing your data up in the cloud instead of traditional backups.

1. Cloud backups deliver scalable capacity

Traditional backup solutions are limited to the capacity of the storage media being used to store the backed-up data. This is not the case with cloud backups which are scalable, growing capacity effortlessly as your data increases. Not only do cloud backups scale as you grow, the need to plan capacity, as is the case with traditional backup solutions, is negated.

For example, if you need to backup 20GB of data today with a cloud backup solution, you simply start paying for the 20GB you use.

With a traditional backup solution, you would need to estimate your data growth for the next 2 to 3 years and then invest in storage capacity that would meet that future requirement. So, you may need 20GB today but may end up procuring storage capacity for 200GB which is both costly and incongruent with your current need.

2. The costs work out in your favour

Cloud backups work on a pay-per-use subscription model. There is a very low barrier to entry as you can subscribe and utilise an enterprise backup platform at the fraction of the cost it would take to implement a similar traditional enterprise backup solution on premise.

In addition, there is no capital expenditure in the form of hardware needed to store the data as well as software needed to automate and manage the backup process for you. Furthermore, the additional hardware that needs to be procured for a traditional backup solution must have the capacity to sustain your backup requirements for 2 to 3 years which forces you to pay for capacity you will not be using in the short term.

3. Cloud backups deliver simplicity

When compared to traditional backup solutions, cloud backup solutions are simple to deploy. There is generally minimal configuration and you can be up and running in minutes on a fully redundant, enterprise-class backup platform.

Traditional backup solutions require the installation and configuration of hardware and software which takes time, effort and specialist skill.

4. Freedom from lock-in contracts or investments

The best cloud backup providers don’t lock you into contracts or investments in hardware and software.

Cloud backup solutions can be terminated with a short notice period whereas traditional backup solutions generally involve purchasing perpetual licenses with annual maintenance up front. This substantial upfront investment in traditional backup solutions creates a situation which makes it financially challenging to disengage from the solution down the line.

5. Reduced management time

Cloud backup solutions also require less management and maintenance overhead than traditional backup solutions. Backup solution companies are investing heavily in research and development on their cloud platforms as they see the traditional backup solution market shrinking.

This increased investment has led to simple, easy-to-use interfaces which anyone can manage with little to no training required. In addition, cloud backup solutions are also low touch in that there is very little impact on operations when backups are tested due to the availability of offsite testing environments.

Cloud Backups vs Traditional Backups = No Contest

Based on these key differences between cloud backup and traditional backup solutions one can clearly see that cloud backup is far superior.

One cannot argue with the automatic offsite capability, better capacity management, improved cost efficiency, increased simplicity, superior freedom and enhanced management experience which cloud backup solutions have to offer.

Want to experience how easy it can be for you? Why not trial Zettagrid backup for free?