Data is part of the lifeblood of your business. If your business’s data is lost, corrupted, or stolen by cyber criminals, this could spell disaster for you and your staff. The best way to prevent this is with cloud backups. This might seem like a complicated concept, but the reality of what a cloud backup is and how it works is actually quite simple.
What is a cloud backup?
A cloud backup involves regularly backing up and storing your business’s data in another location on a remote server. This is the cloud: a global network of remote servers that manage, store, and deliver data across the internet.
Backing up your business to the cloud means you can access the entirety of your business’s data from any internet-connected device, rather than relying on a specific computer or maintaining your own data centre of extensive servers on your business’s premises.
How does cloud backup work?
If you are managing your business’s cloud backup process yourself, there are several steps you will need to take:
- Choose your cloud service provider: There are many different providers to choose from, so do your research and ensure you pick a solution that meets your business’s needs, and is flexible and scalable to accommodate business growth. And of course, make sure you choose a safe, trusted, reputable cloud service provider.
- Select the data to backup to the cloud: The more data you choose to backup, the more it will cost. But backing up a larger dataset ensures better restoration, should your business’s key data be compromised.
- Choose your backup frequency: You can choose between having continuous backups of your data in real-time, or choosing a schedule for your backups (perhaps daily or weekly). This option is only suitable for businesses that don’t need to backup their data instantly. For businesses working from shared documents and files, continuous backup is the better option.
- Transfer your data: When everything’s ready, it’s time to copy your data over to the cloud with your chosen cloud service provider.
Alternatively, you can call upon a trusted IT support provider, like us, to set up your business with robust cloud solutions and cyber protection. An important part of our cyber protection offering is backing up your business’s data. We store all your backed up data on UK datacentres quickly, safely, and economically.
What are the benefits of cloud backup and is it safe?
Cloud backup is one of the safest ways to protect the data of your business, as long as you choose a trusted cloud services provider with robust access controls, strong encryption, and regular in-house security audits.
There are also numerous benefits to backing up your business’s important data to the cloud, not least of which is increased cyber security.
1. Ransomware protection
As the world becomes more digital, cyber attacks are sadly only set to increase. Ransomware – a type of malware that encrypts your files and prevents you from accessing your device and the data stored on it – is a particular threat to businesses who don’t backup their data remotely.
Keeping your business’s data on the cloud minimises the risk of this cyber threat and others. Even if one of your servers is compromised, your data will still be accessible elsewhere – protecting your business and your customers from falling foul of cybercrime.
2. Scalability
You can fully tailor your cloud backups to suit your business’s needs. If you only have limited resources at the moment, you can backup what’s most important to you right now rather than everything.
Equally, as your business expands and grows, you can increase your remote data storage and cloud backup. Your cloud backup solution scales up as you do.
3. Cost-effective and convenient
Obtaining the space and purchasing all the hardware needed to store and backup your business’s data in-house is costly. By outsourcing this to a cloud service provider or IT support company, you’ll both save space, save money, and save time – your support provider will take the task of managing data backups out of your hands.
Cloud backups are also convenient because they enable every employee with authorisation to access your business’s data at any time from an internet-connected device. This is particularly useful for maintaining a remote workplace.
