10 Things to Look for in a Cloud Data Backup Service
From: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6438-choosing-cloud-data-backup.html
Investing in a cloud data backup service is one of the best decisions any business owner can make. A natural disaster could hit your town and destroy your systems, an employee could spill a drink on her computer and destroy it or someone could steal your equipment, but backing up data in the cloud makes these unfortunate events much more bearable.
Cloud data backup stores existing data in an off-site server, making it available anytime, anywhere you need it. Data is frequently synced or updated, mirroring your system in real time. Cloud data backup not only disaster-proofs your business, but it also can save you tons of time and money in restoring your operations. Here are 10 things to look for when choosing a cloud data backup service.
1. Storage How much cloud storage do you need? Cloud data backup providers offer anywhere from 1GB to unlimited space, giving businesses a wide range of choices based on their needs. The amount of space offered is directly related to service costs, so it's best to determine how much space is needed so you can stay within budget. [24 Cloud Storage Solutions for Small Business]
2. Scalability
It's not always easy — if not impossible — to determine exactly how much cloud data backup storage a business needs. Numerous factors must be considered, such as the number of employees and computers, the volume of data and the type of business. Find a service that offers scalability and agility so that your backup can grow as your business grows. While you don't necessarily have to shell out for unlimited space, your options include purchasing more space than you need or signing up with a vendor that offers flexible solutions.
3. Uptime
The entire purpose of a cloud backup is to make sure your data is available whenever you need it. A vendor's uptime depends on its tier; Tier 1 services offer 99.671 percent availability, and Tier 4 offers 99.995 percent availability. Although the differences in these percentages look insignificant, the technology in place is what really counts — higher tiers offer pre-emptive features like redundancy (for instance, backups of backups) and industry-standard equipment to protect data. To illustrate, Tier 1 services are essentially server rooms that host data backups, whereas Tier 4 offers advanced power capabilities and temperature control (such as heating and HVAC systems) to reduce the chances of downtime and ensure the optimum level of availability.
4. Disaster recovery
Vendors can make all the uptime guarantees they want, but the reality is that unforeseen events, such as cyberattacks and natural disasters, can shut down servers and render your data inaccessible. One example is the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks that overwhelmed 26 U.S. banks' websites during the 2012-2013 holiday season. Another is when Amazon's northern Virginia servers went offline due to severe thunderstorms, taking down major services like Netflix, Instagram and Pinterest. If large institutions can get hit, so can small businesses. While downtime is not always preventable, what's important is to make sure the cloud data backup you choose provides an effective and efficient disaster-recovery plan to get you back online ASAP. This can mean anything from multilocation backups to cyberattack mitigation.
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