Cloud Data Backup Folsom

What do you need to know about cloud data backup in Folsom?

Given that most SMBs in Folsom are now cloud-first if not cloud-native, it makes complete sense to use the cloud for data backups. With that in mind, here is a quick guide to what you need to know about cloud data backup in Folsom.

Functions Of Cloud Data Backup?

1. Cloud data backups are simply copies of your data “as is”

This may seem like stating the obvious, but it’s important to realize that, while cloud data backups are hugely important, they are not the answer to everything, although they may be a part of it. For example, cloud data backups are not, in and of themselves, disaster-recovery solutions. An effective disaster-recovery solution includes both the data and the tools needed to use it. Similarly, cloud data backups are not cloud archives, cloud archives keep specific data for specific purposes, usually legal ones.

2. The better you manage your data, the easier your cloud data backup process will be

You should only be collecting the data you need for any legitimate business purpose and you should only be keeping it for as long as it is strictly necessary. This is likely to be a legal requirement for dealing with sensitive data (which includes personal data relating to your employees). When it comes to non-sensitive data, you can usually do whatever you want, but, as always, there’s a difference between can and should.

If you keep “stockpiling” data, then you’re going to end up with all kinds of data that is neither needed nor wanted and while you shouldn’t have to deal with the data-protection issues which apply to sensitive data, you are going to need to deal with the costs associated with transporting it (even if over a network connection) and storing it, plus all that data will make everything take longer.

That means you need a process for identifying data that appears to be dormant and identifying whether it is data that needs to be archived (e.g. for legal reasons) or if it just appears to be unclaimed and unwanted. If you’re still hesitant about deleting it, you could try putting it into an archive for a year and see if anybody complains. In fact, even leaving it in the archive indefinitely would almost certainly be a better option than backing it up all the time.

3. You can backup data to a public cloud even if you can’t use it in the public cloud

Public clouds can be a cost-effective option for storing data backups (and archives). Whether or not they are suitable for use as a disaster-recovery solution will depend on your particular circumstances.

In simple terms, if data is sensitive, you have three options. Firstly, you can look for a public-cloud provider which can safely handle it in the clear. This is not necessarily as far-fetched as it may seem as public-cloud providers are working hard to make themselves compliant with at least the mainstream data-protection laws and compliance programs.

Secondly, you can encrypt your data on your own servers and keep it encrypted until it is either used for recovery or deleted. This ensures that your data is kept safe, but rules out using a public cloud as a cloud disaster-recovery solution a disaster-recovery solution, essentially by definition, allows users to work with the data as though they were in their main system. You’d therefore need to have an alternative option, such as a second private cloud “on standby” to be activated if needed and have a way of exporting to and importing from this solution.

Thirdly, you can set up a private cloud and use this to store your data backups. If you went down this route, you could use your private cloud both as a data backup solution and as a disaster-recovery solution. It would probably be a more expensive approach, but it could be more convenient.

4. All data-protection requirements apply to data backups

For clarity, data-protection requirements apply to the organization which holds the data. It is there, meaning your, responsibility to ensure that they are applied to every item of sensitive data you hold in whatever location or format you hold it and, where relevant, across all copies of it. You can delegate responsibility for tasks, in fact, it often makes a great deal of sense to do so, but you can never delegate legal (or ethical) accountability.

This means that you need to exercise suitable oversight of any vendor who works for you and therefore it generally makes sense to choose a cloud data backup vendor in Folsom, or at least near Folsom, as opposed to a cloud data backup vendor who offers services in Folsom but is actually located elsewhere.

If you’d like to speak to a reputable and experienced cloud data backup provider in Folsom, please click here now to contact Aperio. IT.

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