Cloud Backup Solutions – A company that plans long term considers all worst-case scenarios. Planning for any unwanted outcome helps minimize the risk of any damage that would be associated with said outcome. This is why long term planning helps secure profit and competitive edge. Such planning also means identifying a business most valuable resources. In this day and age, any business most valuable resource is data.
Protecting your valuable data can make all the difference. Since almost all of our valuable information is stored on digital devices, it’s important to make sure this isn’t lost. Here, backup plans come in.
A smart backup plan makes sure none of your valuable information is ever lost. Small businesses especially cannot afford to lose valuable business data. If this happens, the company could be at the risk of collapsing. This is because of the financial value associated with data today.
Out of all the backup alternatives that exist today, cloud storage presents itself as the most efficient for data protection. This is because of the added reliability in keeping data safe. Here, we’ll look at a number of backup solutions. These are services aimed specifically at providing cloud solution for small businesses.
Factors Small Businesses should Consider
No two businesses will ever be alike. Even if they’re selling the same product, the company’s internal requirements will always be different. This is why it’s important to analyze your organizational needs and capabilities when choosing a cloud based backup service.
Businesses will always value what they need when making such a decision. But, a number of generalized factors can be presented that small businesses should keep in mind. These are factors that take into account the nature of small businesses, such as cost and resource saving.
Here are 6 important factors that small business should keep in mind for data backups:
- The primary factor will ultimately be cost. For small businesses, cost-saving is an important factor to progress. This is why pricing, such as cost per GB should be compared. However, the performance of various services should first be considered for your disaster recovery After that, the most affordable option can be selected.
- Storage space is an important factor to be considered. Businesses should clearly analyze the volume of data that will routinely be backed up. Based on this, the appropriate storage space should be chosen.
- As your business grows, more storage space is needed. This is why scalability should be kept in mind. This means making sure you can afford the update in storage space the service provides.
- Security and privacy offered by the service is extremely important. Making sure your sensitive data is secure should be a top priority.
- Businesses should first analyze the frequency of backups required. From there, they can match whether the backup service can match their routine backup needs.
- Ease in use should also be a factor to be considered. This is because a complex backup software only wastes time and resources.
Best Backup Solutions for Small Businesses
1. Backup Everything
Based in the UK, Backup Everything software solution provider ranks on top of our list. Backup Everything provides scalable solutions for both large and small enterprises. Businesses can choose their backup plan by communicating their price range.
A number of factors such as instant recovery and backup, along with other factors put backup Everything at the top of our list. Here’s a list of features that distinguish it from the competition:
- The affordable price range makes it extremely suitable for small businesses. Unlimited backup for MAC/PC starts at £5 a month. Unlimited backup for servers starts at £10 a month.
- Protected through AES 256 Bit, secure encryption for your business data is offered.
- Virtual support for VMware, Hyper-V, SQL, native ORACLE, Linux and Windows means excellent availability of applications.
- Provides simple and easy data management features for a business’s data administrator.
- Provides high speed backups and data recovery options.
2. Carbonite
One of the easiest software to use for cloud backup, here’s a list of Carbonite’s distinguishing features:
- Extremely affordable for small businesses with prices starting at $6/month.
- The unlimited storage space eliminates the need for constantly planning scalability.
- Provides customizability along with efficient features. Such as, providing the ability to choose between automated and manual backups.
- Provides customizability in routine file backups, such as only backing up certain file types.
- Provides high security through high end encryption. Users are provided with an encryption key that ensures only the user has access to the data.
3. Backblaze
A close competitor to Carbonite, Backblaze also offers a number of similar features. Here’s a list of all features that put Backblaze on this list, along with features that distinguish it from the competition:
- Extremely affordable for small businesses with prices starting at $6/month.
- Offers unlimited space for storage along with a simple interface.
- Offers customizable features for routine backups.
- Highly secure and offers a private encryption key.
- Provides a fast and easy recovery solution.
However, critics have pointed out flaws in the encryption method used. Users are required to send their encryption key to Backblaze first, to decrypt their data. This makes the feature flawed because of a third party’s involvement.
4. OpenDrive
Fourth on this list, OpenDrive offers a number of distinguishing features. However, the cloud backup service does not provide unlimited storage. The capacity of 500 GB makes it an issue for a business to rely on the service if the storage space requirement grows. Here’s a list of OpenDrive’s highlighted features:
- Provides desktop UI for syncing and backing up.
- Provides private encryption.
- Ability to include/exclude files in backup based on size, file type, date, etc.
- Ability to store up to 99 versions of each file for an unlimited time.
- Deleted files and folders are held on to for 90 days.
5. EaseUS Todo Backup
One of the easy to use backup service that provides smooth retrieval of backed up files. Following are the quality features of EaseUS Todo Backup:
- Provides free backup storage for home users.
- Provides free trial for business use, with the cost for workstation starting at $39/month.
- Provides Remote Central Management Capability.
- Easy deployment of software in systems.
- Provides several backup modes such as full, incremental, differential and scheduled backups.
