Cloud Backup Isn’t Exactly “Cloud” Backup

Cloud backup is actually a lot more like physical backup.

Cloud Backup and Disaster Recovery solutions providers store your vital business information the same way you would, via hard drives and or tapes. This may come as a surprise to some, but the crux of it is that those companies trying to sell you cloud backup storage are playing the role of the middleman.

Sure, many of these cloud backup solutions have other perks, like the ownership of multiple data centers so they can sell you on the fact that even if one, two, or ten of their 50 centers goes down, your data will be safe. That’s fair, but if the grid were to go down, your data goes down with it, whether a fancy cloud backup solution is holding onto it or you are.

At the end of the day, cloud backup is nothing more than backup as a service (BUaaS; doesn’t it just roll off the tongue?). This isn’t to say that these options are useless in any way, but the cloud doesn’t mean what many business professionals think it does.

I’ve got to admit, the marketing dollars spent on pushing the cloud as a new medium has paid off. Many, even those in high-powered enterprise-level positions see the word cloud and immediately think of this new, trendy, storage medium that exists in the sky and can be leveraged to cheaply and securely store any amount of data they can throw at it. Unfortunately, the cloud is not a new storage medium, it’s just a way to describe the process of storing your data somewhere outside of your organization.

Storing data in a cloud just means moving it to a physical device in another location where it can be accessed in different locations outside of an organization’s brick and mortar facility. I get that we’re being technical here, and the true definition of the cloud is less a revolutionary new way to handle information as much as it is a convenient way to get at data when and where we need it.

Pro tip: If you are planning on using a cloud Backup or Disaster Recovery solution, it’s a good idea to make sure that the vendor you choose has multiple data centers in vastly different locations. If they don’t, it’s not technically cloud backup, is it?

For more information on cloud backup vs. on-premise storage, check out our guide: “The Great Debate.”

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