Pros and Cons of Cloud Data Backup

Did you know stats reveal that an hour of downtime costs an average business about $8,000 in losses? But despite these potential losses, a whopping 51% of small businesses have not embraced cloud-based solutions to back up their data. Instead, they still rely on hardware solutions to store their sensitive details.

However, these solutions are problematic because, unlike online solutions like Microsoft Office 365 backup, they are vulnerable to easy loss.

So, how does cloud data backup come in? What are its benefits and shortcomings? Get all the answers to these critical questions in the remaining sections of this post.

The Pros

Cloud data storage has many benefits you won’t find in its hardware counterpart. Here are the four leading ones.          

More Efficient and Reliable

Ones you go to the cloud, you don’t need to worry about hardware upgrades since the service provider handles that.

Also, you no longer trouble yourself handling software updates because the cloud carrier also takes care of that. Lastly, all the electricity costs and other maintenance expenses lie with the vendor. In this way, the vendor helps you to focus on your core duties, making cloud storage more robust and efficient.

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Completely Secure

Also, cloud solutions are more secure than hardware storage. For instance, their hardware counterparts can be stolen or destroyed through fires or floods. However, data companies have tight security around their installations.

Some house their installations on power grids with armed security 24/7. Their installations are built using unique materials that can withstand level 5 hurricanes. Also, their encryption is safer because they use military-grade coding. This way, your data are safer—physically and virtually.

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Enabling Access to Your Data Anywhere

Cloud data storage is also convenient because you can access your information anywhere 24/7. Can you imagine the stress of going back to your office to retrieve your data stored on a hard drive? With cloud solutions, all these hassles become forgotten history.

Scalability

Scalability is another benefit you enjoy when migrating your data to the cloud. This storage option lets you spend money only on the storage you use. It allows you to add or reduce storage space based on your current needs.

For example, if you need 5 TB this year, you will pay for that. But if the following year it changes to 3.5 TB, then you will only pay for that storage amount. This way, you don’t lock up your valuable and limited funds in expenses you don’t need.

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The Cons

Despite its beautiful advantages, cloud storage has some shortcomings worth noting. Here are some of them.

Lingering Privacy and Security Issues

A Nexsansurvey with top executives yielded negative feedback. For instance, only 3% of them felt storing their sensitive data on the cloud is safe and private. For instance, some expressed concerns with issues like internal and external permission management.

Also, they were concerned about the possibility of some vendors accessing data for encoding and marketing purposes. Others worried about accidental deletion on shared storage drives.

Compliance Concerns

Compliance is another disadvantage of cloud storage for some industries. For example, heavily regulated industries, such as healthcare, listed companies, and banks have jitters storing their data on public clouds.

Those that consider using them are usually very reserved and extra-cautious. Complying with data regulation can be challenging for players in these industries. It becomes trickier in cases where different third parties and jurisdictions can assess the stored information.

Speed

Download and data speed is another concern when storing data on the cloud. So far, speeds have improved over time. However, the Nexsan survey we saw earlier still showed that 22% of executives interviewed mentioned speed as a barrier to embracing cloud storage. They worried about the time it takes one while downloading or uploading data.

Difficult Migration

Lastly, the ease of migrating from one vendor to another is another challenge facing cloud storage. It’s difficult to migrate to another vendor after signing up for cloud services by a given supplier.

This problem usually affects large businesses and organizations with huge data sums because it’s more complex to move large amounts of data. It’s more pronounced, especially when a company falls out with the supplier.

There you go with the pros and cons of cloud data storage. We hope these insights will assist you in making the right choice.