It’s no secret that backups are an important component of any effective business continuity or recovery plan. Saving a copy of your IT drastically cuts down the time it takes to get back to business as usual and that investment can save thousands of dollars in the long term as well.
One of the problems we’re seeing today is that many IT teams are already overextended as we usher in the post-pandemic age, managing dispersed endpoints and increasingly complex cyber threats. They simply don’t have the time to invest in managing backups with reliable frequency. This is where Backup as a Service comes in and can make a night and day difference for organizations wanting that extra layer of reassurance in their business continuity plan.
What is Backup as a Service?
Many people are aware of the 3-2-1 method when it comes to business continuity. 3 copies of IT in 2 locations with 1 of those locations being remote. Backup as a Service can help you get there. Instead of relying on centralized, on-premises IT, Backup as a Service connects you and your systems with an offsite provider.
Backup as a Service is a backup method in which files folders or entire contents of a hard drive are regularly backed up by a service vendor to an offsite location. These locations are typically remote, secure cloud servers or data center facilities. The mission here is simple: protect the organization’s information, whether it’s business data or customer information from the risks associated with any sort of IT disaster, ranging from human error to ransomware to a natural disaster.
Key Benefits of Backup as a Service
It doesn’t just sound flashy. Backup as a Service can give you so much more than just accessible copies of your organization’s data. Here are a few things to keep in mind when making your case for investing in Backup as a Service.
Frees Up Human Bandwidth
Just like any network, humans have their limits too. As we stated earlier in the article, many IT teams are already overextended and backup administration and management is a huge drain on your employees’ time and resources, especially when they could be devoting that time to revenue-generating operations. Instead of taking time to travel to an offsite location to rotate and manage disks and tapes, you have the power to offload that responsibility to a reliable Backup as a Service provider.
Layer Up on Security
This goes without saying, but when you follow the 3-2-1 method with a Backup as a Service provider, you’re significantly less susceptible to the standard threats you’d face when only storing your data on-premises. In order to truly cripple your organization, threat actors would have to coordinate an attack to multiple secure, redundant geographic locations. When you combine that with most providers’ commitment to compliance and security, your IT team will get more sleep at night, knowing that their risks have been mitigated as much as they possibly can.
Unparalleled Redundancy
Backup as a Service can be considered a guaranteed redundancy, which helps many an IT professional sleep a little easier at night. If data is lost or deleted, whether maliciously or accidentally, backups are easily accessible for a speedy recovery, getting your organization back on track before many realized something even went wrong in the first place.
A good Backup as a Service provider will store multiple copies of your data not only independent of your own premises but independent of one another. For example, if your organization is located in Houston, your Backup as a Service provider could have copies of your data in Minneapolis, Raleigh and Omaha. As a general rule of thumb, the more current copies you’ve got, the more protected you’ll be if your world is turned upside-down.
Disaster Recovery Simplified
It should be clear by now that Backup as a Service makes disaster recovery fast and convenient. The key here is the automated nature of Backup as a Service solutions. A solid provider will save all information automatically as it streams in, per your organization’s unique compliance specifications or simply your preferences for your own peace of mind. Backup as a Service negates the need to proactively save or track your information and instead allows you to focus on your organization’s objectives and goals without worrying about your risk of data loss.
Ultimately Reduces Costs
Labor is expensive and so is hardware. The cost of tapes, drives, servers and other elements necessary to perform the backups your IT requires can add up in a hurry, and your employees are probably better served and more engaged performing other duties that feel—and are—more meaningful to your organization’s IT environment.
Additionally, you’re reducing risks when moving your backups over to a reliable Backup as a Service provider because it’s their area of expertise. You’re not worrying about backups that may or may not have worked—or wasting valuable materials and time. Outsourcing backups can be a substantial relief when it comes time to reconcile the budget.
Offering Additional Layers
Disaster Recovery as a Service often goes hand-in-hand with Backup as a Service and can easily be layered on to get your business back up after a cybersecurity event or other disaster. Backup as a Service is a copy of your IT, but DRaaS automatically switches all operations over to that copy in the event of a disaster. As your needs change or become more complex, many Backup as a Service providers will be able to scale the services to the growth of your organization, making for a seamless transition to fewer headaches.
LightEdge’s Business Continuity Offerings Can Get You Back Up in the Blink of an Eye
We know every element of your business’s IT hinges on the dependability of your technology to deliver what you need, when you need it and disasters can put all of that in jeopardy. LightEdge gives you a team of local, experts who delivers fully integrated data protection including Backup as a Service, disaster recovery services and workplace recovery facilities to ensure your business is always fully covered and operational.
Whether you’re considering options for business continuity or are already in crisis, we’d love to set up a time to talk with you about the challenges you’re facing and what your goals are for uptime and incident management in the future. Our team of experts is waiting to answer your questions and get you on the road to complete business continuity.
