Cloud data backup is storing a copy of a virtual or a physical file or data at a different, secondary location. This is done to preserve the data in case there is a failure in the primary location. Third-party service providers host these secondary locations and charge users a fee for their services. The fee usually depends on the capacity required by the customer, the number of people using it, the bandwidth of data transmission, etc.

Understanding cloud computing
Generally, cloud computing is referred to as services that are hosted and delivered using the Internet. Unlike the ones on common Web hosting services, these cloud-based services are only offered based on demand. The customer can pay for the number of services he has used. Service providers are in charge of managing cloud-based services. Cloud can be both private as well as public. With a public cloud service provider, the services can be offered to anyone who is on the Internet. A private cloud service provider will host only a restricted number of users.

Cloud data backup process
There is a data center for an organization, which is responsible for making a copy of the data and then storing it. The storage is done using a different media or another system, which can be accessed conveniently in case it needs to be recovered. Although you can easily find several options to get an off-site backup for data, cloud data backup is a facility, which is used by several organizations.

Benefits of cloud data backup
While cloud data backup has enjoyed a history of almost two decades, it has not made its way into many businesses. It has picked up pace in the last few years, and it shows immense promise in the coming years too. Let us have a look at some of the advantages of using cloud data backup.

• Cost-effectiveness
  Most businesses constantly worry about the cost implication of setting up a cloud-based server. However, if you compare the advantages and disadvantages in the longer run, the ROI of using cloud data backup will far outweigh the ROI of not using one. You will end up saving on a lot of time, money, and resources in the long run if you opt for cloud data backup. Also, with most of the cloud data backup services, you only have to pay for what you use. Thus, you need not be concerned about paying for services that you don’t need, or not understanding well enough what you’ll need or not need.
• Security
  While adopting any new technology, most companies have security concerns, as classified information must be kept safe. All the data, files, and programs that will be uploaded to the cloud have to be protected, which could worry most people. However, cloud data backup ensures that the data is being monitored and kept safe, and there are almost no chances of there being any breach of security. In fact, cloud data backup ensures that there is no internal theft. Even if we do not consider the possibility of internal theft when we’re discussing the merits of the term, the fact is that a major chunk of data theft is internal. Thus, in some cases, data kept off-site is kept safe.
• Flexibility
  There is a lot that can be done with the time and resource currently being dedicated to the storage of data. However, if this can be outsourced to cloud computing, and it is being managed remotely, you will not have to deal with problems within the organization. Thus, businesses get more flexibility as compared to hosting the data on a local server. This can prove to be a big boost to the efficiency of the organization, especially the IT department. Hence, you can also focus on business goals instead of just worrying about the storage of data and its security, among other aspects.
• Mobility
  This is one of the most important and obvious benefits of cloud data backup. You do not have to carry your data from one location to another as the data transports itself to whichever location you want to access it in. It does not matter how many people wish to access the data and from which location. You can have hundreds of people access the files from different locations without facing a problem as long as they have an active Internet connection. On the other hand, sharing files is a major problem if people are working remotely. This also serves as a great advantage for work-life balance, since people can simply access from far off locations in case of urgencies without actually having to come to the office.
• Insights and analysis
  Knowing more about your data is more important than it ever was. You need a lot of metrics to understand things about your team, customers, and competitors. Here, cloud computing does wonders for you. Cloud analytics services are available with many cloud data backup services, and they can do the number crunching in no time. Once you have the data, you can easily implement that in your processes and make more money.
• Better collaboration
  Higher the number of people in the organization, more seamless should be the collaboration. This is because there’s no use of having different people do different jobs without actually using the best of what the other people have to offer. With the help of cloud data backup, collaboration becomes easy as team members can easily access your work when given permission, and give inputs, support, or guidance whenever you need it. You do not have to carry files to their desk or share the data in a physical drive. Collaborations are quite effective and effortless in an organization that makes use of cloud computing.
• Quality control
  Since the data is stored in the cloud, you have the least possibility of human error. In addition, since all documents are stored in the same format at the same place, you can also easily detect if there is a problem somewhere, and the reason can also be understood quickly. Without a cloud data backup system, many employees are managing their data in different ways, which results in more errors, and finding out the mistake gets difficult.
• Disaster recovery
  Disasters are inevitable, and while we do wish that we do not have to undergo any disaster in our personal and professional lives, we can hope that it does not cause much damage. There’s good news for cloud users, as 20% claim disaster recovery in less than four hours, while it is 9% in the case of non-cloud users. Thus, in times when things seem to go completely out of hand, there are more chances of getting them back in control if you use cloud data backup than if you do not.
• Software updates
  Manual software updates are quite frustrating, and you’ll know it if you’ve ever had to wait for an update to happen while you need to finish off some important task. Thankfully, with cloud data backup, you can ensure that all software updates are happening automatically, thereby regularly giving you better experience without having to work for it, which saves time and energy.
• Sustainability
  Even if you do not find a lot of positives in cloud data backup when you think of your business today, there could be a lot of advantages moving forward as it is a software of the future. The wastefulness has to be dealt with cleverly, and nothing fights waste of resources and time as cloud data backup does. In addition to the advantages for the company, environmental benefits point towards the fact that cloud data backup is the only solution we will have in the future.

Popular cloud data backup solutions for small businesses
Data backup is important for all companies. However, at times small companies might feel the pinch a little more if they happen to lose their data as compared to larger companies. The reason is that they might not have the resources to recover the data if it was in local servers. In such conditions, it becomes important for small businesses to have cloud data backup. This will help keep their data secure, accessible from anywhere, and less prone to loss.

Let us have a look at some of the most popular cloud data backup solutions for small businesses.

Carbonite
This is most popular among small businesses and its core highlight is the ease-of-use. You can simply subscribe to a plan, upload the data to the cloud, and all the work will be done automatically in the background. Unlimited storage is available for a single computer as of now, and you can get 250GB storage for different computers. The additional storage on these computers can be purchased separately. So, small businesses can backup the data from their main computer, and the data of other computers can be stored as per the requirement.

Security of data is not a concern with Carbonite, as it encrypts your data and the encryption key can be set by you. Thus, you get full control over your data. Apart from this, the interface is easy-to-understand, enabling everyone to use the services, despite not having a complete understanding of the technology. You can just set it with your process and then forget about it. It’ll simply upload all the data as and when it comes.

Backblaze
Backblaze is a close competitor to Carbonite and is similar in the benefits it offers. Backblaze will automatically scan the drivers for all data that needs to be uploaded on the cloud, although the process has to be completed manually. The interface of Backblaze is also simple and easy-to-understand, which makes it one of the popular choices for cloud data backup solutions for small businesses. You get an encryption key option to keep your data secure, and when you wish to recover data, you have to use the passphrase to decrypt the data. Although this might seem like a flaw or burden for some, it works well with people who don’t mind a little extra work to keep the data secure. One major issue with Backblaze is that it offers only a 30-day version retention period.

OpenDrive
This one does not have an unlimited storage option and although the plans are reasonably priced, they do come with a capping of 500GB. While this might be enough for most small businesses, it is still a drawback. The cloud data backup solution uses the desktop UI to manage sync and backup processes. While the interface might not appeal to many, it is user-friendly, although not as simple as the previous two. OpenDrive requires each file and folder to be uploaded separately, which makes the process tedious. However, it has a continuous backup facility, which works well for most users. You can opt for private encryption of your data as well as you can get it managed. One feature that stands out from the rest is that OpenDrive lets you store 99 versions of a file for an unlimited period.

Spideroak
The maximum online storage offered by Spideroak is 5TB. While it is sufficient in most cases, some might not prefer the limitation. With this cloud data backup solution, the files and folders have to be individually tagged if needed in the backup plan. This process can be a bit frustrating. However, one useful feature is that you can upload file changes instead of uploading the entire file, thereby saving time and space. As expected, files are encrypted once they’re uploaded to the cloud.