Cloud technology has become a ubiquitous tool for businesses around the world. But at the same time, its popularity can lull business owners into a false sense of security. The truth is the cloud is powerful, but not fool-proof, and data breaches remain an issue.

For example, Premera Blue Cross lost 11 million member names, social security numbers, bank account numbers, and other confidential information in 2014. That same year, someone hacked Sony’s employee information. Then in 2016, LinkedIn had 6.5 million user account passwords stolen.

Despite all that, these companies still live to tell the tale. What they have in common is a cloud backup solution, a second line of defense to keep their critical data safe and available.

Just because a small- to medium-sized business like yours doesn’t make the headlines doesn’t mean it’s clear of harm’s way. A recent Small Business Trends survey revealed that 43 percent of cyber attacks target small businesses and 60 percent of these businesses shut down within six months of the attack.

So it should go without saying, cloud backup is imperative if you want to avoid costly downtime, or worse, the shuttering of your business altogether. Here’s precisely how it can help:

Improved reliability

Since your data is copied to an off-site location, cloud backup gives you an added measure of insurance even if you don’t have a disaster recovery plan. More importantly, cloud providers like us utilize best-in-class technology to back up your data. This includes disk-based backup, data compression, encryption, server virtualization, and more.

Ultimately, you’ll gain peace of mind with 24/7 monitoring, management, and reporting to make sure all your data is safe and always available, and SimplyClouds will take care of all necessary upgrades and migrations so you’ll never have to worry about the management end of things.

Enhanced accessibility

Cloud backup for your business allows data to be accessed from anywhere at anytime as long as there’s an internet connection. You don’t have to worry about security since you’ll be able to set permission access among other advanced security policies.

Faster recovery times

Tape recovery is time consuming -- your operator needs to load the tape, locate the data, and perform the recovery process. And  if the file is on the end of a tape, the drive must go through the entire tape. And if the data is on another cartridge or drive, you’ll have to load the other one instead.

The cloud, however, offers swift recovery; you can locate and stream over the WAN connection the files that need recovery in just a few clicks and they don’t require physical transport from an offsite location.

Simplified processes

If you’re worried about the complexity of cloud data backup, don’t be. File back-up is automatic and continuous while online. What’s more, you won’t have to deal with management and maintenance tasks either; your cloud provider handles everything.

Reduced costs

Cloud backup for your business eliminates the costs of procurement and provisioning. You’ll be able to leverage the unlimited scalability of a third-party cloud provider without any upfront capital expenditure. And since most cloud providers offer a pay-as-you-go pricing model, surprise expenses don't exist.

The cloud has changed the data backup game thanks to its practicality and affordability. And even though it has been around for years, tech companies continue to unveil new cloud capabilities, all of which add value to businesses.

At SimplyClouds, we take the time to understand your needs and budget to tailor a cloud solution that works best for you. If you’re looking for cloud backup for your business, or have questions about cloud technology, just give us a call. We have extensive experience and will be happy to advise.