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Cloud backup is a service that enables companies to create an up-to-date copy of their files and servers. This procedure makes for easy recovery of files in case of a cyberattack or damage to the primary data storage.
The provider offering the cloud backup service is responsible for the storage and security of customer data.
See below to learn all about the global cloud backup market:
See more: The Best Enterprise Backup Software
Cloud backup market
The cloud backup market was estimated to be valued at $2 billion in 2020. It’s projected to maintain a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.9% over the analysis period from 2020 to 2027, reaching a value of $8.4 billion by the end of it.
Regionally, the global cloud backup market is segmented as follows:
- The U.S. market was estimated at $595.2 million in 2020, with a 29.7% share
- The Chinese market is forecast for a CAGR of 22.5% over the analysis period, reaching $1.5 billion by 2027
- Japan and Canada are forecast to grow at a CAGR of 20.3% and 19.7% over the forecast period
- Within Europe, Germany is projected to maintain one of the highest CAGRs at 16.2%
By industry, the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) is a key sector driving demand in the market.
Other notable industries include:
- Government
- Manufacturing
- IT
- Telecom
- Health care
- Life sciences
- Consumer goods and retail
- Education
- Energy
Cloud backup features
Primarily, there are several key options when it comes to cloud backup:
Off-the-shelf cloud backup
The simplest and most affordable cloud backup option is using a ready-for-you solution. It provides an easy-to-use, compatible, and scalable solution for data backup and recovery.
However, off-the-shelf solutions tend to be limited in customization capabilities. They are rarely as flexible as a user needs them to be, and they implement standard data security precautions.
BaaS cloud backup
Backup-as-a-service (BaaS) is among the most used solutions for both on-premises and cloud storage environments. BaaS solutions shift the backup maintenance requirements to the providing vendor.
Build your own
By renting, buying, or building the needed hardware and software resources for cloud backup, companies can set up their own data backup and recovery system. This approach requires a significant upfront investment of time and funds.
Using their own backup solution moves all necessary maintenance and management back to you, while upgrades and scalability are not quick and would require careful planning.
Cloud backup providers
Working with a third-party provider of cloud backup services, you can come to your own agreement on the level of independence, whether it’s a platform, infrastructure, application, or a complete backup and recovery service.
The cloud provider is generally responsible for the data backup process, along with regular updates and maintenance, and of the hardware and software infrastructure, all the way to security and disaster recovery of data.
Multicloud and cloud backup
Storing massive amounts of data in a single location might be efficient and convenient, but it doesn’t hold strong when it comes to disaster mitigation. This is particularly the case with data backup, recovery, and redundancy.
More corporate cloud backup users are demanding a multicloud approach for their data storage. The separation of data includes the isolation of different versions and the backup of backups on separate servers, along with cybersecurity measures.
“Consequently, one of the biggest successes of the multicloud movement has been the storing of backups or second copies of data in alternate clouds,” says Dave Friend, a member of the Forbes Technology Council.
“Storage providers are recognizing the importance of hosting backups and second copies of data from the outset and consequently, designing their pricing and business model to fit these applications.”
Generally, “cloud-to-cloud backups are housed in such a way that you do not have access to the low-level files that represent your cloud backups,” according to a post by Spin Technology.
“This helps to protect the backups of your production data, so that data loss is highly unlikely due to conventional data loss culprits, like ransomware or end-user mistakes.”
Benefits of cloud backup
Data backup solutions are essential for organizations.
Some of the key cloud backup benefits include:
- Reducing costs
- Minimizing IT workload
- Automating backup and updates
- Simplifying data management
- Simplifying compliance with data regulations
- Prompting data reliability
- Eliminating or reducing on-site data backup
Cloud backup use cases
Here are some examples of how organizations in different industries use cloud backup to safeguard their data against cyberthreats and disasters:
Prinsiri
Prinsiri is a developer of housing and condominiums across Thailand under the brand name PrinVentures, most known for its affordable housing and projects for nature-loving families.
With the online housing market booming, Prinsiri needed to transform its digital infrastructure to keep up with the growing customer base.
The company adopted numerous Google Cloud solutions, including Google Workspace for its 200 employees. Establishing business resiliency, Prinsiri also started creating backup snapshots and storing them in the cloud.
“It’s easier and more efficient to innovate on new features on modern stack, like Google Cloud, by breaking down big projects into manageable tasks for faster and more frequent release cycles. … It takes five minutes to start a VM in App Engine and Compute Engine, instead of days deploying to on-premise servers,” says Parit Sripakdeevong, CTO, PrinVentures Company.
“We trust Google Cloud for its security that logs every API call and action.”
Working with Google, Prinsiri was able to set up its cloud resources in minutes instead of days and complete full data backups within 24 hours.
Children’s Health Orange County
Children’s Health Orange County (CHOC) is a network of pediatric health care facilities and hospitals in Orange and Mission Viejo, California. It includes hundreds of programs and services aimed at providing health care for children.
Looking to operate more efficiently and make use of the cloud, CHOC sought the help of AWS.
In addition to running around half of its architecture on the AWS cloud — and its desktop environment on VMware Cloud on AWS — it entirely migrated its backup, recovery, and business continuity programs to the AWS Cloud.
“We’re very well positioned in the future to expand out and deliver a very robust disaster recovery environment,” says Adam Gold, CTO, CHOC.
“Using AWS for Health has enabled us to provide the highest quality and most advanced care in a safe environment for our kiddos and create an experience that delights our providers and associates.”
Switching to AWS, CHOC was able to improve data recovery times from three hours to under 10 minutes and enable regular backups for its 300 virtual machines.
Belfast Metropolitan College
The Belfast Metropolitan College (Belfast Met) in Northern Ireland has over 20,000 students and 1,400 faculty members.
Belfast Met faced technical difficulties with its previous backup and restore solutions, as many student assignments were accidentally deleted, and its infrastructure was under threat of phishing and ransomware threats.
Working with Barracuda Networks, Belfast Met deployed Barracuda Email Protection and Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup solutions as part of its defense strategy.
“It helps me sleep at night,” says Liam Downey, IT operations manager, Belfast Metropolitan College.
“We haven’t had a major ransomware or phishing attack coming into the college, and we’d credit Barracuda with facilitating that. It’s an important part of the mechanism to protect us getting attacked and to allow us to restore if we ever were attacked.”
Upgrading to the Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup solution, Belfast Met’s IT team was able to keep their data safe at all times, including from cyberattacks.
Cloud backup providers
Some of the leading providers of cloud backup services in the global market include:
- Microsoft
- Druva
- Datto
- Barracuda Networks
- IBM
- Carbonite
- Iron Mountain
- Google Cloud
- Veeam
- AWS
See more: The Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS) Market
