In our previous article, we introduced you to the concept of cloud backup. Here, we will look at another popular service – cloud storage which is sometimes misunderstood and considered the same as cloud backup.

So what are they and how do they differ?

Cloud Backup

As explained in our previous article, cloud backup services offer you replicates/ backups of your business data. The main point of the backup exercise is that your primary data still lies in your own physical and on-premises servers or hardware. Only the backups are stored in the cloud of the service providers.

Whenever cloud backup is suitable for your situation, it is beneficial for all businesses to get their business data backed up since it offers security and data recovery in case of disasters. It is crucial to find a reliable cloud service provider who offers a clear data backup and recovery policy. If your data center or office experiences data loss due to any kind of disasters such as natural disasters, human mistakes or even security attacks, you can easily pull out your backup and run it to continue running your business. You can have a much better peace of mind since you know you have a replica of the data secured in the cloud, which can be accessed easily and quickly. Thus, your business is not interrupted for a long time.

Cloud Storage

Cloud storage, as its name implies, means that your files and data are stored in the cloud. It’s not just a backup but your primary data is now in the cloud (a network of remotely distributed servers). The data are stored online and synchronized across users and devices.

The main benefit of cloud storage is that a large amount of data can be securely stored in the cloud without having to invest in equivalent hardware or physical servers. So for example, instead of buying new hardware and memory storages the old way to store some application files, your product information or employees details, your system now can utilize cloud storage to store and access them easily. Also, one general advantage of the cloud is its scalability. You can increase the space needed whenever you want.

If we take examples of cloud storage services for personal uses, I believe most of us have used at least one of them, like DropBox, Apple’s iCloud, Microsoft’ OneDrive, Google Drive and so on.

For enterprises solution, you will, of course, have to assess the cloud storage options with more caution in terms of security, retention policy, service-level agreements, and other factors. For example, Microsoft Azure Cloud Storage, they offer different options for encryption and data redundancy, so your data is also replicated.

However, we can also see that for many small businesses, utilizing Gmail and Google Drives helps them to store and access files remotely. Or many businesses with Microsoft Office 365 bundles will have OneDrive capacity per user.

Cloud storage can also be a suitable choice for new application development. These new applications now can utilize the latest cloud services. For instance, they can use Microsoft Azure SQL database while storing other types of files in Azure Blobs (one type of Azure Storage services).

Cloud storage is the basis for multiple beneficial services, you will need to know which one should you use and how to adopt it. Contact us to work with a reputable and certified provider so you can select a suitable service for your business’s growth journey.