Cloud Backup Solutions

Cloud backup solution is leveraged by enterprises to back up their business-critical data in order to avoid data loss in the event of manmade or natural disasters. Enterprise data is backed up in an encrypted form to enhance security over cloud. Cloud backup solutions provide various benefits, such as data protection, data retention, central management and monitoring, and autoscaling, in addition to lower infrastructure costs, easy and simple deployment, and integration of cloud backup with other enterprise applications.

Top 10 Cloud Backup Vendors 2020

1. IBM CORPORATION
2. MICROSOFT CORPORATION
3. AMAZON
4. VMWARE INC
5. SUNGARD AS
6. HPE
7. CISCO SYSTEMS INC
8. CABLE & WIRELESS WORLDWIDE
9. ZERTO LTD
10. ACRONIS INTERNATIONAL GMBH

Cloud Backup Solutions Market Overview

In recent years, the demand for cloud backup solutions and services has been growing, as organizations need to manage huge data sets that is not possible using traditional backup solutions. Additional hardware requirements, file corruption, and manual processing are a few drawbacks of traditional backup that are compelling organizations to adopt cloud-based backup solutions and services.

Cloud backup serves the needs of geographically-dispersed business units by providing a single consolidated solution. In order to leverage the full benefits of this technology, organizations are shifting from on-premises backup solutions to cloud. Cloud technologies can transform the backup market by offering more value, simplified backup process, and affordability to enterprises of all sizes.

On-premises backup solutions are becoming increasingly complex due to limited bandwidth issues. Thus, enterprises are shifting their focus on implementing highly efficient cloud backup solutions. Some of the major factors driving the growth of cloud backup solutions are the huge volume of generated data, lower costs and greater efficiency as compared to on-premises backup, and growing adoption of SaaS.

Moreover, there are various opportunities ahead for the cloud backup market such as growing adoption among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and high adoption rate of hybrid cloud. These factors will transform the cloud backup market and create better business avenues for enterprises. In spite of offering numerous benefits, the cloud backup market faces various challenges, such as bandwidth limitations, difficulty in achieving compliance, and rising concerns over data privacy and governance. Moreover, resistance to the adoption of cloud backup solutions and services due to the time-consuming recovery process is restricting the growth of the overall market for cloud backup solutions and services.

25 companies offering top cloud backup solutions are analysed, shortlisted and categorized on a quadrant under Visionary Leaders, Innovators, Dynamic Differentiators, and Emerging Companies to identified best Cloud backup solutions providers.

Vendor evaluations are based on two broad categories: product offering and business strategy. Each category carries various criteria, based on which vendors have been evaluated. The evaluation criteria considered under product offerings include the breadth of offering, delivery (based on industries that the vendors cater to, deployment models, and subscriptions), features/functionality, product quality and reliability, and product differentiation. The evaluation criteria considered under business strategy include geographic footprint (on the basis of geographic presence), channel strategy and fit, vision alignment, and effectiveness of growth (on the basis of innovations, partnerships, collaborations, and acquisitions).

Visionary leaders are the leading market players in terms of new developments such as product launches, innovative technologies, and the adoption of growth strategies. These players have a broad product offering that caters to most of the regions globally. Visionary leaders primarily focus on acquiring the leading market position through their strong financial capabilities and their well-established brand equity. This category includes top cloud backup solutions providers such as IBM Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Amazon, VMware Inc, SunGard As, HPE, Cisco Systems Inc and Acronis International GMBH.

The dynamic differentiator's category includes established vendors with very strong business strategies. However, they are low in the product portfolio. This category includes cloud backup solutions providers such as Datto Inc, Tierpoint, Geminare Incorporated, Peak 10 Inc, Evolve IP, Zetta and Recovery Point Systems.

Innovators in the competitive leadership mapping are vendors that have demonstrated substantial product innovations as compared to their competitors. The companies have focused on product portfolios. However, they do not have very strong growth strategies for their overall business, when compared with the visionary leaders. This category includes top cloud backup solutions providers such as Zerto Ltd, Infrascale, Axcient, Vision Solutions INC, Bluelock and ILAND.

Emerging companies’ category comprises vendors with niche product offerings, who are starting to gain their position in the market. They do not have very strong business strategies as compared to other established vendors. They might be new entrants in the market and require some more time before getting significant traction. This category includes vendors such as NTT Communications Corporation, CenturyLink, Cable & Wireless Worldwide, Iron Mountain Incorporated.

Types of Cloud Backup Solutions

In this section, different types of cloud backups are explained and discussed.

Private cloud – Private cloud services (also known as an internal or enterprise cloud) are used by one organisation and are not exposed to the public. The cloud itself is situated inside the organisation and is protected by a firewall to ensure only the organisation and its users have access to the data.

Public cloud – Third-party providers such as Amazon Web Services and Office 365 offer public cloud services over the public Internet, making them available to anyone to use or purchase. They may either be free or sold on-demand, allowing customers to pay per usage for the CPU cycles, storage, or bandwidth they consume.

Hybrid cloud – Hybrid cloud services use a blend of on-premises, private cloud and third party, public cloud services with interplay between the platforms. It is often referred to as the best of both worlds.

Why to use Cloud Backup Solutions?

Cloud backup is the easiest way to get the security of off-site backup for your important files. The data is stored in an online repository, where it’s easily accessible when needed. Cloud backup does not eliminate the need for a local backup on an external hard drive of some sort, but it provides an easy solution for keeping another backup off-site. The other options are to circulate a few hard drives that are to be kept in a safe at the office (a pain to remember), or run a remote server (technically challenging). Here are some of the reasons why organisations use cloud backup services:

• Protecting Data and Apps: By storing critical data and applications off-site, they are protected from local weather disturbances and outages.
• Quick Data Recovery: The data backed up by cloud servers can be restored quickly, enabling a company to rapidly gain access to the desired files or systems.
• Reliable Disaster Recovery: Backup cloud services provide users with instant access to much-needed data and apps in the case of a disaster, whether natural or manmade.
• Flexible Storage: Unlike traditional backup techniques where data is locally stored on a hard drive or tape with limited capacity, cloud-based backup can be quickly scaled up or down.

Who uses Cloud Backup Solutions?

Cloud backup services apply most to small offices and home use due to the convenience it provides. It saves individuals’ expense of in-house software and can be set up to run "dark," or automatically without manual intervention. Smaller companies typically store less information and can more easily restore data in the event of a computer failure. And in cases when maintaining an IT staff is difficult or financially impossible to achieve, this solution provides a low-cost alternative to creating an in-house network and backup procedure.

At the enterprise level, however, large companies typically use cloud backup services to archive noncritical data only. Traditional backup solutions prove to be more reliable for critical data and require a very short recovery time in comparison to cloud backup. Cloud backup puts physical limitations on how much data can be moved at a given time, whereas traditional backups can be transmitted at much faster rates. With cloud backups, in the event of a large data recovery, it may need to be shipped via a portable storage device.

Considerations while choosing best cloud backup solution

Choosing the right cloud backup solutions for the business is a tough and time consuming task for the top management as it includes perspectives of different departments of the business. Generally, while choosing the best Cloud backup solutions, following points needs to be considered from the business point of view:

• Ease of Use: It shouldn't be complicated for someone with basic computer skills to set up a continuous backup schedule and recover data. Many solutions have user-friendly dashboards that let you organize data, schedule backups, manage group privileges, collaborate, control security settings and more.
• Backup and Storing Capabilities: Many cloud backup services allows to store more files and share them with others. Cloud backup services don't normally let users to store additional files beyond what is on the hard drive so the user can make clean recoveries in case of an emergency.
• Security: If cybersecurity is a concern, encryption is a must. Many services offer 256-bit AES encryption which meets the standard government rules and regulations. Make sure to choose a company that takes security seriously. Ask vendors about encryption and other measures they take to ensure data is protected.
• Performance: Some storage services may offer different performance tiers. For instance, if there is a data loss and if the information is needed back, the organization might want a service that allows to perform fast recoveries. Likewise, any potential conflicts with bandwidth and throttling, the user would not want internet speeds diminished because the system is backing data up.
• Collaboration Features: If you are strictly looking for cloud backup, collaboration may not be a concern for. If documents are shared frequently, many vendors offer features that are both convenient and provides security for data. These features include password-protected file sharing links, delivery notifications on accessed documents, link expiration dates, user and group management, feedback and approval options, chat abilities and more.
• Platform Capabilities: Each cloud backup service allows to upload, download and access files via an internet browser. However, some cloud backup services only work on specific platform types, like Windows, Mac or Linux. Ensure that solution can accommodate the various platforms for business uses. If the organization is highly mobile than a platform which provides mobile app should be preferred.

Trending Features of Cloud Backup Solutions

Cloud backup is third-party service that enables customers to store data, remotely, on the internet. Businesses using the cloud can backup, manage and recover data much more easily than with traditional methods that require additional, on-site storage. Here are some of the features to be looked upon:

Storage space: Cloud providers charge customers based on the amount of data storage they use. This will entail looking at the size of a single backup and then multiplying this by the number of backups you want to preserve at any point in time. This will help you compare the rates of individual providers.

Scalable storage: The amount of data which needs backing up can vary. With the growth of business, storage requirements are likely to increase and, if occasionally business carry out large-scale projects, requirement of temporary backup of the data might arise. This feature allows the customer to increase their storage capacity need basis, enabling to scale up with growth or to cover short-term needs.

High availability: This feature should allow the user to keep the backup servers online always. If the system fails and the servers are offline, then the data will not be recovered and can cause financial loss to the company. Some cloud backup providers lay emphasis on the availability of the servers to differentiate from other vendors.

Vendor disaster recovery: Before choosing a backup service, make sure that it has its own disaster recovery plan in operation too. Most service providers have multilocation backups which store several copies of your backups at different data centres. So, even if a fire takes out a complete data centre, one of the copies stored elsewhere can be brought online immediately.

Backup frequency as required: Some businesses need to back up their data far more frequently than others. In ecommerce business, the user may need constant backups so that it does not lose any very recent transactions if data is lost. Some backup services give customers total control over the frequency of their backups and enable them to be scheduled at times which are most convenient.

Backup security: The security of cloud backups is highly important considering the number of cyberattacks that take place. If you are passing that security to a third-party, make sure they have robust measures in place to keep your data out of the hands of hackers. In addition, the physical data centres should also be well-guarded with security staff, CCTV and access control in place.

Data compliance: Data regulation is getting stricter all the time. If business holds personal information it is required to comply with the Data Protection Act and the new GDPR regulation. Even if data is backed up by a third-party cloud provider, business is still responsible for it. Make sure, that provider meets industry standards and follows best practice to help business stay compliant.

24/7 technical support: Backups are essential if you need to recover from a data loss. However, if a disaster does happen, the technical difficulties in getting back online quickly can be challenging. It’s times like these when you need a service provider that does more than simply provide a backup server. Ideally, support should be available via telephone, online chat and email.

Benefits of Cloud backup

• In addition to eliminating costs associated with additional hardware, cloud backup is safe, convenient, and provides anywhere access.
• Cloud backups are safe because they are not stored in a location close to computer. If a flood or fire destroys computer, the local backups can be destroyed but clod backup can be restored as it is not in any physical form.
• Cloud backup is also convenient because one can back up data automatically whenever user have internet access — and recover it too. This eliminates the panic when the user forgets the last backup date and time. With cloud backup, data can be backed up to a safe, remote location as it is saved to computer.
• Finally, the user can backup, have access to, and recover data anywhere subject to internet connection. For instance, if the laptop fails while on vacation, instead of waiting to get home to access data stored on a local backup drive, one can use another computer to view data or even download data to continue the business operations.

Cloud Backup Market Dynamics

Drivers

• Huge volume of data generation leading to rising adoption of cloud backup solution and services
• Lower costs and greater efficiency than on-premises backup
• Growing adoption of SaaS is driving the demand of cloud backup solution and services

Restraints

• Resistance to the adoption of cloud backup solution and services due to time consuming recovery process

Opportunities

• Growing adoption among SMEs
• High adoption rate of hybrid cloud expected to transform the cloud backup market

Challenges

• High adoption rate of hybrid cloud expected to transform the cloud backup market
• Difficulty in achieving compliance
• Rising concerns regarding data privacy and governance

Applications

The cloud backup market is segmented on the basis of vertical into BFSI, consumer goods and retail, education, government and public sector, healthcare and life sciences, manufacturing, media and entertainment, telecommunication and ITES, and others (transportation and logistics, travel and hospitality, and military and defense).

Banking, Financial Services, And Insurance (BFSI)

The BFSI vertical handles crucial customer data, including transaction passwords, account numbers, and card details, which needs to be protected with the utmost importance. Maintaining accessibility and security of customer data is as important as retaining that data over longer periods of time to meet the compliance requirements. With increasing financial industry regulations, such as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, the BFSI vertical needs to evolve with advanced technologies in order to meet the regulatory needs.

Consumer Goods And Retail

The need to improve sales, customer satisfaction, and brand image, and increasing data generation is forcing the consumer goods and retail vertical to give up the traditional backup strategy due to several limitations, such as high failure rates, vulnerability to physical damage, and high costs. These factors are influencing retailers to evolve to updated technologies, thus driving the adoption of cloud for providing enhanced customer satisfaction and services.

Education

The education vertical has special requirements when it comes to backup data. It has to store constantly growing data for years, such as critical employee and student data, examination data, educational content, and research data. Losing such data, for example, losing the examination data of students can impact their career seriously. Further, educational institutions always face a financial crunch, forcing them to cut costs as much as possible. Hence, the traditional backup approach is a costly affair due to the drawbacks of higher costs, limited storage, file corruption, and data loss during disasters.

Government And Public Sector

The need to protect highly-regulated information by unauthorized users is of the utmost importance in the government and public sector vertical. As a result, the adoption of cloud backup is increasing in this vertical. Cloud backup benefits the government and public vertical by providing the benefits of compliance monitoring, secure file sharing, encrypting, and backing up of critical data, as required. Further, cloud backup provides improved access control than traditional backup, thus enabling enhanced protection of critical data, which is a major concern for the government and public vertical.

Healthcare And Life Sciences

The healthcare industry is one of the fastest-growing industries worldwide. It is also the most crucial of all industries, as it works for the betterment of patients. Hence, the need to accurately protect the increasing volume of patient data with complete confidentiality is the most important focus area. Cloud backup offers the major benefit of automatic backup, thereby increasing accuracy and on-demand availability of patient’s data whenever required, especially in case of emergencies.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing companies possess huge volumes of data, including sales files, project documents, and purchase orders. Further, the proper analysis and forecasting of demand and supply requires accurate and complete availability of business-critical data. This can be provided only if the organization has an efficient backup solution. The key feature of leaving an audit trail of operational activities and data integrity checks is driving the faster adoption of cloud backup in the manufacturing vertical. Cloud backup also offers the benefits of long-term retention, no infrastructure costs, no manual intervention, unlimited storage, and reduced administration time.

Telecommunication And ITES

The telecommunication and ITES vertical has grown rapidly due to the increasing number of subscribers and huge data generation. Moreover, there has been a tremendous upsurge in consumer-generated documents, media, and other digital content, thus increasing the need for reliable and secure data backup. The telecommunication and ITES vertical has been adopting innovative cloud backup solutions to provide on-demand availability of information and real-time services to customers.

Trends and Facts

• The global cloud backup market is estimated to be USD 1,295.8 million in 2017 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 26.1% from 2017 to 2022.
• Market growth is primarily attributed to growing awareness about cloud backup benefits among enterprises.
• Huge volume of data, lower costs and greater efficiency than on-premises backup, and growing adoption of SaaS are driving the demand for cloud backup solutions.
• Growing adoption among SMEs and high adoption rate of hybrid cloud are the expected opportunities in the cloud backup market.
• The BFSI vertical is estimated to account for the largest share of the cloud backup market in 2017 and is expected to continue its dominance during the forecast period, driven by the concerns over data loss and recovery techniques, as the vertical handles critical information for running the business.
• The healthcare and life sciences vertical is projected to grow at a CAGR of 24.5% from USD 184.6 million in 2017 to USD 552.2 million by 2022.
• The government and public sector vertical is projected to grow at a CAGR of 27.8% during the forecast period, driven by its huge customer base and the need for recovery of data to keep customers informed.

Recent Developments

In November 2019, OpenText purchased cloud-based data protection, disaster recovery (DR) and endpoint security provider Carbonite to address ransomware threats and bolster endpoint protection.

In July 2019, IBM acquired Red Hat. IBM now has Red Hat's open source-based storage portfolio. That includes the Gluster file system, Ceph multiprotocol software-defined storage and OpenShift Container Storage and Hyperconverged Infrastructure products that are well suited to cloud use.

In January 2017, Carbonite acquired Double-Take Software, an affiliate of Vision Solutions, Inc. and Clearlake Capital. Through this acquisition Carbonite would enhance its suite of data protection solutions for Small and Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs) which would significantly reduce downtime.

In January 2017, Comarch entered into an agreement with Siminn, a leading telecom provider in Iceland. Under this agreement, Comarch would offer managed services to Siminn, to reduce OPEX and enhance its excellence in business operations. The agreement would help the company in expanding its customer base across Europe. With Comarch’s Managed Services, Siminn would reduce its OPEX and also have the opportunity to stay ahead of the competition in the cloud OSS/BSS market

In May 2016, Druva announced new consumption-based pricing for Druva Phoenix. This would allow enterprises to pay only for the actual storage they use. Also, it would increase the adoption of cloud-based technologies among the enterprises.

Future Growth in Cloud Backup Market

There are several factors which will drive cloud backup market towards growth if they can be worked out sufficiently.

• Security: Security is not the major concern it used to be, and more companies trust their cloud provider to secure their data. Nonetheless, users need to do their due diligence for cloud provider security. Understand encryption offerings, key management, user access control, and multi-tenant security architecture.
• Compliance: This is another cloud backup concern that, when worked out, will drive huge cloud growth. Choose a cloud backup provider who proves that they comply with regulations, and remember that the responsibility for that data remains with the company.
• Cloud complexity: Even if you partner with just one cloud storage provider, you’re probably running a variety of subscriptions, servicing a variety of workloads, managing different SLAs, and using different management portals. Working with different cloud storage vendors is a smart decision, since it allows to maximize cost savings and optimize workloads. However, the multi-cloud does add to the number of cloud providers and services you manage.
• WAN speeds: Wan speeds are another crucial challenge for companies who want to grow their data footprint. Latency impacts the speed of backup, restore, archival, and failover services. Both cloud providers and software backup manufacturers do provide WAN acceleration techniques, and it’s important to take advantage of those. However, many organizations need to bite the bullet and invest in higher and more expensive bandwidth to get the most of their cloud backup software.