Offsite cloud storage backups refer to storing data backups remotely over the internet, typically using a third-party cloud storage provider. Onsite backups refer to storing backup data locally, either on external hard drives or a local server. Offsite cloud backups provide several key advantages compared to onsite backups, including enhanced accessibility, security, scalability, and cost savings.
This article will provide an in-depth examination of the benefits organizations can realize by leveraging offsite cloud storage backups instead of relying solely on onsite options. Specifically, we will analyze how offsite backups improve accessibility, security, scalability, compliance, ease of use, and cost savings. We will also discuss potential drawbacks of offsite backups and ideal usage scenarios.
Accessibility
One major benefit of offsite cloud backups compared to onsite backups is accessibility. With offsite cloud backups, you can access your files from anywhere as long as you have an internet connection. This provides much more flexibility than onsite backups, which can only be accessed from the physical location where the backup drive or server is stored.
For example, if you have an onsite backup and your office suffers damage or becomes inaccessible, you may not be able to retrieve your backup files. However, with an offsite cloud backup, you could access the files from home, or a different office location. This kind of flexibility is critical for disaster recovery scenarios.
In today’s mobile workforce, accessibility and flexibility are key. Offsite cloud backups allow employees to access data and applications from anywhere using any device. This enables a business to continue normal operations even if they can’t access the physical office space.
Security
Offsite backups provide an extra layer of protection in case onsite data is compromised or lost due to events like hardware failure, data corruption, cyber attacks, or natural disasters. By keeping a copy of data stored securely offsite, businesses have redundancy for disaster recovery. If the primary onsite backup fails or is compromised, the offsite backup copy remains intact and available for restore.
According to Jetpack, offsite backups ensure that “even if your primary systems are compromised, your data remains secure.” They serve as a failsafe against catastrophic loss. For example, if a fire destroys a business’s onsite servers and backups, their offsite cloud backup would allow restoration of the lost data.
Offsite backups provide an essential layer of cybersecurity, preventing data loss in the case of ransomware or other cyber attacks that may infect or destroy on-premise systems and connected backups. With offsite storage not connected to the company network, it creates an “air gap” that keeps backup data isolated from malicious actors and hacks into the primary systems.
Scalability
One of the main benefits of offsite cloud backup is the ability to easily scale storage as your needs grow. According to Jetpack, “The best offsite backup solution should offer you secure and robust storage, easy retrieval of your data, real-time updates, and scalability.”
With cloud storage services like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, it’s easy to add more storage space with the click of a button. You only pay for what you use, so it’s cost effective to scale up and down as needed. Onsite backup solutions like external hard drives or NAS devices have fixed capacity. Once you fill them up, you need to physically add new hardware. As noted by Seagate, “Onsite storage may be limited while cloud solutions can scale to meet your needs.”
The scalability of cloud backup makes it flexible to handle spikes in storage requirements. You don’t need to worry about running out of space or managing additional hardware.
Cost Savings
One of the main benefits of offsite cloud backups is the potential for significant cost savings compared to scaling up onsite storage infrastructure. With cloud backups, you only pay for the storage you use rather than investing in additional servers and storage devices. This allows businesses to save on the overhead costs of maintaining and expanding their own onsite backup infrastructure (1).
Cloud backup services are offered on a pay-as-you-go model, so you can scale storage up or down as needed. Rather than purchasing more storage capacity than you currently require, you can pay for exactly the amount of cloud storage space used. Some estimates show cloud backup storage can cost as little as $0.005 per GB per month with certain providers (1). This represents substantial savings over maintaining equivalent storage onsite.
The scalability and pay-per-use model of cloud backups means businesses only pay for storage when they need it. This can lead to significant cost savings, especially for smaller businesses or those with fluctuating storage demands. Maintenance, electricity, and personnel costs of onsite infrastructure are also avoided by leveraging the economies of scale of major cloud providers.
Compliance
Offsite cloud backups can help organizations meet regulatory compliance standards more easily than onsite backups alone. Reputable cloud backup providers like Rewind offer features that facilitate compliance with regulations like HIPAA, GDPR, and SOC 2.
Storing data offsite with a cloud provider allows companies to meet stringent data retention and availability policies mandated by regulations. Services with immutable backups prevent accidental or malicious deletion during the required retention period. Encrypted offsite backups also reduce compliance risks by securing sensitive data.
In comparison, onsite backups make it harder to adhere to retention rules if stored media degrades or is lost in a disaster. Relying solely on onsite backups forces companies to shoulder the burden of compliance themselves rather than leveraging a compliant cloud provider’s security controls.
Overall, reputable cloud backup services allow organizations to more easily comply with data protection regulations through availability, retention, encryption and other built-in safeguards.
Ease of Use
One of the major benefits of using an offsite cloud backup service is the ease of use. With an offsite service, backups and restoration are handled completely by the provider. This removes a significant burden from internal IT staff, who no longer have to manage tapes or disks for an onsite solution. The provider handles all of the behind-the-scenes work of performing regular backups and maintaining the necessary infrastructure. All an organization has to do is set up the initial configuration and credentials. After that, backups happen automatically on the schedule specified (1).
This hands-off approach for backups frees up time for IT staff and resources. Rather than having to monitor and maintain backups themselves, the IT team can instead focus on other high-value initiatives and innovation. Overall, offsite cloud backups offer a much simpler process compared to traditional onsite options.
Drawbacks of Offsite Backups
While offsite cloud backups provide some advantages, there are also some potential drawbacks to consider:
Dependence on internet connectivity – Offsite backups rely on an internet connection to transfer data to the cloud. If the internet goes down, new backups and restores will not be possible until connectivity is restored. Onsite backups do not have this limitation.
Potential security risks of third party access – With offsite backups, your data is stored by a third party provider. While most providers have strong security measures, there is always some risk of unauthorized access when data is stored externally. Maintaining backups entirely onsite gives you full control over access.
Restoration speeds compared to onsite – Restoring data from the cloud is generally slower than restoring from a local backup. This is due to internet bandwidth limitations. For large restores, the speed difference can be substantial compared to local restores over LAN or directly attached storage.1
Ideal Usage Scenarios
Offsite cloud backups shine for certain usage scenarios:
When 24/7 accessibility is critical – With offsite backups, data can be accessed anytime, anywhere there is an internet connection. This makes them ideal for businesses that need continuous data availability.
For smaller businesses without robust onsite infrastructure – Offsite backups remove the burden of maintaining onsite backup hardware and software. Small companies can benefit from enterprise-grade backup capabilities without large capital investments.
To complement onsite backups for larger datasets – For companies with huge amounts of data, a hybrid approach combining onsite and offsite backups provides an optimal balance of accessibility, security and cost. Critical data can be stored offsite while larger volumes remain onsite.
Offsite backups are advantageous for remote workers, companies with multiple locations, and organizations needing an extra layer of protection for critical data. Cloud backup provides flexibility and assurance that data remains protected and recoverable.
Conclusion
Offsite cloud storage backups provide several key benefits compared to onsite backups. The main advantages are increased accessibility from anywhere, enhanced security against local failures, easy scalability, potential cost savings, improved regulatory compliance, and less burden on in-house IT teams.
Due to these benefits, offsite backups are ideal for companies with distributed teams or remote workers, regulated industries like healthcare and finance, small businesses without dedicated IT staff, and organizations with critical data that cannot afford any disruption. The key drawback is reliance on an internet connection.
Therefore, offsite backups are best suited for organizations that have reliable connectivity and want a hands-off, automated backup solution to complement onsite backups for maximum data protection.