Hacking, malware infection, hardware failure, human error, ransomware – these issues can all result in your website being damaged beyond repair and its data permanently lost. Such an incident can happen out of the blue and, without a backup, the costs of restoration and the length of downtime can have catastrophic consequences for your business. Having a backup solution is, therefore, essential. Here, we explain what cloud backups are and why they are the best choice for protecting your website data.
What are Cloud backups?
A cloud backup solution enables you to store copies of your website and all its data on the internet, in a location geographically remote to your server. It is a service that lets you save, manage and restore your website far quicker and easier than traditional backup methods and where you have the flexibility to increase storage on-demand to meet your requirements. Having a cloud backup solution offers you the following benefits:
- Scalable storage
Over time, websites get bigger, not just in terms of the number of pages or products, but in the number of tools and plugins they use. At the same time, businesses are collecting and processing data in ever greater consequences and using it to gain valuable insights and make important decisions. As a result, the storage capacity you need for each backup may increase over time. You may also find that, in order to keep your backups up to date, you need to make them more frequently and keep more of them.
Ensuring you always have the right storage capacity can be difficult if your needs regularly change. Too little and you won’t be able to make new backups, too much are you’ll be paying more than you need. The great thing about cloud backups is that you can increase your basic storage package at any time and, importantly, if you need temporary extra storage quickly, you can have it on-demand and only pay for it on a pay-as-you-go basis. - Data always available
As your backups are stored online, you have access to them 24/7 and from wherever you have an internet connection. This means you can rest assured that if you need to restore your website, your backups will be ready and waiting. Just as importantly, such high availability ensures that your backups will always take place at the times you have scheduled them. - Automated, scheduled backups
Backing up a website manually can be an arduous task, especially if it is done to disk. If you need to take frequent backups, this can be a real drain on your time. The great thing about cloud backups is that you can schedule them to take place automatically without you needing to lift a finger. You can also schedule them at the frequency you need to ensure business continuity in the event of a disaster. - Encrypted storage
While many companies still backup their websites to disk and store those disks in a safe to keep them protected, cloud backup solutions have a far more modern approach to keeping your backups secure: they are encrypted during transit using military-grade encryption and, if you wish, you can use encryption while the data is in storage too. Of course, if you encrypt during storage, the data will need decrypting before you can access it and use it for restoration. - Integrity checked
One big advantage that cloud backup solutions have over other methods is that they can test the integrity of the backup to ensure that the data hasn’t been corrupted either before or during the backup process. If it has, you will be notified immediately so that a new backup can take place. This testing ensures that should you ever need to restore your website, you can be confident that the backup will work and you’ll be able to recover your site quickly. - Double assurance
Do you have the time and capacity to back up your backup? Most companies don’t. However, with a cloud-based backup solution, your service provider will make additional copies of your backups and store them at different locations so that, even if their data centre goes offline, you’ll still have access to them. - 24/7 technical support
Recovering from a disaster can be a challenge and you may need assistance if you need to make urgent use of a backup to restore your website. Make sure you choose a service provider that offers 24/7 technical support, so that, if the worst happens, you have an expert on hand who can help you get your site back up and running again quickly.
Conclusion
Losing your website can happen for a number of reasons and at any time. While backups of any type are useful in these circumstances, cloud backup solutions offer the best chance of a swift and successful recovery.
If you are looking for a backup solution with all the features mentioned above, visit our Website and Server Backup Solutions page.
