What Level of IT Resources Will Be Required to Setup and Maintain a Cloud Backup Solution?

For most companies, a cloud backup and recovery solution will eliminate, or significantly reduce, IT resources related to the mundane task of backup and allow your resources to be redeployed to more strategic projects. As you likely know already, tape backups require expensive hardware and software, in addition to the ongoing cost of the tapes themselves.  Daily tape backups are laborious, requiring a significant expenditure of personnel-hours to make them happen. The same holds true if your system needs to be restored from tape. Consider the time it would take your IT staff to recover your company’s data from tape. That is time that could be spent on revenue generating activities.  

Working with a trusted cloud backup service provider enables you to leverage your existing network infrastructure while transferring the responsibility of backup to an outside expert. This can be even more important considering the challenges some companies are facing hiring experienced IT backup administrators for on-premise solutions especially in smaller cities or remote geographies. It also enables CIOs to focus on spearheading significant transformational projects rather than backup implementation, which typically has a lower prestige value within most organizations. 

Once you determine the appropriate settings, cloud-based backups are automated, creating a “set-it and-forget-it” scenario. You will however, need to ensure that your cloud backup service provider is equipped to monitor your backups to identify and correct any possible problems. The price of your backup service will reflect the amount of responsibility you maintain versus your cloud backup service provider. Low cost service offerings could mean that you will be provided with marginal support, minimal senior technical resources and the ongoing burden for monitoring and managing your backups. Once you consider how much time and money you will be saving with cloud backups, the higher-levels of service available from your provider will surely be even more attractive.