Top 5 Best Practices for Cloud-to-Cloud Backup

In todays data driven enterprise, the words ‘data loss’ sends shivers down the spine of decision makers, and hearing them typically kindles images of client outrage, work stoppages and PR nightmares. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) cloud solutions have become popular elements of a solid business technology strategy. SaaS adoption has sky rocketed across several industry verticals. This soaring growth in SaaS usage generates a corresponding increase in the movement of data from on-premises to the cloud. Your clients count on you to protect their data as you deliver trustworthy services; however, organizations aren’t investing enough in protecting SaaS-based data.

Though most IT teams design a secure on premise infrastructure, it is common for some to presume that the role of backing up their SaaS application data falls entirely on the cloud provider. While most vendors do their best to offer security via backups, there are still additional things that can be done to improve the security of data backups. On top of that, the service providers may not share the same commitment to the backups since they are not invested in the welfare of your business. Any forward thinking business understands that you either back up your SaaS-based data or risk loosing employees, partners, and customers.

I. Frequently Backup Your SaaS Backup

It has often been said that the most ideal way to make sure your data is secured is to have three copies of the data – the original, an on-site backup and an off-site backup. Given the proliferation of SaaS, it’s safe to say that on-premises data has been moved to the cloud, it, therefore, makes sense to have a backup of your cloud data. Backups are the final line of defense when recovering from the ruinous loss of invaluable data. Cloud-to-cloud backup allows you to leverage the benefits of the cloud while maintaining a copy of your SaaS data in a disparate, secure cloud structure that guarantees the integrity of data in the event something happens to the original cloud server.

Most cloud vendors have exceptional standards for security and redundancy. But it’s always a good idea to have a copy of your data on another cloud structure to ensure security and availability. Enterprises have to be ready to answer to strict compliance standards related to data management and in the cloud. A trusted SaaS backup provider adheres to strict security standards that you are unlikely to be capable of recreating or maintaining on your own.

II. Educate and Empower Employees

Data loss doesn’t have to be as a result of an inauspicious situation, at times simple human errors can lead to it. This can be particularly problematic a user accidentally deletes the SaaS application data. Accidental deletion can also be in the form of accidentally overwriting correct data with the wrong information – something most SaaS vendors are incapable of reversing in the platforms. This can lead to the loss in productivity in two ways: the employee whose ability to continue working is crippled by the deletion and the resource the IT team have to use to recover the lost data.

The best way to avoid the loss in productivity due to SaaS data loss is to ensure that employees are properly trained on the tools they use, and give them a backup solution that includes end-user enable restore. When your employees are empowered to solve their own data loss problems, IT admins don’t have to do the restore and recovery work.

III. Keep an Eye on Your Backed Up Data

Imagine a situation where you try recover data from your account only to realize that the data wasn’t correctly backed up or it was corrupted. All data backups should therefore be constantly monitored by admins to make sure that it is in the best possible state. In most cases, when problems arise, they can be traced back to the backup process itself. Certain file formats and zero byte files may fail to be backed up and typically indicates data corruption.

SaaS backups should constantly be monitored by admins via email notifications, status reposts, and dashboards included with your cloud-to-cloud backup solution. Paying close attention to these reports can help you gauge the health of your organization’s data and address issues that would have otherwise gone unnoticed.

IV. Don’t Leave Out Your Metadata

Metadata refers to the set of data that describes the information about other data. Traditional metadata can be descriptive or structural. For SaaS applications that are collaboration and messaging tools, metadata plays a crucial role in facilitating control and collaboration, as it contains information about ownership, tags, labels and sharing settings.

Unfortunately, not every backup solution – including the options provided by cloud providers, include metadata. This can frustrate and confuse users when they discover they can’t recover data back into their SaaS application exactly like it initially was, with settings, customizations and associated data attached. As a result, find a solution that allows for metadata customizations and backup.

V. Test Backup and Data Recovery Plans

Your SaaS backup strategy should be tested in complex environments, where problems related to the data recovery infrastructure can be highlighted. These are things you ideally don’t want to discover when disaster strikes and there is a lot of pressure to restore the service. While more extensive testing may carry some level of risk and impact, it provides more reassuring results. The testing should be done as part of a regular cycle. This can easily be accomplished via automation.

Finding a reputable SaaS backup provider is the first step. Going the extra mile by employing some best practices ensures that your data backup remains secure, and that recovering it will be a breeze

Author : Gabriel Lando

By Team FileCloud