Is Cloud-to-Cloud Backup Right for Your Business?

Storing data onsite on physical tapes is not enough anymore. Businesses are facing greater threats to their data security, including natural disasters, cyberattacks, and increased risks of human error as a result of ever-growing data volumes. With businesses storing 51% of their workloads in the public cloud, effective backups are vital.

Cloud-to-cloud backups offer a more secure solution for businesses looking to improve accessibility and data continuity in a cloud environment. We’ll cover what cloud-to-cloud backups are, how they work, types of backups, and what businesses should include in their backup strategy..

What is a Cloud-to-Cloud Backup?

A cloud-to-cloud backup, whether between different locations or providers, involves duplicating data from one cloud service to another. This redundancy safeguards against data loss from things like natural disasters, outages, cybersecurity attacks, and human error.

How Does it Work?

The cloud-to-cloud backup process works by monitoring and transferring new data to the secondary location, replicating data across servers in the secondary environment, and storing it in the new CSP. In an event that the primary storage system is not available, data can be restored by the secondary environment, either back to the primary location or another environment.

How Are Cloud-to-Cloud Backups Different from Traditional Backups?

Compared to traditional backups, cloud-to-cloud backup can be more scalable, flexible, and cost-effective. Cloud-to-cloud backups simplify management with automation, reduce the need for specialized IT staff, and enhance data resilience by storing data across multiple geographic locations. As data storage needs change, the backups can grow or shrink accordingly. Different cloud providers can also offer different benefits, so businesses can choose the vendor that will best meet their needs.

Compared to on-premises backups, cloud-to-cloud backups can be more cost-effective, particularly because cloud solutions reduce costs associated with purchasing hardware and making upfront investments in physical storage space. They can also offer a faster disaster recovery method and provide advanced security measures that legacy systems may lack.

5 Types of Backups for Cloud-to-Cloud Scenarios

In cloud-to-cloud scenarios, there are 5 main types of backups businesses can choose to make their storage more secure.

Cloud Air-Gapped Backup

An air-gapped backup isolates data from the internet. The extra layer improves protection against malware and ransomware attacks. Accessing the data involves proper authorization and specific protocols, making it very difficult for bad actors to infiltrate the storage.

Full Backup

A full backup captures all files on the disk or within the folder selected for backup. Maintaining multiple iterations of full backups of files that do not change frequently (such as system files) could lead to excessive storage requirements.

Mirror Backup

With a mirror backup, data is always available in case of a disaster, as it is replicated in real-time across multiple locations. A mirror backup is a type of full backup, but the distinguishing quality is its real-time synchronization.

Incremental Backup

A more efficient alternative to a full backup or a mirror backup is an incremental backup, which captures the data that has changed since the previous incremental backup. This approach saves more time, but also requires an initial full backup to work properly.

Differential Backup

Differential backups are similar to incremental backups, but instead of capturing the data from the last incremental backup, this method captures all data since the last full backup. It doesn’t recapture data from the full backup, making it less time-consuming.

What Are the Advantages of Cloud-to-Cloud Backups?

Businesses that employ cloud-to-cloud backups can enjoy improvements to their business continuity efforts, enhanced data protection, and greater flexibility and accessibility.

Improved Business Continuity

Data loss and system failures can cause major disruptions to business processes. Cloud-to-cloud backups can restore data quickly, greatly reducing downtime and protecting critical operations. Because data is being replicated to a secondary site, cloud-to-cloud backups offer reliable protection from disasters, including floods, fires, earthquakes, and cyberattacks.

Enhanced Data Protection

For greater data availability and resilience, cloud-to-cloud backups can be replicated across more than one environment. If there are requirements for redundancy levels or geographically distinct backups, cloud-based backup solutions can also help businesses become compliant with industry regulatory standards. Cloud providers often have robust security measures that can help protect organizational data from breaches and unauthorized access with more sophistication compared to on-premises solutions. Data breaches cost businesses $4.88 million on average in 2024, emphasizing the importance of data protection measures.

Better Flexibility and Accessibility

As businesses grow, cloud-based backup solutions can accommodate changing data volumes. Cloud-to-cloud backups can also integrate with other cloud-based applications and services. Backups in the cloud are also more accessible – anyone with an internet connection and appropriate credentials can access and manage data in the cloud.

Businesses looking to improve data resiliency and security often find that cloud-to-cloud backups are a more cost-effective alternative to hosting data in their own geographically distinct facility.

What Are the Disadvantages of Cloud-to-Cloud Backups?

Implementing any new methods comes with its challenges. With cloud-to-cloud backups, businesses must overcome technical, managerial, and regulatory challenges to reap the benefits while keeping consequences at bay.

Technical Challenges

Great accessibility doesn’t happen on its own. Depending on the level of cloud-to-cloud backup you choose, your business is transferring large amounts of data between cloud environments. If your network connection isn’t fast enough, data transfer speeds can take a long time or result in lost data from incomplete replication before a disaster occurs. Ensure your connectivity is strong enough for the type of backup you want.

Data formats and APIs can also cause limitations or compatibility issues. Cloud platforms and applications need to be compatible for proper data formatting in backups. Cloud providers may have restrictions on APIs that impact performance or backup functionality.

Management and Complexity

Managing a cloud-to-cloud backup becomes more complex based on what is being saved, how often, and the data formats being transferred. Large-scale deployments may run into problems that require troubleshooting. Setup and daily management should be handled either by team members or outside resources with the right expertise.

Regulatory Compliance

Depending on your business’s jurisdiction, you may run into limitations due to data residency requirements. It’s important to understand where your data can be stored, and what laws govern the transfer of data across certain borders, where applicable. If your cloud-to-cloud backups need to meet regulatory audits, you need to know how to satisfy that requirement as well.

Comparing Cloud-to-Cloud Backup Models

Each cloud-to-cloud backup model offers different benefits and comes with different considerations for business owners. The three main models to consider are multicloud backup, hybrid cloud backup, and Backup as a Service.

Multicloud Backup

Instead of being beholden to one cloud provider, a multicloud backup stores backups across multiple cloud providers. This prevents vendor lock-in and outages that may happen to a single provider. Opting for multicloud backup gives businesses the power to choose vendors based on cost and features; however, managing across platforms can also be more complex. While not all cloud backup solutions offer immutability, some providers do, including AWS with its S3 Glacier Vault and Azure with Archive Blob Storage.

Hybrid Cloud Backup

With hybrid cloud backup, data is contained both in on-premises infrastructure and in more than one cloud location. This can boost security when there is an on-premises failure, but to be considered cloud-to-cloud, there need to be at least two cloud environments where data is being saved in addition to the on-premises location.

Backup as a Service

Backup as a Service (BaaS) is really a subset of almost any cloud-to-cloud backup strategy. Configuration, scheduling, and data recovery are handled by a third-party provider. This can be helpful for businesses that want to focus on other strategic tasks or lack internal expertise in cloud backups.

Should I Implement a Cloud-to-Cloud Backup Strategy?

If you’re wondering whether you should implement a cloud-to-cloud backup strategy, the answer is virtually always going to be yes. Businesses of all sizes can benefit from cloud-to-cloud backups, which should include the following in implementation:

• Backup frequency: How often to perform backups
• Retention policy: How long to retain data to meet business and compliance requirements
• Backup testing: How and when backup procedures should be tested
• Security measures: How to protect against unauthorized data access and tampering
• Monitoring and management: Who is in charge of monitoring and management of data backups, and what needs to be done in terms of an ongoing backup strategy
• Cloud provider selection: Which cloud provider your business will choose based on features and budget

Outlining your organizational backup needs will help you craft the cloud-to-cloud strategy that’s right for you.

Ready to Elevate Your Data Protection?

Don’t leave backups up to chance. Vulnerable data leads to vulnerabilities in many other areas of your business. Secure your business continuity, mitigate risk, and ensure rapid recovery from all disruptions with a solid cloud-to-cloud backup strategy. TierPoint’s Backup as a Service solutions, powered by Commvault, can help you safeguard your valuable data. We provide expert support, advanced security measures, plus scalability and flexibility for your growing and changing business.