The Business Bulletin
Why cloud backup? Most people and companies would never take risks with data stored on premises. Yet when it comes to cloud data, a ‘debate’ seems to have emerged as to whether one need even consider backup.
Although this article focuses on
stored in different locations. Users
to simple user errori. Data loss isn’t
Microsoft Office365, a similar
have no control over replication either.
limited to data deletion. It could also
argument would also apply to any Software as a Service vendor – e.g. Dropbox or G-Suite. In this article, we’ll clear up some of the misconceptions in this debate. First off, isn’t the cloud itself a type of backup?
The cloud IS my backup When I create or update a new Word document on my computer, it is automatically synchronised up to Office 365. That means I have a copy of my file in the cloud. Backup done! Right? I then also synchronise (or ‘sync’) my phone, tablet, and laptop to my Office 365 account. Now I’m creating even more copies, so why would I need a backup system? To see what is happening here, we need to understand two terms: synchronisation and replication. Synchronisation keeps two or more copies of data in the same state. It usually runs without user
In the case of my Word file, the data is synchronised to the cloud, and it is replicated within Microsoft’s data centres for high availability, performance, and redundancy. The problem with synchronisation and replication is that they are wholly automated. Any changes are continuously synchronised from my computer to the cloud. It doesn’t matter whether the changes are
be the loss of an important macro, a complex Excel formula or accidentally scrambling the values in an important document table. If I’m busily working on my file and autosave is on, within milliseconds my errors and accidents are already synced up to the cloud. Result? I now just have several copies with the same errors. Sure, I might be able to use ‘Undo’. But what if I only realise the error a few days later? Or
intentional, accidental, or malicious.
my device chooses that inopportune
So, what are the implications?
the cloud isn’t a ‘backup’. But
moment to crash? So, to be clear: surely Microsoft themselves back up everything in the cloud?
Most people are fixated on data loss from the bad guys. It’s true that that is something to be aware of. However, 64% of data loss is down
Microsoft backs up everything, so I don’t have to! This is partly true. Microsoft does back up all Office 365 data every 12 hours. And every backup is retained for 14 days. However, they
involvement as a background
have designed this
process on your devices. Once
mechanism for
synced to the cloud, Microsoft will also replicate your data. Replication is part of the cloud infrastructure, and simply means that multiple copies are made of your data and
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