Best Enterprise Cloud Backup Services

Clearly, cloud computing plays a critical role in backup for enterprises. Today’s enterprises face the daily risk of ransomware, cyberattacks and natural disasters — as well as the common occurrence of accidentally deleted files. As a result, a robust cloud backup procedure is a must. And with the competitive prices from many cloud companies, online backup offers enterprises an easy way to comply with the 3-2-1 backup rule.

The 3-2-1 rule is a simple shorthand for making sure you are complying with industry best practices for cloud backups:

• Keep three copies of all data.

• Store copies on at least two different devices or storage media.

• Store at least one copy at an offsite location.

Using a cloud backup service is a very easy way to get one backup copy on a different device and in an offsite location. In addition, these services are very affordable and many offer advanced features that can enhance your data availability and security.

However, enterprises do need to vet their online backup vendors carefully to make sure they find the best fit for their needs.

Tips on Selecting a Cloud Backup Service for Enterprise Use

• Consider your needs before shopping for a provider. Do you need a comprehensive solution that will back up every piece of data in your enterprise? Or do you just need a more basic solution that will back up PCs, mobile devices or SaaS data that isn’t covered by the other solutions your organization is already using? What compliance requirements will your provider need to meet? And what security policies will apply to backups? How often do you need backups to run and how quickly do you need to recover? Your answers to all these questions and more will impact your vendor selection.

• Look for low TCO, not just a low sticker price.The lowest-cost provider might not be the best option if the solution is difficult to manage. Consider the impact on staff time, including any necessary training, before signing on the dotted line.

• Find a provider that can meet your RTO and RPO needs. Your recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) will have a major impact on your service selection. You don’t want to lose hours’ worth of data from business-critical applications, but you also don’t want to break the bank by paying for a level of service that isn’t necessary for your data. You’ll need to find the right balance for each type of data your organization has in its systems.

• Make sure your vendor offers strong security, including encryption. It doesn’t matter how well you have protected your primary systems if your backup systems present an easy target for attackers. Any cloud backup service you use needs to have the same level of security that your other systems have.

• Choose data center backup locations carefully. If your vendor’s cloud data center is too far from your primary site, you may experience delays due to latency issues. But if the secondary data center is too close to your primary site, it might be vulnerable to the same natural disasters or power outages that affect your primary systems. Again, you’ll need to strike the right balance.

Leading enterprise cloud backup vendors include the following:

Jump to:

• Acronis
• Arcserve
• Backblaze
• Cohesity
• Commvault
• Dell EMC
• IBM
• Rubrik
• Veeam
• Veritas

Acronis

Value proposition:

Serving more than 5 million consumers and 500,000 businesses in 145 countries worldwide, Acronis is a global leader in data protection. It offers online backup solutions for individuals, small businesses, enterprises and service providers. Its primary cloud backup service for enterprise users is called Acronis Backup, and it also offers a more robust solution called Acronis Backup Cloud that is designed for services providers. It has won multiple awards and gets very high reviews from analysts and users.

Key values/differentiators:

• Acronis can backup data from any type of environment — physical, virtual, cloud or mobile.
• Because the company also offers cybersecurity technology, it is able to incorporate some security features into its online backup services, including ransomware protection based on machine learning.
• Thanks to its simple design, you can deploy Acronis Backup in just three clicks, and the company promises that you will be able to restore data within seconds after a disruption.
• Acronis Backup also incorporates blockchain features designed to prevent attacks on archived files.

Arcserve

Value proposition:

In business since 1983, Arcserve has a long history with backup technology, and it has an impressive list of customers that includes Expedia, Bloomberg, Sony Music and Thomson Reuters. It offers both on-premises and online backup solutions, and unlike some of the other companies on this list, it focuses exclusively on enterprise customers. It offers three different cloud backup services for enterprises: Arcserve UDP Cloud Hybrid, which incorporates online backup, disaster recovery and archive capabilities; Arcserve UDP Cloud Direct, which is a backup as a service/disaster recovery as a service offering that doesn’t require any on-premises hardware; and Arcserve UDP Cloud Archiving, which backs up enterprise email.

Key values/differentiators:

• Arcserve touts its more than three decades of experience as a key reason why enterprises should trust it with their data.
• The company’s UDP Cloud Hybrid supports cloud, physical, and virtual environments running Windows and Linux.
• The service also offers automated disaster recovery and application-level recovery testing capabilities.
• Arcserve’s own data centers are protected with 256-bit AES data encryption and are SSAE16 certified, and customers can choose to failover to the Arcserve Cloud, Microsoft Azure, AWS or a private cloud.

Backblaze

Value proposition:

Backblaze has built its reputation on fast, cheap online backup capabilities. It has a very large customer base that includes both consumers and businesses, and it also offers low-cost cloud storage. It has more than 750 PB of data stored on its servers, and it has won several awards. However, this service is just for individual PCs, not for enterprise servers or data stored in the cloud.

Key values/differentiators:

• Backblaze is very transparent about its simplified pricing model, which runs just $60 per computer per year for business users, with no throttling or pricing tiers (although pricing is slightly different if you prefer to pay by the month or for two years in advance).
• To protect against ransomware, Backblaze includes 30-day rollback capabilities, which should restore systems to a point before they were infected.
• The service supports single sign-on through G Suite or Microsoft Office 365.
• If you need to restore your data from a physical hard drive, Backblaze will send a drive anywhere in the world, and it will refund the cost of the drive after you return it.

Cohesity

Value proposition:

For Cohesity, online backup is just one piece of its complete data management platform, which focuses addressing the issues created by mass data fragmentation. It focuses on helping enterprises protect and manage their secondary data that resides in many different locations. Its primary cloud backup service for enterprises is called Cohesity DataProtect, and it also incorporates backup into its Cohesity DataPlatform, which also includes more advanced data management capabilities.

Key values/differentiators:

• Cohesity products feature a very simplified user interface designed to be as easy to use as a smartphone app.
• The DataProtect service breaks down backup silos by storing all enterprise data on one service.
• Like several other online backup services, Cohesity promises fast restores, but it also offers a unique fast search service.
• In addition, it incorporates policy-based automation capabilities so that enterprise IT teams can set it up to meet their SLAs without the need for extensive manual intervention.

Commvault

Value proposition:

Designed for enterprises with hybrid IT environments, Commvault is another vendor that combines data protection with data management capabilities. This company offers a lot of backup software and appliances, but it does also have an online backup offering called Commvault Software as a Service. It comes in three flavors: one for backing up endpoints, one for backing up AWS workloads and one for backing up Office 365.

Key values/differentiators:

• Commvault is one of the leading data management providers, so its service might be a good option for enterprises that have extensive data management needs in addition to backup needs.
• The company also has an extensive ecosystem with numerous third-party partners that can support or extend Commvault’s capabilities.
• It offers flexible service plans designed to meet a wide variety of different needs.
• In comparison with other Commvault products, the online backup solution is very fast to set up.

Dell EMC

Value proposition:

Dell EMC offers a range of data protection, disaster recovery and online backup solutions that build on its storage expertise. The company is key vendor in data protection, and clearly Dell EMC – after the merger of these two mega-giants – has the resources to invest in its product line. In particuarly, its services are likely to be of interest to enterprises that use Dell EMC storage and are looking to back up that storage to a public cloud service. The company also offers the ability to back up data that already resides in the cloud.

Key values/differentiators:

• The company’s cloud backup services for enterprises support multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments.
• Built-in de-duplication capabilities help organizations keep their backup costs as low as possible, and centralized management and automation capabilities minimize total cost of ownership.
• Advanced VMware integration makes it very easy to back up virtualized environments.
• A free trial is available for some online backup products.

IBM

Value proposition:

As one of the leading public cloud providers, IBM is in a unique position to offer enterprise cloud backup services that run in its own data centers spread across the globe. And with its decades of experience serving enterprises, IBM has one of most well-respected brands in the industry. It is able to offer advanced backup technology to customers anywhere in the world. In addition, customers who purchase other IBM products, like servers and storage, can purchase IBM Cloud Backup as an add-on service.

Key values/differentiators:

• IBM Cloud Backup offers multi-platform support that includes more than 200 operating systems, platforms and applications.
• Global data centers allow IBM to serve customers anywhere in the world, and customers have the option to select which data center(s) they want to use.
• Advanced automation capabilities and a Web-based GUI make the system very easy to manage.
• The online backup service allows enterprises to restore to a known point in time, which is helpful when recovering from cyberattacks, ransomware or data deletion events.

Rubrik

Value proposition:

Rubrik offers a complete enterprise data management platform that can run on premises or in the cloud. It offers services that are very easy to use but offer near-instant access. It reports that customers have reduced backup costs by as much as 50 percent while spending no more than two to three minutes per day on backup activities. Its customers include Expedia, Cisco, the Department of Defense, UC San Diego, and many other large organizations.

Key values/differentiators:

• Rubrik Cloud Data Management offers cloud backup services for enterprises that are integrated with archive, search, analytics, compliance and copy data management capabilities.
• Enterprises can get the platform up and running in less than an hour, and the company promises near-zero recovery time objectives and instant search results.
• Self-service capabilities make the platform very easy to use.
• It supports multiple physical, virtual and cloud environments, including AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud and Office 365.

Veeam

Value proposition:

As a leading cloud data management vendor, Veeam has earned numerous awards and industry accolades. It has a lengthy list of industry partners and supports all the major platforms. It has more than 343,000 customers around the world, including Royal Caribbean Cruises, Telecom Italia, the Vancouver Canucks and many others. It offers multiple online backup products, including Veeam Availability Suite, Veeam Backup and Replication and Veeam Backup Essentials.

Key values/differentiators:

• Enterprises can choose to use only Veeam’s Backup and Replication services, or the full Availability Platform that includes orchestration, monitoring, analytics, risk mitigation and more.
• Veeam supports multiple physical, virtual and cloud environments, including backing up data stored in SaaS applications.
• The platform is both simple to use and very flexible.
• Veeam promises excellent reliability.

Veritas

Value proposition:

As a leading provider of availability services with more than 25 years of experience, Veritas has an impressive roster of customers that includes the world’s largest financial institutions, largest telcos, largest investment banks and largest healthcare organizations. It also has partnerships with industry leaders like AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, IBM, Pure Storage, HPE and others. Its long list of availability and data protection products includes NetBackup, CloudPoint, SaaS Backup and others.

Key values/differentiators:

• Veritas offers a variety of backup products that you can match to your particular needs.
• The company’s products support multi-cloud and SaaS environments.
• Simplified management and automation capabilities reduce staff time and TCO.
• Some products include automatic classification and deletion of personally identifiable information.

Comparison Chart: Cloud Backup Services for Enterprise