Learn More About Backup Software
What is Backup Software?
Backup software protects sensitive business data in the event of hardware malfunction, hacker penetration, and many other threats posed to digitally stored information.
Companies hoping for an additional level of data loss prevention and general data protection should consider using backup software, as these tools can help prevent a data loss catastrophe by storing files in a secure cloud environment or on local hardware.
What Types of Backup Software Exist?
Cloud or online backup software
Cloud backup programs are becoming increasingly common. These tools backup files on a hosted public or private server. This type of backup solution can be a more effortless option when companies are consistently increasing the amount of data to be preserved because of the automatic and continuous backups on the cloud.
SaaS backup software
Software as a service (SaaS) backup solutions allow companies to automate the backup and recovery of SaaS applications. This can be helpful in maintaining business continuity in case applications or devices crash.
Database backup software
Data backup software is a generalized term to describe data-specific backups rather than personal file backups. These tools duplicate data and store it in the event a device is infected with malware or lost from the original source. Enterprise data backup is able to simplify and secure the master data management process.
Server backup software
This type of software should not be confused with a backup server—a device that facilitates cloud backups. Server backup programs store all the application files and critical data on a server.
Backup as a service
Backup as a service solutions are provided in the form of a managed cloud backup service. These tools take a lot of work out of the users’ hands. Many managed backup services provide a dashboard to let users choose when they want to perform full backups, restore files, and log activities.
What are the Common Features of Backup Software?
Encryption: Encrypted backups, in various forms (AES, RSA, DES, etc.), also add a level of security to the business. While the data is stored remotely, it can be digitally encrypted and become exponentially more difficult for unauthorized parties to retrieve.
Encryption in transit: Many solutions also provide encryption features for data in transit. Those features mask the data as it migrates from its original source into a cloud-based backup server.
Remote backup: Provide remote access dashboards designed to manage and store data from familiar applications.
Data deduplication: Deduplication, creating synthetic backup files to reduce file size and eliminate redundant files.
Image backup and disk imaging: Disk image backup, sometimes referred to as bare-metal backup, provides an exact copy of an entire hard drive, flash drive, or other storage devices.
File versioning: Storing multiple versions of datasets, allowing users to rollback programs to previous versions and document file changes.
Incremental backup: A form of backup that only stores changes since the last backup. These backups tend to be scheduled at short increments (i.e., hourly or daily).
Web-based backup: Backup platforms with administrative online backup access controls to deploy backups and restore data through a browser.
What are the Benefits of Backup Software?
Backup efficiency: Quickly backup and restore information when issues arise and automate full backups when they do not.
Automate tasks: Backups can be done continuously or scheduled out to reduce the amount of time individuals spend facilitating backups.
Business continuity: Backup solutions can increase confidence in the company’s fortitude despite more advanced malicious threats.
Remote access: Cloud or network-based backup solutions give employees access to complete copies of the company’s database.
Cloud storage: Cloud storage can allow the user to backup theoretically limitless amounts of information.
Data loss prevention: Backup software ensures sensitive information is safe and secured. This can either be achieved by retaining multiple backup points at once, or by saving the same backup on multiple drives or clouds.
Ransomware protection: If the company network and systems are held for ransom, backup solutions can simply recover any data lost during an attack.
Disaster recovery: Companies can protect valuable data in the event of a network breach, ransomware attack, or physical disaster.
Consolidate data: Deduplicate redundant data or run differential backups to minimize storage space and avoid storing duplicate files.
Enhance customer experience: In the case of a disaster or accident, customers can rest easy knowing their information is stored securely without the threat of deletion.
Who Uses Backup Software?
IT staff: IT professionals are the most common users of backup solutions. Many will be tasked with ensuring periodic backups are scheduled, compliance is maintained, and storage is optimized.
Security teams: Some companies, typically those responsible for securing sensitive data, will put security professionals in charge of backups or have them work in tandem with IT staff to ensure sensitive data is in compliance with regulations and all data, whether stored or in transit, is securely encrypted.
Third-party service providers: Smaller companies may not be able to implement and maintain backup systems on their own. Many will outsource the responsibility to another company.
What are the Alternatives to Backup Software?
Disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) software: DRaaS tools are generally managed versions of backup solutions that are only utilized during situations with complete data loss. They have fewer features that allow individual users to access information as they see fit.
These tools are better suited for minor incidents and small amounts of data being lost, but DRaaS solutions failover into the cloud, keeping applications running normally.
Enterprise information archiving software: Enterprise information archiving (EIM) solutions offer similar benefits to backup solutions, but are traditionally limited to user and employee data. The archive will store emails, messages, or files in the form of single-instance storage elements.
Their limited range of storage types should not imply a small scale. These products are capable of storing millions of communications and activity records.
Software Related to Backup Software
Cloud migration software: Cloud migration solutions help relocate files to cloud-based storage systems. Many come with features to encrypt and secure data in transfer, but few provide backup-specific features.
When transferring large amounts of data into a cloud-based backup solution, a cloud migration solution can help get the job done. These tools provide enterprise-level data relocation features capable of transferring large datasets into cloud-based backup applications.
Storage management software: Storage management is a general term that includes a number of cloud-based storage solutions. Many of these solutions can be used for personal, file-level backup. Common cloud applications often come with email accounts or free backup tiers for personal storage.
These tools are not capable of performing enterprise-grade solutions and typically don’t offer features like continuous backup or data deduplication. Many other products in this category are intended to help allocate resources and manage the location of stored data.
How does backup software work with other software?
Data sources: Backup solutions need information, files, or resources to store. The eventual solution should be compatible with the devices, applications, and resources that will eventually feed the backup tool the information it will eventually store.
SaaS applications: Many SaaS backup solutions are specifically designed for single applications like cloud-based email, collaboration, or storage tools. It’s likely included in the name, but users should not expect a single solution to support backups across more than a few applications.
Cloud services: If backups are stored in the cloud or on virtualized servers, it must be ensured that secure connections are established. The user must also ensure any sensitive data stored in the cloud is securely encrypted.
Challenges with Backup Software
Security: Security is a large component of backup software as well. While people obviously don’t want data to be lost, they also want it to be safe. These tools can let users store information in a secure environment without leaving them on potentially vulnerable devices. Users can still access and retrieve the data, but may not hope to keep in their network or on their device.
Scaling: As the amount of data the company is protecting scales, so will their protection needs. It is crucial to find a solution that can grow with the business. If the backup solution of choice is being hosted on premise, the existing infrastructure should be a large consideration. Investing in new servers or other infrastructure can be expensive to purchase and maintain. Free backup solutions are wonderful to start, but may not offer practical scaling features.
Vendor lock-in: Vendor lock-in can become a large problem; once the data is already backed up within a vendor’s private cloud, it can be costly to migrate out. If the user simply chooses to cut ties with the vendor, it can also be expensive and time consuming to adopt a new solution. For smaller teams, there are many free backup solutions available. Free backup solutions will provide fewer features and storage, but may still be sufficient.
How to Buy Backup Software?
Requirements Gathering (RFI/RFP) for Backup Software
Requirements gathering for backup solutions is fairly straightforward, but can still vary greatly depending on the scope of transition. Still, requirements should include the number of physical and digital resources that will be backed up, cloud services or physical servers storing backups, applications that will power and integrate data, and constraints related to budgeting, staffing, or continued maintenance. Industries involving large amounts of sensitive data should also factor compliance and security needs into their proposal as well.
Budget and staffing will largely dictate what products end up on the shortlist, but a vendor’s ability to meet each of the company’s requirements will assist in determination after pricing is discussed. It may be helpful to prioritize these based on impact to better evaluate each solution.
Compare Backup Software Products
Create a long list
From meeting the functionality needs to implementation, vendor evaluations are an essential part of the software buying process. For ease of comparison after all demos are complete, it helps to prepare a consistent list of questions to ask each vendor that addresses all needs and concerns.
Create a short list
From the long list of vendors, it is helpful to narrow down the list of vendors to come up with a shorter list of contenders, preferably no more than three to five. With this list in hand, businesses can produce a matrix to compare the features and pricing of the various solutions.
Conduct demos
To ensure the comparison is thoroughgoing, the user should demo each solution on the shortlist with the same use case and datasets. This will allow the business to evaluate like-for-like and see how each vendor stacks up against the competition.
Selection of Backup Software
Choose a selection team
To choose a selection team, decision makers need to involve subject matter experts from all teams that will use the system. For backup software, this primarily involves product managers, developers, IT, and security staff. Any manager or department-level leader should also include individuals managing any solution the backup product will be integrating with.
Analyze the data
Using the requirements prioritization, users can organize the data in a way that helps people understand how each solution meets their requirements. This can prevent siloed thinking and serve as a catalyst for internal debates and bring new questions for the vendor.
Negotiation
Every product will have pros and cons, but the selection analysis should paint a clearer picture of each product’s ability to meet the unique needs of the company. The identified cons can then be used to either eliminate options from the shortlist or serve as leverage for discounts and other offers.
What Does Backup Software Cost?
If the buyer chooses a cloud-based backup tool that offers pricing on the SaaS, pay-as-you-use model, potential growth should be considered. Some solutions are inexpensive off the start and offer affordable low-tier pricing. Alternatively, some may rapidly increase pricing and fees as the company and storage needs scale. Some vendors offer permanently free backup products for individuals or small teams.
Cloud: Backup as a service pricing may vary, but will traditionally scale as the storage increases. Other additional costs may come for increased features such as automated backups, disk imaging, encryption, or file versioning.
On premises: A major factor in implementing backup software also depends on whether it is a cloud-hosted or on-premise solution. Cloud migration tools can help speed up the transfer of information, but the process may be expensive and will take time.
Implementation of Backup Software
Establish a timeline: Implementing backup software can be a long and drawn-out process depending on the amount of data that the company is safeguarding.
Get help when necessary: Setup can often require assistance from experienced in-house IT technicians, vendor support teams, or third-party implementers.
Take inventory ahead of time: It can be valuable to take the time to evaluate how many resources are available both in house and through outside options and base the implementation decision off that assessment.
Backup Software Trends
Digital transformation
While backup technology has maintained its purpose since its initial development, a number of emerging technologies are utilizing and benefiting backup technology. The market itself has evolved from traditional tape-to-disk tools that transferred data from antiquated technology like VHS and floppy disks.
Today, cloud-based solutions are the norm. Many different products contain backup features and many cloud service providers offer it as a module. Its storage and restore formats may change, but backup remains a tool meant to save businesses from a data-related worst-case scenario.
Containerization
These containerized applications are easy to duplicate and store in a secure environment to ensure functionality is not impacted by some kind of data loss catastrophe. They would need to be stored in an alternative host system to ensure they’re not stored in the same environment. It’s fairly easy to accomplish but may increase costs.
Virtualization
Backup solutions can be compatible with virtual machines and other virtualized solutions. Often, solutions that back up virtual infrastructure are designed specifically for them, so businesses needing to backup virtual infrastructure should seek out these specialized options.
Automation
Automated and scheduled backups are typically a feature in business-grade backup solutions, and standalone tools for automated backups still do exist. These tools will simplify the backup workflow and eliminate the need to repeatedly back systems up.
