Everything you need to know about professional backup solutions

The backup solution market is vast and there are numerous professional players offering solutions that meet specific business needs. Backup requirements are multiple and concern infrastructure, networks, servers, applications and/or software. The range of backup solutions has therefore followed the technological evolution of businesses and their activities.

The advantages of outsourced backup in a local datacenter.

As a company's business grows, the question of managing the organisation's data arises, particularly in terms of the volume it represents over time. Data ends up occupying more and more space while also representing a cost constraint in terms of storage.

Their nature, sometimes more sensitive and strategic for certain companies, may require the use of a secure storage location managed by professionals. This will generally be a national hosting provider capable of delivering an appropriate response, which may also be located relatively close to the client company. The ability to reach an expert directly by phone to configure an outsourced backup, resolve a network issue, recover data in the event of deletion, secure a software account or perform remote access will be key elements specific to the support services offered by the datacenter.

In short, for a company to embark on an outsourced backup approach, the service provider datacenter must be capable of offering proximity services to businesses seeking security, accessibility, service personalisation and operational guarantees.

Virtualised backup (or cloud backup)

Virtualised backup is very similar to outsourced backup in that behind every cloud, and therefore behind every virtual environment, there is in reality a datacenter that guarantees data hosting, backup, etc.

The difference between hosting a backup in a datacenter and hosting it with a cloud provider lies in the level of service and autonomy offered to the client.

A cloud provider in the SaaS sense of the term will provide its clients with the digital tools enabling them to duplicate, move or retrieve a backup according to their own terms (data volume, security system during transfer, bandwidth, etc.) via a user interface specifically designed for this purpose.

Even if there is no real difference between a local datacenter and a cloud provider in that the same types of hosting services are provided, the difference lies in the way they are delivered, particularly in the case of the cloud provider.

In short, outsourced backup implies a greater degree of managed services entrusted to a third-party provider. Virtualised backup adds an additional layer of services (SaaS) and implies greater autonomy granted to the client, with the ability to define many parameters remotely and independently.

On-premises backup solutions

This type of backup is among the most widely used solutions across many companies.

In the context of software, for example, on-premises backup is based on the ability to run a programme from software downloaded directly onto a terminal or a server. It is a direct deployment of the software, which runs "on-site" rather than solely in the cloud.

In another context, on-premises backup allows an organisation to have greater control over the security of its data and to retain strategic and confidential information internally. It can also enable the organisation to address data protection requirements.

In short, on-premises backups generally refer to storage locations installed directly on the company's local network or on employees' computers. This type of model offers companies the advantage of having full control over their data, with the trade-off of bearing the risks associated with this model.

Comprehensive backup via the IT disaster recovery plan

The Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) is a process that necessarily requires planning in advance of any incident. It enables an organisation affected by an IT disaster to recover lost data, applications or IT configurations. In the most advanced cases, it can incorporate data, software and hardware configurations, IT hardware through to networks, etc.

In short, the IT recovery plan, even though it is conceived within a logic far more complex than what may initially appear to be a simple data replication process, plays the role of a comprehensive backup for the company. By enabling the full recovery of its information system, its components and its data, while also offering the ability to maintain contact with its teams, clients and partners, the disaster recovery plan acts as an assurance for the future of a company — in other words, a comprehensive backup plan at the scale of the entire organisation.

It is a genuine backup of an organisation's digital assets which, through its duplication — to put it simply — enables the restart of its services in the event of a disaster.

Why implement a parallel backup solution for Microsoft 365 Business account data?

A fact that may seem obvious to many, yet is not as widely known as one might think, is that the responsibility for backing up your Microsoft 365 Business data lies with you. Although Microsoft 365 Business offers numerous collaborative services and features, it does not include, across all available M365 licences, the complete backup of your data.

While there is indeed storage space available to accommodate data from the suite applications you may use, it does not constitute a guarantee of recovering your data should it be lost.

The data hosted with Microsoft 365 Business belongs to you, you are responsible for it, and it is your obligation to protect it. To do so, it is necessary to opt for a backup solution that is compatible with Microsoft 365.

Veeam Backup is one such solution.

Best practices for backing up Microsoft 365 Business data

For the storage of your data, you have the option of backing it up to a location of your choice, ideally in a local Datacenter based in Africa and close to your business site.

Data restoration in the event of an incident must be achievable quickly and at the time you deem necessary to recover your backed-up files.

It is mandatory that your backup solution offers a total guarantee and permanent access control over your data, even in the event of an incident.

With regard to the Exchange, SharePoint and OneDrive applications available in Microsoft 365 Business, it is possible through an external backup to automate the process at a frequency of your choice. The underlying idea could be, for example, to restore your files or emails to a SharePoint, an Exchange or a OneDrive.

The protection of data exchanged on Teams is possible via Veeam which recently introduced a new backup capability, tailored to entire teams or specific Teams settings.

The Veeam Backup & Replication solution

Data loss for businesses has become an increasingly frequent phenomenon. Risks arising from cyberattacks, sometimes critical incidents, human errors, or natural disasters are now numerous.

Data backup is therefore a priority issue that requires a reliable solution. And it is precisely on this type of observation that Veeam Backup & Replication has succeeded in becoming an essential backup solution on the market by offering a wide range of features and complementary solutions enabling specific backup requirements to be addressed.

At ST Digital, we firmly believe that the breadth of features offered by Veeam Backup & Replication makes it the most secure and most comprehensive solution in its market. From our perspective, it guarantees permanent access to data, regardless of the nature of any potential incident.

With Veeam Backup & Replication and its advanced features, you can manage the complete lifecycle of your backups quite simply, whether they are hosted in the cloud or on a physical server.

Veeam Backup Replication features

• Solution suited for backups of small or very large architectures (up to 1 PB).

• Continuous data protection with near-zero RPOs.

• Immutable native backups.

• Built-in advanced replication to constantly protect data.

• "Instant VM Recovery" feature to recover a failed virtual machine (VM) in just 2 minutes.

• Instant restore of application objects, databases, etc.

• Automated restore verification to validate every backup.

• Minimisation of storage space consumption.

• Simple offsite backup routing when required.

• Backup speed 50 times faster than standard file copying.