Implement Cloud Backup The Right Way

Implement Cloud Backup the Right Way Have a plan to ensure that clear skies are in the forecast for your most precious data. Your Challenge Were the following key business objectives obtained as a result of your cloud backup and recovery initiatives ? Organizations are looking to the cloud as a way to reduce storage costs, improve scalability, and simplify management of the backups; however, the cloud is not a magic bullet that will solve all of your backup woes. A Because of the hype, IT is often pushed into cloud adoption without ap- propriate planning. As a result, they lack strategies to deal with cloud-specific backup challenges. Low Medium High A Insufficient planning for cloud backup can exacerbate problems rather than solve them, leading to poor estimates of costs and effort, budget over- runs, and failure to meet recovery requirements. 24% Reduce time to 48% operation 28% Our Solution 23% 45% Transformation 1 Evaluate the business case for targeting backup at the cloud agent for IT 32% A Many decisions to move to the cloud are driven by hype rather than careful analysis. A Organizations that benefit the most from implementing cloud backup are smaller shops with inad- equate disaster recovery capabilities or without existing off-site datacenter investments A Organizations with limited IT staff also stand to benefit as a result of automating labor-intensive processes such as tape rotation and backup job verification 23% 45% Transformation agent for the 32% business 2 Identify candidate data sets and assess opportunities and readiness 16% 48% A Not every data set is a good candidate for cloud backup. Your cloud solution will still need to meet your recovery point objectives (RPOS) and recovery time objectives (RTOS). A The cloud makes the most sense for long-term, "cold" storage that is infrequently accessed. Consider it as an alternative to off-site tape backup. A Security risks of the cloud are often exaggerated. Consider your existing backup environment. Is the cloud any less secure than sending your tapes home to stash in an employee's basement? 39% Need to scale rapidly to meet customer demand 26% 45% Move from capital 29% 3 Mitigate the challenges of backing up to the cloud expenditure to subscription model Public and private cloud models each of their own benefits and challenges. Be sure to match your requirements to your vendor, considering your needs and tolerance for risk. A Clarify the relationship with your vendor. Understand your responsibilities and identify what you expect the provider will take care of. Be sure to specify the latter in your RFP. A The cloud reduces CAPEX but doesn't eliminate it completely. Determine what upgrades you must complete before targeting backup at the cloud, whether they are technological or personnel- related. 29% 42% Cost avoidance or reduction 29% 4 Build a cloud backup implementation roadmap A Perform a gap analysis between your present state and your desired state to identify any further initiatives you must complete to begin targeting backups at the cloud. A Review every initiative you have identified and understand any risk associated with each, as well as any dependencies that must be satisfied before moving forward. A Build your roadmap around existing plans. Be sure to factor in expiring support contracts or hardware and server refreshes. Know how these will affect your roadmap. Source: Info-Tech Research Group n = 150 Take a close look at the CAPEX and TCO gaps. Don't go into the clouds without a parachute. Calculate the TCO gap over the long-term-four or five years- and compare it to that of an on-site solution. Cloud backup may end up costing more in the long run. If it does, is the CAPEX savings gap worth the long-term TCO gap? Is the TCO gap worth the cost and effort of implementation? Have a contingency plan for the biggest threats to your cloud-based backup. Remember: you are ulti- mately responsible for your data. Your SLA can only do so much to ensure your data is safe and secure. Start this project today Moving to the cloud takes preparation. Look past dollars-per-gigabyte. INFO~TECH You may need to invest in your network, and you may need to take steps to ensure that your cloud provider will meet your requirements for security, avail- ability, and your expectations for value. Cloud backup vendors advertise rock bottom prices of dollars-per- gigabytes of storage. But cloud backup doesn't eliminate costs, it redistributes them. Look at the RESEARCH G ROUP www.infotech.com long-term TCO before you make your decision. 1-888-670-8889