Following on from our Enterprise sync and share feature where we looked at how cloud services could act as shared storage to help productivity, the other side of the cloud coin is using this vast networked storage for secure backup, storing not just company data from servers or images of servers themselves in the event of a failure, but all data for all employees—across-devices, accessible anywhere, and most importantly of all, encrypted.
As with everything else however, you only get what you pay for. Some vendors focus primarily on secure backup services, while others will tie this in with sync and share capabilities. Others may offer a hybrid local/cloud solution to provide the best of both worlds: fast, secure, under your control local storage paired with often unlimited cloud storage accessible anytime from anywhere. It certainly sounds ideal, though hybrid solutions usually cost a little more (especially if they're managed solutions from the vendor).
Of course, as with anything cloud—but especially when it comes to backups where large volumes of data may be involved—the width of your pipe and limits on your service plan should be considered, especially if you're a small business. And there are, as you might expect, a large number of players in this market. More so than some of the other round-ups we've covered here on CSO.
To help you narrow down your options, here's our take on some of the more popular and well-known services, as well as some you may not have heard of. Use these as a springboard—again, there are plenty of other options out there—for your own research, and if you're not currently using a cloud backup service you may find reason to once you've seen what's on offer.