News in the Channel - issue #27

CLOUD BACKUP

Sector trends While resellers need to be mindful of this, they also need to be alert to how the cloud backup sector is evolving, which is being driven by the changing needs of customers. Richard notes that simplicity is a top trend. “Customers are demanding more automated backup processes, where backups happen continuously and with minimal human intervention,” he adds. “They’re also demanding data sovereignty. Companies are aware that cloud services can be anywhere, and that it is important for their data stored to comply with local regulations e.g. GDPR.” Separation is another trend, he adds. “Customers are seeing the risk of putting all their eggs in one basket, so relying on the SaaS provider to back up the data, or backing up Azure data back to Azure, should be a red flag for a backup solution,” Richard explains. “You could be storing your backups in the data centre as your live data.” Ian adds that businesses now seek advanced features like immutable backups to safeguard against ransomware attacks. “AI-powered threat detection and zero trust access models are also gaining significant traction as organisations prioritise data protection,” he says. “The rise of hybrid and multi-cloud environments is also shaping the sector, as customers require solutions capable of seamlessly protecting data across diverse platforms.” Cost also remains a crucial factor, Ian adds. “The core benefit of cloud solutions is their pay-as-you-go pricing, so organisations still want cost-effective and flexible solutions.” Paul adds that scaling storage cost and capacity as a business grows has always been a challenge, with unsuitable and inadequate data storage an obstacle to growth. “With flexible pay-as-you-go licensing and dynamic billing models, customers can align costs with usage while boosting revenue and operational

Ian Stretton head of practice, Infrastructure, Modern Work & Security

the opportunity for resellers to perform backups. But in fact, provide a great opportunity for them to educate their customers.” Ian adds that while SaaS providers focus on service availability and infrastructure resilience, they don’t necessarily on granular data recovery. “This means businesses might not realise they're responsible for protecting their data within those SaaS applications,” he says. “SaaS applications won’t always cover specific scenarios, such as accidental deletions or overwrites. They can also be limited when it comes to things like point-in- time recovery and data retention periods. “Therefore, businesses need to be aware that SaaS backup is their responsibility, not the provider's. This is particularly critical if you are in a highly regulated industry with strict compliance standards to meet.” Dene Lewis CTO, CAE Technology Services, says partners have a responsibility to educate partners on the risks as well as the benefits of SaaS solutions. “It’s important to consider the shared responsibility model,” he says. “The provider is responsible for the application and everything underneath it that supports it (infrastructure, operating system, code, multi-tenant controls etc.) but responsibility for customer data, and access to that data sits squarely with the customer.”

infinitygroup.co.uk

One of the most common causes of business data loss is the accidental deletion of data. “ ”

Anton Shelepchuk VP of worldwide sales

nakivo.com

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