Data protection trends in the age of managed backup

There’s no doubt about it; managed backup is the way of the future. When your organization uses a managed backup solution, you’ll be able to organize all of your backup capabilities in a single portal. Automation will reinforce your backup capabilities by capturing data from your systems in near real-time, so you can bounce back as soon as possible.

Managed backup is wonderful for the operational efficiency of an organization, but there are still a few kinks to work out. One aspect that some organizations haven’t quite nailed down is protecting their backed-up data. In fact, it tends to fly under the radar in IT departments, since it is easy to place greater importance on things like preparing for backup failures or sophisticated threats. Now, it seems as though organizations are beginning to gain a better understanding of just how important data protection is and how new features should be implemented.

If you’re an organization that is struggling to bring your backed-up data under control, there are a few major emerging trends you need to learn about. Let’s break down these trends so you can better protect your data in the age of managed backup.

Data protection in the age of remote work

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work has hit an all-time high. In fact, 16 percent of companies around the globe are currently entirely remote. This is precisely why in 2022, data protection policies are expected to be re-evaluated and re-adjusted to align with remote and hybrid work models. Remote work has benefited organizations in a multitude of ways, but it does come with its own set of threats. From employees logging onto their at-home networks to a surge in social engineering and ransomware tactics, you must ensure your organization can stay safe through this new - and potentially permanent - shift to remote work.

Zero trust as a main focus

"Zero trust" is not simply the latest hot topic, it should be a priority. Zero Trust is a comprehensive IT security model that lets organizations restrict access controls to networks, applications, and environment without sacrificing user experience or performance. When organizations take a zero-trust approach to data security, it means that no user - known or unknown - is trusted. With the security threats facing organizations today, a zero-trust approach for data is a necessity to prevent unwarranted access.

Accelerated cloud adoption

Bandwidth used to cost organizations a pretty penny while offering very little capacity for backups, but that’s changed with the introduction of cloud computing. The cloud eliminates the need for a separate, physical backup operation, allows for continuous optimization and flexibility, and provides unprecedented geo-redundancy. However, organizations still need to remain vigilant. According to Verizon’s 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report, 90 percent of data breaches target external cloud assets. Additionally, roughly 98 percent of enterprises have experienced a cloud security breach in the last 18 months.

At the end of the day, cloud solutions account for a lot more than just firewalls to protect your data center. Businesses need data stored outside of source locations in a separate security domain – so it is highly available and isolated from threats within a customer’s network. Intrusion detection and prevention, secure physical access, and around-the-clock data encryption are all on the table with the cloud. Even taking potential risks into account, it doesn’t get much safer than cloud security.

To further protect data, some organizations have chosen to move forward with a hybrid cloud model, a combination of both on-premises, private or public cloud. This eliminates risk even more, as it allows for secondary and tertiary backups in other locations, which ties in the concept of data sovereignty.

Data sovereignty is essentially the idea that data is subject to the laws and regulations in the country it’s collected in. In fact, by the end of 2023, 65 percent of the world’s population will have their personal data covered under data privacy regulations. This is something to look out for in particular industries such as healthcare or finance, since enterprises within those sectors often have to follow regulations that do not allow client data to be routed through other countries. Adding in a secondary or tertiary backup location will ensure data can be recovered if both you and your data center suffer a failure.

Simplified consumption model

Another popular data protection trend is the pay-as-you-go model, as allowed by the cloud. Backing up and protecting your data may sometimes be viewed as a necessary caution. With the cloud, however, data protection should be viewed as an investment.

When you migrate to the cloud, you’re able to lower the overall maintenance - and cost of maintenance - due to its ever-optimizing nature. Through the cloud, you’ll be able to identify opportunities for better use of your data, while also enabling greater agility and resilience.

Whereas on-premises environments call for a large upfront expense, the hybrid cloud allows organizations to pay as they go on a monthly basis. Your spend will likely fluctuate from month to month depending on business needs and requirements, so you can move your upfront capital expenditure to rolling costs.

Continuing to elevate your data protection strategy

In the age of managed backup, data protection has reached new heights. Consider how the above trends could play into your organization’s current data protection strategy, and what your unique challenges are when protecting data.