At a time when small businesses are increasingly the primary targets of cyber security attacks, small- and medium-sized business owners would rather use a cloud system to back up data than traditional methods.
Nearly 90% say that online backup is equally or more secure than on-site backup, according to a new survey by Clutch, a leading B2B ratings and reviews site. In addition, nearly 40% of SMBs cite security as the top benefit of using online backup services ahead of providing additional data space and simpler backup.
More and more small- and medium-sized businesses depend heavily on data. That data might be stored on various servers and/or computers with sensitive information about clients, customer orders, financials, sales records, and more. These survey findings suggest that SMBs are more comfortable with cloud backup, since over one-third report no challenges when using it. The results also widely contradict held perceptions regarding security and the cloud.
“The customers we speak to who are interested in online backup say security is high on the list of things they are fearful of,†notes Bob Lamendola, General Manager of Infrastructure Services for mindSHIFT, one of the largest IT outsourcing and cloud service providers. “They want to make sure the provider is going to keep their data secure, particularly as they vacillate from file sharing data to enterprise database data.â€
“These tools have been growing in adoption, and I think a lot of the early adopters were the ‘crossing the chasm’ type,†said Steve Woodward, Chief Technology Officer at SkySync, a cloud backup and migration tool. “Most of the early adopters have had some level of success, and now later adopters are saying, ‘Hey, this is the right time and place.’â€
Clutch connects entrepreneurs with the agencies and software solutions that can help enhance their businesses. Industry experts are pointing out that online backup services offer features that are potentially otherwise unavailable to SMBs via on-site options.
“The security and reliability of top-tier cloud vendors’ state-of-the-art data center infrastructure will be far more robust and stringent compared to what a small- to medium-sized business could ever afford,†said Mark Anderson, IT Strategist at Anderson Technologies, a specialty provider of technology services.
Conducted in March 2016, Clutch’s survey included 304 SMBs with 1-500 employees. For the full survey report, go here.