Overview of Azure Backup: Features and Benefits

There have been thousands of significant data loss incidents within the United States just within the last few years. Add to that the fact that 95% of data loss incidents stem from human error, and you can start to see why having significant backup features available to you at all times is a must. Such incidents might seem relatively small and irrelevant at first blush, but the damage that they can cause is often devastating. Rather than taking a risk on such a scenario happening at your place of business, why not consider equipping your databases with powerful backup systems?

Among the systems that some rely on is the Azure Backup system that comes equipped with the Microsoft 365 platform. This system offers a base level of data protection for all your Microsoft 365 products and integrates Azure Backup with the wider Azure ecosystem. It is certainly a useful system, and it is something that you ought to consider when thinking about how you will utilize backup programs.

Features of the Azure Backup Program

What makes the Azure Backup system special and why is it worthy of your time and consideration? These are perfectly reasonable questions to ask yourself as you attempt to adopt a broad backup framework to keep your data protected. Here are some key features that you ought to know about the Azure Backup system:

• Centralized Management - Enjoy one centralized place to handle your backup needs. Remember, the system keeps key backup copies of your most important data in one place where you can easily access it as you need it. That can make things easier as you consider how you will go about locking down the most critical information that you currently store.

• Backup Encryption and Security - One of the things that you can count on with Azure Backup is that you will have backup encryption and security right from the start. Ideally, this means that only those who are truly supposed to have access to the data will ever be capable of tapping into it.

• Long-Term Retention and Backup Policies - Certain pieces of data need to be retained for a longer period of time. This may be necessary because you will need to access to those files at some point in the future. Pulling those files out of the system is something that you ought to be fully capable of doing whenever you need to. As such, you will appreciate the long-term retention policies that come standard within Azure Backup.

These are some of the key features that you gain from the moment that you start to use the Azure Backup offering. Keep this in mind as you set up your databases and think about the blankets of security that you need to put over them.

Scalability and Cost Optimization

Every business leader who is doing their job the right way will always be thinking about the cost optimization of the various decisions that they make for the company. They will even think about these considerations as they are looking over the backup systems that they might put on the databases that they are responsible for. As such, they need something that they can rely on to not break the budget.

Azure Backup is an excellent example of a system that is highly cost effective while also providing the scalability necessary to keep a growing business moving forward in the right way. Azure Backup offers a pay-as-you-go model that makes it possible to only pay for the amount of backup protection that you truly need at any given time. After all, why would you ever want to pay for more than what you absolutely require? With this model, you don’t have to worry about that, and you can trust that you keep your expenses in check.

The other great thing about the pay-as-you-go model is the fact that you can scale it up as your business continues to grow. In other words, you aren’t going to be throwing money at a backup protection plan that covers too much or too little.

Integrate Backup with Disaster Recovery

A key element of backup plans is disaster recovery. This is protection in case there is a major data loss as the result of a technological or natural disaster. These types of events happen more often than you might think, and you need to have a plan for how you will address such a situation. Azure Backup is specifically designed to integrate with a disaster recovery system. This means that if there is some type of disaster that impacts your databases, you can still recover all of the data that you might otherwise have lost.

If you want to operate in such a way that you will always have peace of mind about the safety of your data, then there is nothing quite like having a disaster recovery plan that integrates with your standard backup plan as well. Azure Backup offers that peace of mind for you.

Use Cases for Azure Backup

As you might have imagined, there are plenty of use cases for an Azure Backup system. Here are some scenarios where it is likely to come in handy:

• On-Site Backup - The Azure Backup program can be used to protect systems that already exist on your property and are used on a daily basis. This is great because you will know for sure that the systems that you utilize daily are safe up with Azure Backup.

• Compliance and Long-Term Retention - You might find yourself subject to certain compliance concerns related to your ability to always keep certain data and files at the ready. Azure Backup can help you remain in compliance with the regulations that you are subject to.

• Large-Scale Migration - Moving data from one system to another may be necessary from time to time. A large-scale migration of data is quite the project, and Azure Backup can help take some of the burden off of you as you work to move massive amounts of information and files.

These are all great reasons to think about using Azure Backup for your file protection needs. For more information about how to move forward with this, contact us for the latest details about why Azure Backup is the way to go.