Most people store their files in the cloud. Sure, it’s unlikely the cloud will be inaccessible, but the more common issue is if you don’t pay your bills. That is what happened to one of my clients. They had been storing their business documents in the cloud and that service provider was regularly deleting older files, so over time their data was disappearing.

Evidently, this client had not read the small print, aka, the EULA on the cloud service they were using. After a testy dispute, they stopped payment and practically overnight, all their data was inaccessible. Oops. They called me, not so much to solve the technical problem since there wasn’t much that could be fixed there, but to negotiate the resolution with the cloud provider.

This scenario is not unusual. I’ve also assisted clients with ransomware attacks, physical loss (literally losing an external drive), and even flooding, to name some examples. All of these clients “backed up to the cloud” as they put it. This is usually more of a situation that they are working entirely from the cloud, and more often than not, using a “free” service.

If this is how you run your business, you are putting yourself at great risk. Sure, it’s a pain when those files are no longer accessible, but I’m referring to a much bigger issue: when you are required to recover the files for a client, a lawsuit, or the government (yes, that means tax docs, too). That is when this minor inconvenience of a few lost files can become extremely expensive.

It’s Fine to Use the Cloud

The cloud is super convenient, and I’m not suggesting that people stop using it. The productivity gained from using the cloud cannot be understated; it can save businesses thousands of dollars per year. I realize that.

This is why I don’t recommend that my clients not use the cloud. In 2024, that is simply not an option. However, what is important is to remember to back up your cloud files. Just as it was important in the past to back up your files, you should really consider (and budget for) a solid cloud backup strategy.

Back in the early days of computing, every business backed up its files using backup software. As the internet became more ubiquitous and reliable, people started copying files to the cloud for shared use. During these early days, there was a trepidation about doing this, so this was always a “copy” of files stored more locally. This created the false sense that using the cloud was safe.

Backup software kept pace with these trends, and eventually, it became possible to use the software to copy, synchronize, and archive files between the cloud and local storage as needed. Eventually, some backup software options became “cloud only” in that they could backup files from anywhere to their own cloud services.

As the idea of storing files in the cloud became less worrying, most people saw this as very convenient. The idea of running a business entirely in the cloud became possible. This is when services such as SalesForce, and Google rose in popularity; even Microsoft offered an all-cloud office suite. For a comparatively affordable cost, they would take over the storage, security, and recoverability of these files.

A False Sense of Security

Unfortunately for backup software companies, though, this meant that they were becoming less necessary. Well-known backup software names like Backup Exec, Legato, and NovaBack faded from consciousness and were either swallowed up by competitors or turned into highly specialized products for large corporations. For individuals and small businesses, backup software simply ceased to be relevant.

For most people, backups were now someone else’s problem. If the files were in the cloud, then they did not need to worry about where or how those files were backed up. The fear that files were stored in some distant country, or divided up in chunks all over the internet just didn’t seem to matter much anymore. As long as they were still there… somewhere.

I suppose even the possibility that files might be lost seemed less concerning, too. Just like a lost Spotify playlist, the idea of losing some files to the vagaries of the cloud was also becoming almost acceptable; a trade-off for the convenience of having them in the cloud. When I ask my teenage kids about the security of their school papers or even their social media pics, they seem almost unphased by the possibility these could be lost.

Of course, my kids aren’t running businesses either. This attitude about the security of their data is reflective of their age and responsibilities in life – anything they could lose would only affect them personally. However, if you are running a business, it’s not just about your personal files. You have other concerns.

A New Understanding About Backups is Needed

So why did I bother with a little reminiscing about backups in the past? This is because the past can offer some good lessons. What I tell my clients is that they need to think back to the glory days of backup software and consider what these applications offered. I then tell them to turn the old backup model upside down.

Back then, backup software would take your files from the place you worked on them, and make a secondary copy somewhere else, somewhere safe. This was typically a removable tape or a disk on another computer. If your work files were lost or destroyed, you would then recover them from that location.

When the cloud became a place to work on files, people put too much faith in that cloud. This is when the idea that backups should also reside there became popular. While it certainly is convenient, this is a fundamental flaw. Just as you would not store the key to your safe inside that safe, you also should not rely on the cloud as the place to back up your files… at least not the only place.

So, what I recommend to my clients is to turn the old backup model upside down. While doing cloud backups is certainly useful (better than no backup at all, of course), I also tell them to backup their files back down from the cloud onto some type of local storage.

That’s right, people should always have a copy of all their files in a place that they can access directly. This is for the eventuality, even if rare, that something happens when that cloud storage becomes inaccessible.

Conclusion

Yes, backups are a pain and it’s a boring topic to boot. I know. It was a pain and boring in the early days of computing too. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to make the case for quality backup software to incredulous managers. It was always something that fell to the bottom of budget requests.

I can say with some self-confidence that in the 25 years that I worked in IT, we never lost a single file that was on our many servers. This is because I considered backups as important as any other insurance policy. I also maintained very detailed and well-engineered Hierarchical Storage Management policies – basically, IT-speak for good backup practices.

Even when cloud usage became the norm for our department, I never lost sight of the importance of backing up those files regularly. These habits always stayed with me, even now that I have my own business. Moving to the cloud is just another place for work files to be located. It is not, however, a place to exclude from a consistent backup policy.

This means that in 2024, cloud files need to be backed up locally, even if it seems counter-intuitive to move files back down from the cloud. As with all insurance policies, you may never need that extra layer of security, but when you do, you’ll be glad you took the time and spent the money. As they say in disaster recovery, it’s not if something will go wrong, but when it will go wrong.