Most organizations focus on agility and scale when it comes to cloud solutions, yet a reliable backup plan remains the backbone of a stable environment. Even small oversights in your backup process can turn into bigger complications, which we’d like to see you avoid. Here, we offer our experience-based insights on the fundamental steps businesses can take to bolster their backup strategy, drawing on our combined backgrounds in IT, security, and DevOps.
Anthony: In our work at Access Point, we see clients rushing to spin up backup solutions without first mapping where their data lives, its sensitivity, access and retention requirements. This is the key to avoiding oversights and optimizing costs. For example, in a hybrid or multi-cloud setup, you might have critical data in Microsoft 365, some on AWS, and even certain workloads on-prem. You can’t protect what you can’t locate.
Kevin: Exactly. Classifying data helps you decide what needs real-time backups versus a weekly snapshot. If you only access a certain dataset every few years for compliance, you can move it to cheaper cold storage. Meanwhile, frequently accessed data might need a more granular restore point. This strategic approach keeps you from paying for unnecessary tiers of storage.
Kevin: Setting a backup schedule can seem straightforward—just back up daily, right? In reality, you need to consider your Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Recovery Time Objective (RTO). Is it acceptable to lose 24 hours of data if a disaster strikes at 4 p.m.? If not, maybe you need an hourly or near-continuous backup.
Anthony: We also encourage organizations to evaluate the “responsibility model.” Some cloud providers offer baseline disaster recovery, but you may have to enable and configure it. For instance, Microsoft might handle the physical layer, but if you’re not running your own backups for Microsoft 365, you risk losing critical files or user data if an outage or other event occurs. Knowing exactly where your responsibility starts and ends is essential.
Anthony: Many of us remember the old days of physically shipping tapes offsite. Times have changed. Now, it’s not just about storing data; it’s about ensuring that stored data remains secure and quickly recoverable. We recommend encrypting data both in transit and at rest, limiting who can access your backup repository, and employing multi-factor authentication.
Kevin: And you can’t overlook immutability. An immutable backup ensures your data remains unaltered, which is a game-changer when dealing with ransomware. The cost is higher, but if your line of work involves extremely sensitive data, it might be well worth it. We’ve seen organizations restore from safe immutable backups in hours rather than days or weeks. We have also implemented tools which work with mutable data backups, which allow you to actively scan for threats and remove them prior to restore. Again, understanding and mapping your data will help you make the right decision for your organization.
Kevin: Observability often gets left behind in backup conversations. Yet real-time monitoring is incredibly helpful for identifying unusual patterns—like backups that suddenly double in size due to extra debug logging or suspicious activity that hints at ransomware.
Anthony: It’s wise to have dashboards for backup completion times, storage consumption, and adding alerting for any anomalies or errors. This way, you can intervene before a tiny oversight becomes a crippling outage. Plus, these metrics feed into compliance reports, audits, and management updates.
Anthony: Too many people think they can just “add DR later.” That usually leads to confusion and missed steps when you actually need it. By building disaster recovery provisions into your backup plan, you’re already clarifying roles, performing tabletop exercises, and outlining the maximum tolerable downtime for critical services.
Kevin: Having worked as a Site Reliability Engineer, I’m a big believer in well-documented playbooks. If your environment goes down at 2 a.m., you don’t want to try to remember your restore procedures on the spot. If you have a script—or at least a checklist—recovery will be faster and less stressful. A blameless postmortem after each drill ensures your team refines these playbooks over time.
Kevin: Automation is what keeps backups consistent. When they rely on manual steps, it’s easy to miss a crucial day or discover that your point person took a week off. Setting automated alerts ensures every backup runs on schedule and finishes without errors.
Anthony: At Access Point, we’ve found success with solutions like Druva, which give us end-user data protection, easy e-discovery, and flexible restore points. Of course, tools alone don’t fix everything. The real secret is having a well-defined plan and a platform that supports your unique needs.
Anthony: Every breach or outage story that hits the news serves as a reminder: backups aren’t just about boxes you check for compliance. They’re foundational to keeping your business running when incidents happen. They protect your reputation, satisfy clients who trust you with their data, and help you sleep at night knowing there’s a safety net.
Kevin: And crucially, having a solid backup strategy goes hand in hand with effective disaster recovery. Without robust backups, your DR plan is incomplete. Without a DR plan, your backups are simply data on a server somewhere—maybe safe, maybe not, and certainly not ready to support quick recovery.
We’ve guided diverse companies—ranging from small teams to global organizations—through the nuances of data classification, backup scheduling, vendor selection, and security controls. If you’re evaluating your own cloud backup or looking to strengthen your current approach, we’re here to help. At Access Point Consulting, we believe that straightforward advice, combined with practical expertise, can make a world of difference in preventing data disasters.
Feel free to reach out if you’d like to discuss how these backup strategies can fit your business needs. We’re always open to talking through your questions and concerns, helping you strike that perfect balance between cost, complexity, and peace of mind.
We hope you’ve found this overview insightful. Whether you’re just starting with cloud backup or refining an existing plan, remember that the right process and tools can turn a potential crisis into a manageable hiccup.
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