The Business Case for Google Apps Backup

8/13/2019 The Business Case for Google Apps Backup

1/6

THE BUSINESS CASE FORGOOGLE APPS BACKUPBACKUPIFY RESEARCH BRIEF JUNE 2012


2/6

THE BUSINESS CASE FOR GOOGLE APPS BACKUP

Copyright 2012 Backupify. All rights reserved. 2

INTRODUCTION

Data is the lifeblood of the modern business. When your organization moves to

the cloud, it places important business data like emails, customer lists, financial

information, and more under someone else's control . While most cloud

providers have great disaster-recovery capabilities, that doesn't mean that

these providers are backing up your data, and it doesn't mean that you don't

need your own backup solution. This whitepaper examines the specific case of

moving from on-premise email and document storage to Google Apps, and

explains why having your own backup of your Google Apps data is a smart

business decision.

YOUR DATA IS AN IMPORTANT ASSET AND SHOULD BE INSURED

If you chose to run your business with Google Apps, you made a smart

decision. The ability to offload the management of your application

infrastructure, particularly email, to a third party makes good business sense.

But consider for a moment the type of data you are creating in Google Apps

data that doesn't currently exist anywhere else. This list likely includes:

Important emails about key business decisions and relationships Documents about operational issues, marketing and sales materials,

and finances Calendar entries for important meetings

In other words, your business would suffer, perhaps greatly, if this data were

ever lost.

GOOGLE'S PROTECTION ISN'T EQUIVALENT TO ON-PREMISE BACKUP

Google has world-class data centers and disaster-recovery capabilities that far

exceed those of most Software-as-a-Service application providers. But youhave to remember that Google's disaster recovery capabilities are designed to

protect Google from disasters that affect them . Google's redundant systems

aren't designed to protect you, the Google Apps end-user, from your own

business disasters.


3/6


4/6



do to your business data. Your best protection is to have your own

independent backup separate and distinct from the data that your users can

corrupt or delete.

Another major concern for cloud data is hacked accounts, which typicallyfollow one of two main forms. In the first case, an intruder deletes all a user 's

data as a precursor to employing the Gmail account in a spam attack. The

second typical form of hacker-related data loss is malicious deletion, wherein a

disgruntled account user often the account owner simply deletes data

intentionally in a conscious effort to undermine the business. Google's disaster-

recovery capabilities simply aren't designed to respond to this granular level of

data loss. Google has no way of distinguishing between legitimate deletions

and deletions caused by attackers who have somehow gained apparentlyauthorized access.

THE R.O.I. OF GOOGLE APPS BACKUP

Compared to the value of your data, the cost to protect that data is cheap.

According to a 2012 IDG/Cibecs survey , the majority of professionals value

their individual business data at no less than $2,000, and over a third place the

value of their data at $10,000 or more. That's not the value of all their

companies' data; that's the estimated value of data controlled and created byeach individual employee . The cost to protect an entire Google Apps account is

typically less than one to two percent of that figure. The economics of Google

Apps backups speak for themselves.

That same IDG/Cibecs survey found that more than a third (36 percent) of

respondents had lost data in the last 18 months be it from their local PCs or

their cloud accounts. Nearly that same number of respondents, 29 percent, said

it would take at least a full workday to recreate or recover their lost data, withone in ten reporting it could take a full week to recover from their data losses.

The chances that a complete Google Apps account is wiped out are very low,

but if it does happen, the effect on your business could be disastrous.

Spending a little extra money on an insurance policy against that event is a

smart decision.
http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55280http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55280http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55280http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55280


5/6



Consider the case of a Google Apps customer who recently found himself in a

dispute over amendments to a contract, where both parties had agreed that an

email communication would serve as the documentation of a contract change.

He was unable to find the email in his Google Apps account, and didn't know

why it vanished, so he had no proof of the contract changes or the agreed-

upon fees associated with the change in terms. Fortunately, this Google Apps

user was able to locate a copy of this critical email in his third-party backup

account. He quickly restored the message to his Gmail account and sent it back

to the client, who agreed to additional fees in light of the evidence. That one

example more than paid for a lifetime of his Google Apps backup service.

CONCLUSION

In summary, your data is one of the most critical assets of your business. Like

any important asset, it should be insured. While Google's state-of-the-art

disaster recovery capabilities protect you from some forms of data loss, you are

still at risk for data loss due to user error, hacked accounts and third-party

application bugs. To fully replicate your on-premise backup capabilities in the

cloud, you need the ability to perform granular restores, and to retain the

control that comes from having your own secure second copy of the data in

your Google Apps cloud.

ABOUT BACKUPIFY

Backupify is the leading provider of backup and archiving solutions for SaaS

applications including Google Apps, Salesforce, Facebook, Twitter, and more.

Backupify was founded in 2008 and is based in Cambridge, MA. Over 170,000

users trust Backupify to protect more than 500 million documents, 1.7 billion

email messages and 300 terabytes of data. If you're interested in the peace of

mind you get from an automated Google Apps backup solution, feel free to

contact us directly at [email protected] , on the web at www.backupify.com

or via phone at 1.800.571.4984.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.backupify.com/http://www.backupify.com/http://www.backupify.com/http://www.backupify.com/mailto:[email protected]


6/6



Backupify logo is a registered trademark or registered trademarks of Backupify, Inc. All other

names may be the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

2012 Backupify, Inc. Item: GAT-WP-EN-200110608