Most US SMBs Prefer Both Online Or On-site Backup for Data Protection – Clutch

Nearly half of SMBs say on-site backup is more or as important as cloud-based options, according to new survey findings.

When it comes to the critical task of backing up data, nearly half of SMBs in the US say using both on-site and online solutions are important and necessary, according to a new survey by Clutch, a B2B research firm.

Where SMBs Backup Critical data

In fact, many SMBs steadfastly hold to on-site backup, with 42% of those surveyed reporting that it’s more important than online backup.

In the past two years alone, 63% of SMBs have adopted cloud-based backup solutions, according to Clutch’s findings. Despite this surge, nearly 90% of SMBs continue to backup their data both online and on-site. The trend is to be expected, say cloud backup and DR thought leaders.

“It’s natural for business owners to take a cautious approach to adopting technology, especially when it comes to securing their critical business data,” said Mark Anderson, co-founder and IT strategist, Anderson Technologies.

SMBs are reluctant to abandon on-site backup and adopt cloud-based backup exclusively, mainly due to concerns about security and loss of control over important data.

“The cloud can be a double-edged sword,” said Steve Woodward, CTO, SkySync, a wholly-owned product of Portal Architects, Inc. “Some small business IT teams will be familiar with the workings of the cloud while others may be afraid of the unknown.”

SMBs that backup data in the cloud, tend to choose consumer-facing solutions, according to the survey. Apple iCloud (47%), Google Drive (36%), and Dropbox (35%) rank as the top three online backup services used by SMBs. All three typically meet the more basic backup and data recovery needs of SMBs.

Yearly Spending on Online Backup Solutions

“The prevalence of these three services indicates that companies are focused on performing more file-level backups versus ‘bare-metal’ backups, [or the full recovery of an entire OS],” said Anderson.

Consumer-facing solutions are popular in the SMB market because employees are often familiar with the options, having used them elsewhere or for personal data management. This often influences an SMB’s IT team to apply the service throughout the company, a practice Woodward calls the ‘bring your own service’ approach.

Clutch’s SMB online backup survey consisted of 304 respondents who use cloud-based, online backup solutions at companies with 1-500 employees.

Full results