Reducing Business Risks With Safe Enterprise Cloud Storage

Updated Sep 7, 2022 • 7 min read

An accelerating world doesn’t allow businesses to stay behind. One of the ways to keep up with the pace is offered by cloud technology. How does enterprise cloud storage make your business more resilient?

Are you concerned about the security of your business data? Looking for a way to reduce your risk, while ensuring high availability and fast response to new capacity demands?

If so, consider using safe enterprise cloud storage. By storing your information in the cloud, you can rest assured that it is safe and secure. Plus, using enterprise-grade cloud storage can help you keep your business running smoothly in the event of a disaster. Below, we will explore some of the benefits of using enterprise cloud storage and how it can help reduce business risk.

What is enterprise cloud storage?

Enterprise cloud storage is a repository for business-critical information that provides data sharing, data management and data protection, and can handle large volumes of data and large numbers of users.

Enterprise storage provides several elements that might (and should!) be considered as critical by enterprises:

High availability
Disaster recovery
Cross-platform data sharing
Backup and restore functions

With enterprise cloud storage, instead of using local storage options (think flash drive, hard disk, or external hard disk) to store your files, you save them online by purchasing storage from a public cloud service provider (CSP). The three major public cloud storage providers are Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud.

Types of enterprise storage

In general, there are three types of storage an enterprise may choose from:

Storage area network (SAN)
Network-attached storage (NAS)
Directly attached storage (DAS)

Storage area network (SAN)

SAN is block-based storage that provides dedicated high performance. It is independent of an organization's common user network. They are usually used in enterprise storage environments where they can improve storage performance and availability.

SANs are typically composed of hosts, switches, storage elements, and storage devices that are interconnected using a variety of technologies, topologies, and protocols. They can be used to connect multiple servers to a single storage device or to connect a single server to multiple storage devices.

Network-attached storage (NAS)

NAS systems are typically easy to set up and manage, and they offer good performance and scalability. NAS operates at the file level, allowing systems to connect via file-based network protocols such as NFS and SMB.

This type of system is usually designed for small and medium businesses that don't have the budget or need for a full-fledged storage area network (SAN).

Most NAS systems provide features such as file sharing, data backups, and remote access. Some even include features such as media streaming and user quotas.

Direct-attached storage (DAS)

DAS is the most basic type of enterprise storage, and it's typically used for small businesses or organizations with simple storage needs. DAS refers to storage that is directly attached to a server that cannot be accessed by other computers or servers. Unlike NAS and SAN, DAS is not networked.

Instead, it uses the computer's existing bus and I/O channels to connect to the storage devices. This gives DAS a number of advantages over other types of storage, including higher performance, lower cost, and greater flexibility. However, DAS is also more vulnerable to data loss in the event of a single drive failure. For this reason, it is often used in conjunction with other storage technologies, such as RAID or snapshots.

Why should companies use cloud storage for enterprise?

There are many reasons for companies to use cloud storage for enterprise. Each benefit involves decreasing a different type of risk that can endanger the business. Here are some of the biggest why’s:

Highly reliability
Scalability at all times. Allows decreasing or increasing storage capacity according to needs.
Costs. No upfront costs, decreased operation costs, and the ability to move data across tiers to a less expensive tier, e.g., archive.
Reduced maintenance. No complex infrastructure management.
Accessibility. Not only can it be scaled up and down if needed, but it is also accessible from anywhere in the world, which is ideal for companies with remote employees or multiple locations.
Flexibility. Contrary to cloud storage, on-premise storage requires planning capacity, buying additional storage space like drives shelves, new storage devices, and configuring them which engages extra time and involves complex management.
Automation: It is a straightforward action that can often be automated (be aware that depending on the storage solution, automation can also have limits)

It is extremely important to remember that security rules and processes must be applied to on-premises and also cloud enterprise solutions like data encryption, backups, disaster recovery, storage monitoring, policy, and education.

Which cloud is best for enterprise?

The three major public cloud storage providers: Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud, provide a variety of storage options. It is worth also mentioning that additional storage options are offered via cloud marketplaces. For example: via Azure Marketplace, you can run and use a solution from one of the top storage providers, NetApp, who offer their product NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP.

There is no simple answer for which cloud storage solution is best for enterprise – you need to select the best option that meets all your enterprise data storage needs. Documentation is a key component to help you decide on the best option to meet your business needs.

As enterprise usually means huge quantities of data and often also migration to cloud or between clouds, I recommend consulting storage options with storage and cloud experts. Invest time to deeply evaluate requirements and storage options.

Safe and efficient enterprise cloud storage

Using enterprise storage in the cloud provides a lot of benefits, but as it is on-premises you need to remember to apply processes and procedures to have continuous data safe. The three major public cloud storage providers: Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud, provide a variety of storage options.

The most important part is to understand your needs to be able to choose the right option. With enterprise storage, this will reduce the risks that can affect your business the most. Consult our cloud experts on how to start this process.