Backup Anytime

Online backup was initially the domain of University communities, then the military, soon afterwards major corporates. Large companies were still the greatest online backup uptake category in late 2007. This year however has seen significant advances in the adoption of online backup by small and medium sized business.

An online backup industry article from byte and switch dated 19th June 2008 quoting researchers In-Stat explained that firms with over 100 people on the payroll were three times more likely to utilise online backup than say a small business. What this article did not address however is that this disparity shows not only a reduction in the uptake differences between small and large companies but also a significant acceleration in the uptake of online backup on the part of small business. Large companies generally have greater uptake level in new technology anyway so the comparisons regarding online backup do not differentiate significantly from other technologies.

Additionally, many very large companies will implement and manage their own online backup system whereas small to medium companies will in the main not do this. This leaves small to medium sized business as the main focus of online backup providers.

This is further evidenced in reports from online backup providers as gathered and detailed by highbeam research. While major corporates will remain a target audience for online backup companies, most of the focus here will be partnerships or divisional services. The major focus continues to be small business and increasingly medium sized companies who need online backup services as an end solution on an outsourced basis.

Online backup market research is limited in usability as a point in time excersice as the market is continually in flux. General, ost believe near global consenus is that the trend for the vast majority of businesses is away from both local and self serviced data backup to online and outsourced.