Backup services for G Suite: A quick guide for application managers
Guide – Google Apps Backup and Restore
If you’re responsible for management of your company’s G Suite application, (previously/otherwise known as Google Apps for Business), you’ll appreciate its ease of use, reliability and mobile friendly features. Yet even though G Suite is a comprehensive, intuitive set of productivity apps, there may be times where a file is deleted or moved off to a device and lost due to accidental or malicious activity. CloudAlly’s Google Apps backup and restore service is your best defense against data loss, whether you have a large G Suite deployment or even a single user.
Beware the security threat from within!
According to many sources including CSO Online, the biggest threat to company data isn’t from external hackers – it is from internal employees. Strong data ownership policies are vital, and mitigating your risk with an automated file backup and recovery service is equally as important.
If you are G Suite Enterprise, Business or Education client, you may say, “Hold on, I subscribed to Google Vault, it’s a backup service, right?”. As we explained in recent blog post, Vault is an archive system for G Suite that enables legal holds, archiving and audit compliance, and there are limitations you should consider.
CloudAlly’s backup service complements Google Vault, and mitigates data loss by providing point-in-time recovery for an entire mailbox, folders, or individual items, unlike Vault’s item level functionality. You can discover more about strengths and weaknesses of Google Vault (and the opportunities of running both services) by clicking the link above. Our AWS storage sites in the US, Australia and the EU ensure business and personal users around the world can quickly backup and recover their G Suite data with minimal business interruption.
Have concerns about security or compliance?
Data in our AWS storage infrastructure is protected with AES-256-bit encryption, which meets compliance requirements like ISO 27001 and HIPAA. Our website and application have been reviewed and authorized by GoDaddy, Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS). CloudAlly participates in the Cloud Security Alliance. Data in motion is secured using SSL (HTTPS) encrypted servers.
For businesses that aren’t prepared to make the financial and time investment required to set up Google Vault, or don’t foresee needing to set up retention schedules on electronic files, or needing to submit user activity reports to an auditor, CloudAlly is a powerful stand-alone backup service for file and content preservation.
Backups for more than file storage and sharing
Working with a Google service like G Suite, it’s easy to be complacent with the idea that you can simply set up a set of folders and permissions in Drive, and the files will be stored there as long as your employees need access to them.
As users become accustomed to how Docs, Slides and Sheets automatically save their files – they may also take it for granted that files can be easily moved between folders, and it’s easy to get to them from their computer or mobile device. Until they are deleted on a laptop by accident, and the desktop sync app runs, and files are put into the Trash bin and stored there for a limited time (typically 30 days).
Backup services are important for other G Suite Apps as well. Think about when your employees change their Android phone, or if they delete someone from their Contacts by accident then need it again. Gmail and Calendar backup services can be extremely helpful should an employee leave the business, and you need to access their messages for the new hire that takes their place. Other Google Apps backup and restore functions we provide include Tasks, and Chats.
Easy activation, setup and configuration
It only takes a few minutes to setup a CloudAlly account and activate backups for your entire organization. No technical programming expertise required.
Step 1 – Click on the “Sign Up” link to start your Free Trial for 15 days. Confirm your trial account by clicking the URL we send you via email.
Step 2 –Sign into your CloudAlly account and click on activate a new backup. In a separate tab, sign into your G Suite account with administrative privileges and then from the CloudAlly backup screen click on “Integrate with Google”
Step 3 – The system will auto-discover all of your G Suite users and you can either activate all or selective backups as needed. You can also specify your backup time in the preferences section.
When you are logged into G Suite, you can always get to your CloudAlly dashboard quickly by clicking the “9-dot” apps icon at the top right hand corner of your screen. The left-hand administrative menu offers controls and settings for:
- Backup scheduling management (Daily, every three days or weekly)
- Data restore and download
- Two-factor authentication for heightened security
- OAuth Authentication (using social media credentials for convenience and security)
- User management
- Convenient in-app support documentation and ticketing
- Guides and tutorials
No Fine Print “Gotchyas”
With some backup services, the basic subscription cost is low, but you are limited to a small amount of storage space before prices increase drastically. Others charge higher fees for performance Service Level Agreements. CloudAlly doesn’t have pricing tiers based on consumption or bandwidth, our affordable Google Apps backup service plan is priced at $30 US per user per year, with volume discounts available for more than 100 users.
Our partnership with Amazon enables us to offer a 99.9% uptime SLA, and offers you peace of mind that your backup data will be available when needed, so you can retrieve all your files from a specific backup execution, or even a single file at a time.
Cloudally’s Cloud to Cloud backup software is an affordable way to safeguard G Suite data and content. It’s easy to set up, your data can be restored to your accounts with ease, and your data is stored on AWS S3 Secure storage. Once you set up and schedule your backups, we monitor and protect your critical data so you don’t have to purchase or manage onsite storage drives or appliance
According to the 2017 Ponemon Cost of Data Breach study, each corporate record which is lost or stolen costs businesses $141. Though this is down from $158 in 2016, how many records do you store in G Suite? Consider the cost and business interruption which could result from user error or malicious data theft, compared to the cost of Google Apps backup and recovery from CloudAlly, which is negligible and a sound insurance policy to assist you in your day of need.
As a G Suite for Business administrator, you are often called upon to solve problems like accidentally deleted files, e-mail and contacts. In other cases, a website refresh may go in the wrong direction, and a r restore to a previous iteration is often the best pivot. Don’t let complex data backups and recovery processes cause business interruption. CloudAlly is the affordable way to make scheduled and on-demand backups easy, and data recovery painless.
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