The Backup Balancing Act: Why You Need Both Local and Cloud Backups

When it comes to protecting your business data, backups aren’t just a technical checkbox — they’re your safety net. And like any good safety net, you want layers. That’s why best practice for modern SMEs is to use both local and cloud-based backups in tandem. It’s not overkill. It’s smart, it’s secure, and it means you’re ready for whatever curveballs your IT environment might throw at you.

Why Local Backups Still Matter (and Always Will)

Local backups — typically onto a dedicated NAS device using software like Veeam — remain the fastest and most complete form of recovery. This is because Veeam (and similar tools) doesn’t just back up your documents and databases — it can take an entire image of your server.

Think of it like a snapshot of your whole system: files, software, settings, and even the operating system. If your server goes bang, you can restore the whole thing — not just the data, but the whole environment — quickly and cleanly, exactly as it was. No reinstalling Windows, no reconfiguring services. Just restore and go.

And this is where the humble NAS (Network Attached Storage) really shines. It’s fast, local, cost-effective, and perfect for housing these large backup images. Using a NAS means your restores don’t have to go via the internet — they happen over your gigabit (or faster) internal network, giving you much shorter downtime.

But there’s a catch.

Local Backups Can’t Swim (Or Survive a Fire)

As good as local backups are, they have a fatal flaw: they live in the same place as your servers.

That means that in the event of a fire, theft, flood, ransomware attack, or other catastrophe, your NAS and your backups could be toast too. And if you think that sounds like a rare or unlucky scenario — speak to anyone who's had a water pipe burst in a comms cupboard.

Enter: cloud backup.

Cloud Backup: Your Offsite Lifeline

A solution like MSP360 (formerly CloudBerry) offers a secure and flexible way to back up your critical files and folders offsite. No, you might not replicate your entire server image to the cloud — that would be expensive, slow to upload, and slow to restore. But backing up the core data — your accounts folder, practice management database, emails, HR files, etc — to the cloud gives you peace of mind that no matter what happens on-premises, your business-critical information is safe.

Even better, tools like MSP360 support encryption in transit and at rest, meaning your data is secure both while it’s being uploaded and once it’s stored in the cloud. That’s not just good practice — it’s increasingly essential for compliance, especially if you're working under GDPR or Cyber Essentials guidelines.

But Backups Only Work If They’re Working

One of the most common issues we see when called into a new business is this: the backups exist, but they stopped working months ago. No one noticed. No alerts were being checked. The drive filled up. The software crashed. The credentials changed. A Windows update broke something. And now... you’re stuck.

That’s why both your local and cloud backup systems need to be fully managed and monitored. This isn’t a ‘set and forget’ situation. A good IT provider (or MSP) will:

• Monitor backups daily

• Run regular test restores

• Ensure versioning and retention are appropriate

• Handle software and licensing updates

• Make sure encryption keys are secure but accessible

• Alert you the moment something fails

Because when it comes to backups, silence isn’t golden. Silence often means nothing’s working.

The Gold Standard

So, what does good look like?

• A local backup, using image-based backup software like Veeam, writing to a dedicated NAS for fast restores.

• A cloud backup, using something like MSP360 to secure your core files in the event of a disaster.

• End-to-end encryption on the cloud side.

• A managed and monitored service to keep it all ticking.

• Regular test restores to make sure it’s not just theoretical.

Backups are one of those IT areas where you only really get to find out how good your setup is after something goes wrong. By then, it’s too late. So do it right, do it properly, and do it before you need it. Your future self will thank you.