Don’t get fooled by one of the cloud washed backup software companies. Use this brief guide so that you don’t get fooled into an on-premises backup solution that doesn’t follow the same pay-as-you-go model as the cloud.
What is cloud washing?
A number of backup software providers have realized that Google Cloud is achieving aggressive growth. In their effort to claim that they are a Google Cloud backup software solution, they have neglected to spend the required energy to be truly cloud native. Most backup vendors have simply “cloud washed” their existing on-premises software solution – confusing end users trying to configure their backup solution to Google Cloud.
Cloud washing involves vendors rebranding their traditional software solutions as cloud solutions without making the necessary architectural changes to leverage the true benefits of the cloud. This practice often leads to inefficiencies and higher costs for customers who believe they are using a genuine cloud solution.
How can you identify cloud washing?
Rachel Kossman and Ellen O’Brien at Tech Target have defined the term ‘Cloud Washing’. Their simple definition: “Cloud washing (also spelled cloudwashing) is the purposeful and sometimes deceptive attempt by a vendor to rebrand an old product or service by associating the buzzword "cloud" with it.”
Key questions to avoid Cloud washing
Don’t be deceived by legacy solutions from cloud washed vendors. If you do your detective work during the evaluation period, here is how you can uncover if your backup software provider has a cloud washed solution.
- Are they asking you for the details of your environment and future growth to size the infrastructure for their backup solution? - A true cloud-native solution should automatically scale with your needs without requiring upfront sizing.
- Do you need to create a separate login for their backup software solution? - Cloud-native solutions should integrate seamlessly with your existing cloud platform credentials, offering a single sign-on experience.
- Do they need you to deploy and manage the infrastructure yourself? - Authentic cloud solutions are managed by the provider, eliminating the need for you to handle infrastructure management.
- Is the roadmap multi-tenancy? - Multi-tenancy is a key characteristic of cloud-native solutions, allowing multiple users or organizations to share the same infrastructure securely.
- Are they charging you on a fixed price basis regardless of actual backup consumption? - The cloud model typically charges based on usage, offering more flexibility and potentially lower costs.
- Do you need to install and deploy agents to do backups? - True cloud-native solutions often use agentless technologies to simplify deployment and reduce management overhead.
- Are there APIs or cloud native APIs available? - A robust set of APIs indicates a solution designed for integration and automation within the cloud ecosystem.
If you do not receive the answers you need for any of these questions, then you should check out a truly cloud-native, purpose-built solution - HYCU for GCP.
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