Every Data Protection Strategy Should be Cloud-Powered

I’ve worked in IT backup and recovery for more than 30 years, and one thing has remained clear: purpose-built protection storage consistently delivers more effective protection than generic or hyperscale storage.

On-premises backup appliances such as deduplication targets or object storage systems often deliver superior preservation and are potentially faster than generic NAS, SAN, or DAS. The same principle now applies in the cloud. Purpose-built protection clouds offer capabilities and resilience that hyperscale storage simply doesn’t.

Data Protection Matters recently published a brief on why cloud-powered data protection is becoming inevitable for organizations of every size. The brief also delves into why purpose-built protection clouds make the most sense (and cents) for a broad section of the overall market. The findings don’t just highlight the trend; they offer a clear roadmap for evaluating your own strategy.

A Framework for Cloud-Powered Protection

The brief lays out a “good-better-best” model for thinking about cloud-powered protection storage, with Wasabi earning particularly high marks in several areas:

Good

Hyperscale cloud storage gets your data out of the building (geographic survivability), but the cyber resilience of your protection repositories is often limited to the features of your backup software. With the right software, immutability can be enforced, but most organizations run multiple backup tools. That means your level of cyber preparedness varies with every combination of software stack(s) and cloud platform(s).

By contrast, Wasabi offers immutability built in and supported across leading backup providers, thereby improving your preparedness consistency.

Better

Purpose-built protection storage, both on-prem and cloud-based, also ensures that your repositories stay secured for the data’s entire retention window without relying on the software that originally wrote it. This ensures that when (not if) it’s time to change your primary backup software, your repositories remain intact until the data ages out, without the need to maintain legacy applications.

Wasabi fits here by offering broad integration across leading backup providers, so your repositories stay accessible and consistent no matter which tool you use today or switch to tomorrow.

Best

Modern purpose-built repositories stand out not just for their cyber capabilities but also for their operational practicality, from pricing models to day-to-day costs. Too often, hidden fees create a tradeoff that makes it harder to fully test recovery readiness.

Wasabi removes that barrier by coupling flat-rate pricing with advanced safeguards like Multi-User Administration (MUA), which requires multiple administrators to approve critical actions. The result: enterprise-grade protection that is both affordable and tamper-resistant.

Better-than-Best

I strongly recommend considering that myriad elements of your data protection and resilience strategy (including the use of protection storage) be consumed through a managed service provider. An MSP adds expertise during preparation and provides calm, experienced guidance when disaster or ransomware strikes. Beyond the extra hands, MSPs can offer 24/7 monitoring, faster response, and flexible service models that many IT teams can’t sustain alone.

Once again, Wasabi stands out with a global network of Technology Alliance Partners that makes it easy to find the right partner to meet your geographic and regulatory needs.

Next steps

The brief closes with a practical checklist of questions for your team. For example, which backup tools, repositories, and service providers are a part of your cyber or data resilience strategies, and are they aligned with your goals? Answering these questions won’t just spark discussion; it will give you a sharper view of where your resilience posture truly stands.

That clarity matters as we head into Cybersecurity Awareness Month, end-of-year budgeting, and setting BC/DR priorities for 2026. After decades in this field, I can tell you the organizations that succeed are those that prepare deliberately, test often, and treat resilience as a business discipline, not just another IT feature.

Check out this quick recap of the DPM brief: