Imagine the things we could all do if we all got our data act together. A startup seeking funding might predict how many 30-year-olds in Maine would buy a scooter on credit. But, alas, the needed homebase, single point of reference, visibility, etc., have eluded us.

Oh, wait — data backup had all of those things covered? Why are we just finding out now? 

As enterprise analytics projects died young in droves over the past few years, it became apparent that we lacked something crucial for success. “I always jokingly say the backup guy actually had all of the data in one spot and the trends that happened within that data,” said Chadd Kenney (pictured, right), vice president and chief technologist of Clumio Inc. “But the platform never gave him the ability to be able to leverage and get value from the data set itself.” 

Kenney and Charlie Gautreaux (pictured, left), senior director of cloud engineering and automation at Ally Financial Inc., spoke with Dave Vellante (@dvellante), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, and guest host Justin Warren (@jpwarren), chief analyst at PivotNine Pty Ltd., during the AWS re:Invent event in Las Vegas. They discussed how cloud and software as a service are unlocking backup’s long-hidden potential. (* Disclosure below.)

Backup opens up to SaaS, cloud

Cloud-native resources and services and SaaS delivery are enabling a new breed of backup to emerge, according to Kenney. Small iterative or “simplifying” upgrades that came before do not compare, he explained. 

The word “backup” doesn’t do justice to Clumio’s cloud-native platform with data services, according to Gautreaux. “We don’t actually use that term too much. … To us, it’s all about availability, recoverability, and durability … along with how you overall manage your data,” he said. 

The SaaS model enables things like multi-environment usability and enhanced security. Clumio relies on real data backups for governance and analytics on a single platform. They improve greatly on less useful, expensive-to-store snapshots cloud providers offer, according to Gautreaux. And the platform’s secure data services run in different on-premises and cloud environments, which prevents security holes.

“I don’t want my backup to be in the same place as I’m running my application — not necessarily. I want another provider or another solution to actually own that air gap for me,” Gautreaux concluded. 

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the AWS re:Invent event. (* Disclosure: Clumio Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Clumio nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE