“Data doesn’t sleep. Neither should your backup strategy.”
That line came up during a recent conversation between us. One of us leads Canada’s largest privately owned Technology Ally (Compugen). The other built one of the country’s only channel-first cloud providers focused on data sovereignty (ThinkOn). With decades of experience in cloud infrastructure, data resilience, and cloud backup strategy, we’ve seen many trends rise and fall. But this one has a lasting impact because it affects every organization's ability to stay operational when it matters most.
Cloud Is a Tool, Not a Strategy
Where Is Your Data — and Can You Actually Access It?
Too often, the cloud is treated as a complete strategy rather than what it actually is: a foundation. A tool. As a result, many organizations assume their data is secure simply because it’s stored. But storing data and protecting it are not the same thing.
The reality is that most businesses don’t know exactly where their data lives. Even fewer have a clear plan for what happens if access is lost. Whether caused by human error, legal restrictions, or geopolitical disruption, the impact is the same. If you can’t reach your data, your operations slow down or stop altogether.
This isn’t about pointing fingers. It’s about building resilience. Your cloud provider may offer uptime guarantees and local storage options, but recoverability is a separate issue — and it’s not always included.
As Craig put it, “Disaster recovery planners have been saying for 40 years to have a copy of your data somewhere else. That hasn’t changed. Just the medium has.”
Why Data Sovereignty and Jurisdiction Matter
The Legal Risks of Foreign-Owned Infrastructure
Data gravity is more than a technical concept. As your data grows, so do the complexity and costs of moving it. Running workloads close to the data makes sense, especially for AI, analytics, and high-performance applications. But this also raises serious questions about control and jurisdiction.
Data sovereignty and compliance have become more urgent in recent years. New tariffs, evolving legislation, and extraterritorial laws have changed how data is governed. If your infrastructure is owned or operated by a foreign entity, your organization may be subject to laws that sit outside your national protections.
That’s not theoretical. It’s a legal and operational reality. Understanding who owns the infrastructure, who operates it, and what laws apply is essential to maintaining control over your data.
Backup Isn’t Routine — It’s Your Business Continuity Plan
Rethinking Backup as a Strategic Advantage
This is where backup becomes more than a routine task. It becomes a strategic safeguard — a way to protect your data and your business from uncertainty.
At Compugen, we take a layered approach to data protection. That includes archiving user data in an environment independent of our core cloud infrastructure. The goal is to add resilience. Just like having a secondary power source or internet provider, storing critical data separately ensures continuity when something unexpected occurs. This isn’t about distrust. It’s about being prepared. Thirty days of retention isn’t a viable long-term approach. And continuing to pay for an email license simply to maintain access to archived data isn’t cost-effective.
This kind of backup strategy gives us clarity, control, and continuity. When something goes wrong — and eventually it will — we aren’t dependent on a single platform or vendor to recover our data.
Craig describes this as being “the purveyor of the gold copy.” That single, reliable version of your data is essential to building trust, supporting AI models, and enabling sound business decisions.
Disaster Recovery Testing: A Confidence Signal
A Successful DR Test Is More Than a Checkmark
Disaster recovery testing is often treated as a technical formality. In truth, it’s a powerful business signal. When a customer completes a full DR scenario and receives confirmation that it worked, that report often gets escalated to senior leadership quickly.
In a world full of unknowns, it offers certainty. It proves that the organization can continue to operate under pressure. That kind of preparation builds confidence at every level of the organization.
Build Independence Into Your Cloud Backup Plan
Resilience Doesn’t Mean Starting Over
You don’t need to leave your cloud platform. But you do need to ask smart questions.
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Do you know where your data is stored and under what jurisdiction?
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Can you retrieve it without full reliance on your current provider?
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Are you optimizing for short-term convenience or long-term resilience?
Applications and workloads can stay where they make the most sense. But your backup strategy needs its own home — one built on independence, transparency, and control.
Because when a crisis hits, and it eventually will, “it’s in the cloud” won’t be enough.
Let’s talk. Compugen and ThinkOn can help you build a resilient cloud backup and data sovereignty strategy focused on resilience, safety, and long-term value.
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