So what happens if things go sour with the service provider that's holding on to your data? How easy is it to get the information back or move it on to another provider? There are some dangers that enterprises should prepare for, but it turns out cloud storage may not be as risky as it seems, and possibly no more troublesome than an in-house system, according to users and industry analysts.

If it does come to the point of changing service providers, there is likely to be work involved, said IDC analyst Benjamin Woo.

"It's much more involved than just saying, 'I don't like this provider. I'm going somewhere else,'" Woo said. For one thing, you may have to change the backup software you use on your own premises, if your new cloud provider's system doesn't support it. Internal policies and procedures may also have to change, he said.

As for the process of getting back the data held in the cloud or moving it on to another provider, there are no standards used in common across the industry, analysts said.

There's no equivalent in cloud storage of a common transport mechanism like SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), said Joe Kvidera, founder and CEO of Procedo, which provides data migration software and services. Because the industry is still in its infancy, vendors are choosing their own compression, encryption and transport mechanisms to differentiate themselves, Kvidera said.