Still, Mentesana warns that cloud services aren't always the cheaper option. Before making the switch, Delphi Capital conducted an in-depth cost-benefit analysis comparing the price of on-premise backup with an SaaS model. The findings: the two were "just about the same cost, plus or minus 5 percent."

Another common misunderstanding is that SaaS solutions are easy to implement. Mentesana says the company needed to add a backup circuit and configure it with two points of presence so that traffic is automatically rerouted if one circuit fails. The price tag for adding a second circuit: $1,250 a month.

Nevertheless, Mentesana feels foolproof data backup is worth the expense. "Tape media is just not reliable," he says, reason enough for him .