But it is nice that you have the option to not backup with iCloud. They are not storing the information whether you like it or not as a lot of companies do.
While Apple doesn't force its users to use iCloud, they also don't provide an alternative way to do full backups of iOS/iPadOS devices over a network. Yes, you can plug an iPhone into a Mac, but that doesn't scale.
You can set local auto backup over wifi in itunes right?
If you have a computer available that can run iTunes, sure.
Yes, but that only works in local networks and after connecting via USB once – and the backup is always stored on a single computer. So it may be acceptable for personal usage, but not suited for an enterprise environment where you want to centrally manage hundreds of devices and provide some redundancy for your backup system.
I guess I don’t understand this point. This is exactly what ios mdm backup is for. Relying on users backing up their personal icloud accounts for work seems highly problematic. If they are work icloud accounts... usb should not be a problem since you are probably provisioning the devices, and the itunes backup approach over your intranet seems actually ideal.