Enterprise adoption of SaaS applications has increased over the years, but many companies don’t know that it’s their responsibility to back up those apps. In this article Caroline Seymour, VP, product marketing, Zerto, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company explains why your company should back up its SaaS apps and how.
There’s no doubt that cloud-based data protection is now the new norm for IT organizations. According to Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), the adoption of public cloud-based data protection services has grown significantly over the last five years. Eighty-seven percent of IT professionals believe it has made a positive impact, which is a win-win for everyone. They cited improved security (52%), improved recoverability and reliability of backups (46%) and reduced IT personnel costs as the most common benefits of a cloud data protection strategy.
While many positives have resulted across the IT landscape due to cloud data protection, there is still work to be done. ESG finds that SaaS data, which has also grown substantially as companies shifted to remote work, is especially vulnerable to loss and compliance breaches, which can mean serious business consequences.
What Is the SaaS Gap?
Why is SaaS data so vulnerable? There is a common disconnect. Many organizations believe the SaaS vendor is protecting their data, but in fact, most do not offer data protection capabilities. And those that offer data protection tools fall short of the service levels needed by many organizations. It’s important for organizations to understand that they are always responsible for protecting and recovering their own data. It’s a major mistake to put it all in someone else’s hands.
ESG’s study revealed only 13 percent of respondents are solely responsible for protecting all of their SaaS-resident application data. Thirty-five percent rely solely on the SaaS vendor to protect their data, and 51 percent rely on both the SaaS vendor and a third party.
Unfortunately, this reliance on SaaS vendors for data protection creates a major gap for many of today’s cloud-centric organizations – leaving a good portion of SaaS data completely open and vulnerable to loss. Top causes of data loss include service outages causing data deletion or corruption (22%), accidental deletions (20%) and external malicious deletions (19%). It’s important to also note that when a SaaS vendor controls the data in a shared environment, it’s also much harder to recover data.Â
See More: What Is Cloud Data Protection? Definition, Importance and Best Practices
Top SaaS Data Protection ConsiderationsÂ
Many SaaS applications are considered mission-critical and should require the highest levels of data protection. The first best practice is to look to third-party cloud data protection solutions to deliver advanced protection and recovery for SaaS, while maintaining data protection SLAs and the ability to backup data without on-premises hardware or software.
Industry-leading security, the ability to restore large data sets from point-in-time snapshots and flexibility in selecting a cloud repository locale should also be considered when selecting a solution.Â
As SaaS use and vendors have grown, IT professionals also find it valuable to gain visibility into data stored across the patchwork of vendors. This allows organizations to view a single pane of glass and have one service for the entire landscape of SaaS, reducing the operational burden of data protection and maximizing the potential of SaaS within an organization.
Mind the Gap
Because SaaS applications have become integral to business today and their growth shows no signs of slowing down, it’s critical for organizations to understand where SaaS data protection gaps may exist. By adopting effective and advanced third data protection tools, organizations can help ensure this SaaS-resident data doesn’t fall through the cracks, create security and compliance breaches or cause businesses any harm.
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