Does Your Internal IT Team Have a Solution for SaaS Data Backup?

One of the most business–friendly innovations in recent years has been the proliferation of cloud apps like Office 365 and Salesforce. These SaaS apps have fundamentally changed the way we do business, enabling companies to take advantage of economies of scale, reduce infrastructure costs, and expand the boundaries of a cubicle. Storing data in cloud applications is far safer than storing data on most on-premise storage systems — but “safe” does not equal “invulnerable.” In fact, one third of SaaS users report losing data in the cloud. Yes, the cloud is safe, but it’s not infallible.

Here’s Why You Should Be Backing Up Your SaaS Data to a Secondary Cloud Platform:

Who Owns Your Backed-Up Cloud Data?

Cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure offer a suite of tools that allow users to protect and recover their cloud data, yet data loss happens everyday. So who's at fault? The single leading cause of data loss in the cloud is end-user error. This will always be an achilles heel of the cloud until software can discern between intentional and unintentional commands. Other common culprits? Intentional deletion by disgruntled employee, hackers and external app errors (data corruption via syncing/over-writing). When data loss occurs, it's likely not the fault of the primary cloud platform provider. With a cloud-to-cloud backup solution, businesses own the data from the moment a backup begins without limits around point-in-time.

How Much Downtime Can Your Business Afford?

This is important for a number of reasons. If data is lost due to human error or a malicious attack, there are some recovery options, but that involves relying on your cloud provider and potentially paying thousands of dollars. Most platforms also have a limited time frame for data recovery. For example, Office 365 data deleted from the Recycle folder goes to the Recoverable items folder for 14 days (30 days if reconfigured), and requires admin assistance to recover. This isn't helpful when the data is critical to day-to-day business operations. With a cloud-to-cloud backup solution, your data is available whenever it’s needed. It means users can restore any lost or corrupted data while maintaining its integrity. So if malware strikes a system, users can restore data from a point-in-time before the data was hacked without compromise. 

While cloud applications are more resistant to data loss than conventional, on-premise solutions, they are far from immune to irreparable data loss. Today’s companies back up their on-prem data to ensure they don’t have a single point of failure for irreplaceable information. If you’re leveraging SaaS applications, make sure you are treating the data just as you do your on-prem data: by backing up. It’s a standard practice that needs to be implemented wherever your business data lives. After all, the more you do business in the cloud, the more you have to lose. Learn more about backing up your SaaS data by reaching out to iCorps for a free consultation.