Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms are a powerful tool for your business – cost-effective, reliable, and flexible. With their many benefits, it’s little wonder that there’s been an accelerated growth in the use of SaaS, evidenced in the recent earnings reports from Microsoft, Google and Amazon.
But this rapid growth comes hand in hand with a vast increase in unprotected data. And too many companies using enterprise SaaS are closing their eyes to this frightening fact – which could come at a heavy price, leading to cybersecurity breaches, ransomware attacks and data protection disasters. Today, attacks are ever-more significant, serious, and sophisticated, and companies are at risk of major time, cost, and reputational damage if they don’t wake up and take action.
Enterprise SaaS isn’t going anywhere, and the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region is no different. Kenneth Research forecasts that the SaaS market in the area is likely to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 18.25 percent from 2018 to 2023. And, just like the rest of the world, companies in the MEA region have the same challenges when it comes to backing up and protecting their ever-increasing SaaS data.
Why SaaS backups are so vital
It might feel like your company’s data is safer in the cloud than being stored on your own computer or data centre. And it may be – but it’s certainly not invulnerable. Many organisations believe that it’s the responsibility of the SaaS provider to protect their data, and it’s not necessary to back up their SaaS data.
In fact, SaaS and cloud service providers have different policies on how long they will retain data. And when that policy expires, the responsibility lies with the customer to back up, protect and restore their data, if needed. With the exponential growth in ransomware attacks, combined with stricter data protection and privacy rules, paying careful attention to backups and data protection is vital for all SaaS users.
As an example, take the popular Microsoft 365 SaaS platform. It may come as a surprise to some that there are only limited backup options for data saved on Azure, with responsibility for data management and protection generally falling upon the customer. A recent Enterprise Strategy Group survey discovered that 74 percent of respondents who use Microsoft 365 rely on its default services for backup. But worryingly, 81 percent have had to recover their data at some point and, even more worryingly, only 15 percent were able to recover the lot. So, if you’re one of the countless companies currently using this platform – and the many other similar ones – you probably want to check out your backup and recovery situation sooner rather than later.
Meeting the backup challenge
Relying on the provider’s default backup and recovery policies leaves a company vulnerable to the worst effects ransomware and malware breaches and attacks. Without your own robust systems in place, you probably won’t even know what SaaS data you have. Is it secure? Compliant? What would you do if your sensitive data is stolen? Would you be able to recover your data if you’re faced with a ransomware or a malware attack? The time to ask – and answer – those questions is before you really need to.
It’s essential to mitigate risk as much as possible – both to protect against successful attacks and to limit damage and exposure in the event of an attack or breach. With SaaS data only increasing, data protection should be a key part of your risk management strategy. With data a valuable and sensitive asset, data control cannot be left to chance.
Most companies will have a data management policy and systems already in place that meet regulatory and compliance requirements. It’s generally a good idea to incorporate your SaaS data into this, to keep things as simple and straightforward as possible. If you don’t already have a suitable backup and recovery method, there are cutting-edge data management platforms that can handle all your data management needs, so your data is protected and can be easily recovered. With a Data Management as a Service (DMaaS) platform, you enjoy comprehensive SaaS data protection and backup without having to invest in infrastructure.
The rise of the backup
Your company probably already uses multiple SaaS apps – and that number is only likely to expand in the coming years. Of course, this also means there will also be an increase in critical data stored on the apps, so remember to plan ahead. Whatever data management strategy you choose needs to be future-proofed and constantly developing to meet your company’s changing needs as well as ever-evolving threats and legal and compliance requirements.
Without robust protection in place, cyber-attacks could cost your company dearly, in terms of time, money, reputation, and stress. Failure to adequately protect data could even run the risk of serious legal ramifications.
Remember that the best time to act is before you really need to. So whatever method you choose – don’t leave your SaaS backup to chance.
