SaaS or Software-as-a-Service is not new to managed service providers (MSPs) or their clients. However, over the last five years, the use of SaaS applications has risen significantly. That increase has only accelerated because of the need to enable remote employees during the global pandemic quickly. Businesses are implementing SaaS applications such as Microsoft 365 and G Suite to achieve seamless productivity and collaboration in a work from home environment.
A recent report from BetterCloud revealed that by 2022, 78% of businesses will be run almost entirely on SaaS. IT spending also reflects this shift from traditional on-premises offerings to cloud services over the past five years, and it is continuing to grow. According to Gartner, Inc., SaaS application spending will grow to over $99 billion worldwide by 2020.
These above trends pose a security challenge for MSPs and their clients who use SaaS for everything from email and human resources tasks to operations and business intelligence. When it comes to protecting cloud data, MSPs need to ensure client business continuity, compliance, and security requirements beyond the limited native recovery capabilities of Microsoft 365 and G Suite are being met.
There’s a common misconception among SaaS users that backup isn’t necessary for their data because it exists in the cloud. However, SaaS applications are just as vulnerable to data loss as on-premise apps. Why? Because the #1 cause of data loss is human error. People delete files, open phishing emails, accidentally download malware, and more, and SaaS vendors cannot distinguish if specific user actions are done in error or deliberately. Downtime is equally as concerning as data loss. Microsoft’s recent outage prevented users from accessing important files and collaboration channels.
Other scenarios where customers could lose data or experience downtime include:
- Malicious deletion by a disgruntled employee or outside entity
- Malware damage or ransomware attacks
- Operational errors such as accidental data overwrite
- Lost data due to canceled app licenses
Cloud providers, like Microsoft and Google, are responsible for recovery when data loss occurs due to outages or breaches on their end. However, if data is accidentally deleted by employees, the responsibility to recover it lies with the business. A backup solution can help prevent both downtime and data loss by providing a recent copy of the data, independent from Microsoft or Google.
Whether you’ve already implemented SaaS solutions for your clients or are in the process of onboarding new clients to the cloud, educating your clients about the risks they face within these applications is the best first step. Some essential talking points to address when speaking to your clients about SaaS backup include:
- Data loss scenarios and data loss statistics: Walk through the potential risks associated with data loss specific to your client’s industry.
- Cost savings: One of Datto SaaS Protection’s ancillary benefits is its ability to save user data without the need for an active application license.
- Smart Bundling: Many successful MSPs include SaaS in some form of a security bundle for Microsoft365, or G Suite
We know the need for client education around cloud-to-cloud backup is crucial. We’ve put together this infographic that outlines just how vital SaaS backup is. We encourage you to share this directly with your clients.
Author Erin Stephan is senior product marketing manager at Datto. Read more guest blogs from Datto here.
