SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) backup solutions are a specific subcategory of backup solutions that securely store data from SaaS applications—such as Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Salesforce—so you can restore data that is lost, corrupted, or stolen.
SaaS products are delivered via the internet, rather than needing to be downloaded and installed. In some cases, desktop versions of the applications are available too. You might also see SaaS solutions being described as “web-based software”, “on-demand software”, or “hosted software”.
The important distinction between SaaS and conventional software is that it does not run on your own servers. Instead, it is hosted by the product provider. You will usually pay a subscription fee to access SaaS software, but you will then be able to login from a range of devices, in a range of locations. While this is more flexible, scalable, and often more cost effective than on-premises software, it also means that many organizations using SaaS apps don’t know how secure the data is that they’re storing in those apps.
Many SaaS applications have their own integrated backup solutions, however, in these situations, there is often limited configurability and retention. This means that, in the case of a data loss incident such as a cyberattack or service provider outage, your company could lose the data stored in those apps.
SaaS backup solutions allow you to protect and store critical data, ensuring that it is not lost even if your SaaS provider suffers an attack. They do this by creating copies of your data and writing those copies out to a secondary storage environment that’s isolated from the original versions. Then, if your company suffers from data loss, you can easily restore the lost data using your backups.
Some SaaS backup tools are designed to only work with a specific SaaS product, others take a generalist approach and are compatible with multiple SaaS applications. Before deciding on a solution, it is worth considering what data you need to protect.
By implementing an effective SaaS backup solution, you can enhance the native security features, and take ownership of your data. In this article, we’ll list some of the top solutions that allow you to control how your data is stored, and ensure it suits your needs.