Innovation Insight: Backup for SaaS Applications

Multiple data loss scenarios and limited recovery options can lead to data loss in software-as-a-service applications; however, backup for SaaS applications is rare and lacks standards. Hence, I&O leaders must understand the challenges and solutions related to recovery of SaaS application data.

Key Findings

• Third-party support for backing up data in software as a service applications will remain rare, due to a complete lack of standards for third-party vendors.


• SaaS customers can’t assume that the SaaS vendor is invulnerable to attacks that may destroy or encrypt data.


• SaaS vendor application recovery capabilities typically focus on infrastructure and system resilience, rarely offering options to recover data loss caused by the customer.


• Many of the third-party backup-as-a-service solutions are more feature-rich, easier to set up and support more SaaS applications than offerings from most traditional enterprise backup vendors.