Contemplating whether you need to back up your SaaS data? The short answer: yes!

Storing data in cloud applications can be safer than storing data on most on-prem storage systems — but “safe” does not equal “invulnerable.” In fact, one-third of SaaS users report losing data in the cloud. The cloud is safe, but it’s not infallible and many of today’s cloud vendors lack the incentive to point out their vulnerabilities when it comes to backing up data in SaaS apps.

How Your Data is Protected in SaaS Apps

Here’s a quick look at how your data is protected in some of the most popular SaaS apps out there.

  • G Suite: Google offers infrastructure high availability (HA) with erasure code and multiple replicas in multiple geographies, so data will still be accessible in incidents of hardware failure. Google does not offer native backup capabilities for Google Groups or Sites data.
  • Office 365: The infrastructure of O365 is not unified, which means the backup capabilities for the components differ depending on the application. Backup measures include: local flash copies, encrypted, offline-remote backup, and near real-time replication to a data center.


The Leading Cause of Data Loss is Human Error

Essentially, the cloud, when left alone, is very safe. Google and Microsoft do a great job of ensuring the data is protected. And yet, data loss happens every day. So who’s at fault? The single leading (and unpreventable) 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 an intentional and unintentional command. Other common culprits? Intentional deletion by disgruntled employee, hackers and external app errors (data corruption via syncing/overwriting).

When data loss occurs, it’s likely not the fault of Google or Microsoft. With a cloud-to-cloud backup solution, however, businesses own the data from the moment a backup begins without limits around point-in-time.

To learn even more about why you should protect SaaS data for apps such as Google and Office 365, download our eBook, Making the Case for Cloud-to-Cloud Backup!