Surveying Data Backup Trends and Goals in the Cloud

It won’t surprise most readers that Software as a Service (SaaS) remains a rapidly growing niche. But where exactly is it headed in the future, and what are its implications for data protection and backup in the cloud? A report out this week from Asigra provides some insight into these issues. Read on for an overview of the findings.

Founded in 1986, Asigra is a well-established entity in the data and storage channel. It focuses on backup and recovery solutions and counts more than 550,000 installations of its software worldwide.

To gain a better understanding of data protection requirements in the age of the cloud, Asigra commissioned TechValidate to survey enterprises on their current and future practices regarding SaaS and the cloud. Full results are available online, but key findings regarding how organizations are using SaaS in general included:

• Fifty-five percent of respondents use the SalesForce.com SaaS platform, and 74 percent expect to adopt other SaaS solutions.
• SalesForce.com was the most popular SaaS platform, deployed by 23 percent of respondents. Other popular choices included Microsoft Dynamics (used by 12 percent of respondents), Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) (also 12 percent), SAP (NYSE: SAP) (8 percent) and SugarCRM (4 percent).

Asigra also cited information from IDC to add that SaaS is expanding more than five times as fast as traditional software sales, and that by 2016 cloud applications will account for 20 percent of all software revenue.

Backing Up the Cloud: Current Trends and Future Goals

Beyond these general findings on SaaS and the cloud, the survey focused specifically on backup practices for cloud data. In this area, the findings were promising for Asigra, a company hoping to increase sales of cloud backup and recovery software. For instance:

• Only 22 percent of respondents currently include SaaS application data in their enterprise backup routines.
• When it comes to choosing a backup strategy for the cloud, security is key. Twenty-one percent of respondents listed it as their primary concern in performing backups, compared to only 3 percent each who listed cost, data loss or stability as the most important factors.
• Comprehensive backup solutions for protecting data stored both in the cloud and locally are highly desired by 68 percent of respondents.

For Asigra, the results of the TechValidate survey are promising ground for promoting its Asigra Cloud Backup platform, which offers comprehensive data backup and recovery solutions for public, private and hybrid clouds. Asigra also provides encryption and FIPS 140-2 compliance to ensure the security of backup data.

Of course, pointing out the shortcomings and risks in current practices concerning cloud data protection is only the first step toward inspiring enterprises to address them using Asigra’s products or other solutions. At this point, many organizations may not yet have experienced the kind of horrible data catastrophe involving the cloud that they might need to take the issue seriously. Still, as the findings provided by Asigra and TechValidate show, data protection for the large amounts of information being committed to the cloud is an area ripe for tremendous growth, especially as SaaS use becomes even more widespread.