eBook

SaaS Protection
Buyer’s Guide
Introduction
SaaS application adoption has spiked with the increase in remote work due to the
global health pandemic. These tools have become essential in today’s remote work
world. Even before work-from-home became the norm for many, the benefits of easy
access to documents from any device and improved collaboration are obvious.

Unfortunately, many organizations still believe that these tools make backup obsolete.
This simply isn’t true. Backup is just as important for data in SaaS apps as it is for data
hosted on-premises.

In this eBook, you’ll learn some common myths and misconceptions about SaaS, talking
points for discussing SaaS data loss and downtime with clients, what to look for when
selecting a SaaS backup solution, and how you can use SaaS backup to build margin
and grow your business.
 Common SaaS myths and misconceptions
SaaS applications do not require backup
While SaaS applications have built-in redundancy that protects against data
loss in their cloud servers, this doesn’t protect against user error, accidental and
malicious deletion, or ransomware attacks. While accidental deletion of files
is by far the most common form of data loss in SaaS apps, ransomware can be
the most damaging. That’s because ransomware is designed to spread across
You may also be interested in: networks and into SaaS applications, impacting many users.

User error is a common cause of data loss

Infographic

Human Error Happens:

How SaaS Backup Can Help
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LEARN MORE
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 File sync services do offer some restore capabilities via versioning, but they fall
short of a true SaaS backup solution. Here’s why:

• Versions are not immutable recovery points. So, if a file is deleted, older
versions of the file are deleted as well.

• Versioning doesn’t enable centralized management of user data. In other

words, you don’t have control over backup and recovery—it’s left in the
hands of end users.

• Versioning doesn’t maintain recovery points across files, folders, settings

and users. If you only need to restore a couple of files, no big deal. But,
large restores are a time-consuming, manual process.

Beyond simply lacking the restore capabilities of a backup solution, file sync
can actually introduce ransomware to SaaS applications. File sync and backup
are not competitive solutions, rather they can and should be used side-by-
side. Remember: file sync and share is for productivity and backup is for data
protection and fast restore.
Beyond simply lacking the restore
capabilities of a backup solution, SaaS applications are always available
file sync can actually introduce
While SaaS apps are highly reliable, outages do occur. In October 2020 alone,
ransomware to SaaS applications.
Microsoft 365 had three significant outages that impacted businesses
worldwide. Last year, a massive Google outage affected nearly one billion Gmail,
G Suite, and YouTube users.

Outages and slow restore times aren’t just an inconvenience. When

businesses can’t access important business data, productivity falls and revenue
is impacted. Creating backups that are independent of a SaaS provider’s cloud
servers is the only way to ensure access to essential files in the event of
an outage.

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 Microsoft and Google are responsible for backup
SaaS providers ensure they won’t lose your cloud data with built-in redundancy
and other high availability measures. However, they do not take responsibility
for restoring data if you lose it. Microsoft calls this the Shared Responsibility
Model for data protection. That’s why Microsoft recommends third-party SaaS
backup in its user agreement. In the Shared Responsibility Model:

You may also be interested in: Business Responsibility: Provider Responsibility:

Security in the Cloud Security of the Cloud

Data backup Physical infrastructure

Devices (mobile and PCs) Apps and operating systems

Infographic
Accounts and identifiers Network controls
The Shared Responsibility
Model and the Importance
of Cloud Backup The Shared Responsibility Model places the onus of data protection squarely
on businesses that rely on SaaS services. SaaS providers are responsible for
LEARN MORE keeping their infrastructure up and running, but businesses are responsible for
the preservation and security of their data.

Evaluating SaaS Backup Solutions

There are a variety of SaaS backup solutions at competitive price points on the
market today. However, there is disparity in exactly what these products protect.
So, when evaluating products that can be a good place to start.

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 Comprehensive Protection
Some SaaS backup solutions only protect email, files, and folders. However,
there are solutions available today that offer more comprehensive coverage.
When selecting a SaaS backup product, look for solutions that offer protection
for things like contacts, shared drives, collaboration and chat tools, and
calendars. SaaS protection solutions that offer this type of coverage are far
more effective at maintaining business continuity than less robust offerings
(more on that below).

You may also be interested in: RPO/RTO

Recovery point objective (RPO) and recovery time objective (RTO) are also
critical considerations. These metrics refer to the point in time you can restore
to and how fast you can perform a restore, respectively. When it comes to
Recovery Time SaaS backup these are largely dictated by the frequency of backups and what
& Downtime specifically is being protected. Solutions that offer frequent backups address
Cost Calculator
RPO since they enable you to restore to a recent point in time, minimizing data
LEARN MORE loss. As noted above, these make restores faster and easier by reducing the
amount of manual effort to perform restores. Plus, they enable users to access
data in the event of a SaaS outage.

Ease of Use/Management
Ease of use is critical for MSPs. Increasing efficiency can expand margins on
services delivered, so finding a product that is easy to deploy and manage
should be considered essential. Look for SaaS backup products that are
designed specifically for MSPs. That might mean streamlined onboarding,
native reporting capabilities, intuitive seat management, and flexible retention

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 policies. Consider partnering with vendors that offer not for resale programs,
sales-based discounts, and 24x7x365 tech support. Finally, products that
integrate with other tools you also increase your ability to deliver SaaS backup
services efficiently.

Security/Compliance
Many MSPs serve clients in verticals with significant security and compliance
requirements. So, choosing a SaaS protection solution that can address these
needs is essential. Look for products that back up data in compliance with
Service Organization Control (SOC 1/ SSAE 16 and SOC 2 Type II) reporting
standards that can meet clients’ HIPAA and GDPR compliance needs. Solutions
that enable automated retention management to meet compliance standards
can reduce the need for manual intervention—streamlining management and
ensuring client data is stored for the right length of time.

Business Growth
No discussion of product evaluation for MSPs is complete without considering
Solutions that enable automated
profitability. Look for products that have the features and functionality you
retention management to meet
need at a price point that allows you to build margins on your services. Consider
compliance standards can reduce
products that offer pricing benefits for MSPs such as sales-based discounting
the need for manual intervention
and flexible ‘pay for what you use’ licensing. As noted above, products that
increase efficiency can also grow margin and increase revenue, since they
require less manual intervention. You may also want to bundle SaaS protection
on top of SaaS services you already deliver—this has proven effective for some
MSPs. This isn’t necessarily part of the product evaluation process, but it’s worth
noting when discussing business growth.

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Datto SaaS Protection
Datto SaaS Protection is a cloud-to-cloud backup solution that offers
comprehensive backup and recovery for critical cloud data in Microsoft 365 and
Google Workspace. It is designed specifically for MSPs to protect their clients’
SaaS data efficiently and manage client data retention, licenses, and cost.

SaaS Protection protects against permanent data loss and allows MSPs to
easily recover clients’ data following a ransomware attack with 3x daily, point-
in-time backups. Backups are stored securely in the Datto Cloud with files,
folders, settings, and permissions intact for fast restores whether you need to
restore a single item or an entire user account.

SaaS Protection delivers backup, search, restore, and export for:

Microsoft 365 Google Workspace

• Exchange • Gmail
• Tasks • Google Drive
• OneDrive • Calendar
• SharePoint • Contacts
• Teams • Shared Drives

As you know, delivering profitable managed services is all about increasing

efficiency and maximizing return on services. Datto SaaS Protection improves
MSP efficiency with streamlined onboarding that gets new clients up and
running fast. Single pane of glass management gives you complete visibility
into client backups, further increasing efficiency.

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 Datto SaaS Protection also offers:

• Simple, per-license pricing: Deploy licenses across end clients, and

redeploy them as needed.

• Aggregated, volume-based discounting: Discounts are based on total

licenses sold across all of your clients.

You may also be interested in: • Flexible subscription options: Choose the best fit for each client
with standard month-to-month contracts or discounted longer-term
commitments.

Datto SaaS Protection • Margin building opportunities: Build margin and add multi-layer
for Google Workspace
protection for your Microsoft 365 clients by bundling Microsoft 365 and
Datto SaaS Protection ensures that MSPs can access, control, and most importantly protect their clients’
Datto SaaS Protection.
Google Workspace (previously known as G Suite). Datto SaaS Protection offers all-in-one backup, search,
restore, and export for Gmail, Calendar, Contacts, and Shared Drives.

• Unlimited NFR Program: Pilot the Datto SaaS Protection product with
Google Workspace is Not Why Google Vault Is Not Backup
Automatically Protected While Google Vault does include some primitive recovery
As organizations increasingly move data into cloud-based capabilities, it does not protect against:
applications, many believe that traditional best practices
• Data loss due to permanent deletion: If an admin
such as data backup are outdated. After all, SaaS applications
or end user permanently deletes data, files are only
are always available, accessible from anywhere, and highly

your clients and add a new NFR client in minutes with our streamlined
recoverable for a short period of time. Plus, it doesn’t
redundant, so why is backup necessary?
provide admins the granular control they need—only a
An astonishing 1 in 3 companies report losing data stored in restore of all deleted items in a 25 day window.
cloud-based applications. The single leading cause of this • Data loss due to a ransomware attack: If your business
data loss? End-user error. suffers a ransomware attack, Google doesn’t allow you
to roll-back your data to a point-in-time before the
Other common culprits include:

onboarding process.
corruption occurred. If you cannot restore your data to
the point before the attack happened, you end up losing
• Malware or ransomware attacks
not only your valuable business data, but also a hefty
• Malicious end-user activity
sum of money to criminals—without any guarantee your
• Accidental data overwrites
files will be unlocked, or any future protection from the
• Canceled account subscriptions
same attack.
With more and more companies depending on Google • Time lost in recovering files: The time it takes to recover
data from the cloud might take longer than what your

Datto SaaS Protection for

Workspace for collaboration and business operations,
these risks are impossible to ignore. Backup is just as business can afford. It can take anywhere from minutes
important in the cloud as it is in traditional on-premises IT to weeks to restore lost data.
• Data loss due to inactive licenses: As one would expect,

• SaaS Protection marketing and sales campaigns: Launch pre-built

systems. An independent, third-party, SaaS backup solution
is the best way to protect organizations against the most an active Google Workspace license is required to
common reasons for data loss. access Google Workspace data. Unfortunately, inactive

Google Workspace →
or deprovisioned user data is permanently deleted, and
there is no rollback option.

SaaS Protection campaigns, access a library of co-branded content, and

manage your leads from prospect to sale.
Datto SaaS Protection
for Microsoft 365

Datto SaaS Protection By The Numbers:

Datto SaaS Protection ensures that MSPs can access, control, and most importantly protect their clients’
Microsoft 365 data. Datto SaaS Protection for Microsoft 365 offers an all-in-one backup, search, restore,
and export solution for Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams.

Microsoft 365 is Not Automatically Protected In other words, Microsoft 365 data is as vulnerable to accidental
or malicious deletion, ransomware and other types of data loss.
As organizations increasingly move data into cloud-based

Billions of Backups
applications, many believe that traditional best practices SaaS vendors like Microsoft promote a “shared responsibility”
such as data backup are outdated. After all, SaaS applications model. They are clear in recommending providers and end-users
are always available, accessible from anywhere, and highly pursue third-party solutions to ensure they meet data protection,
redundant, so why is backup necessary? business continuity, compliance, and security requirements
beyond Microsoft 365’s limited native recovery capabilities.
An astonishing 1 in 3 companies report losing data stored in
cloud-based applications. The single leading cause of this
data loss? End-user error. Other common culprits include: Why SaaS Protection for Microsoft 365?
Trusted Backup
• Malware or ransomware attacks
• Malicious end-user activity MSPs need complete confidence that clients’ Microsoft 365
• Accidental data overwrites data is protected with a reliable, robust solution designed to
• Canceled account subscriptions reduce risk and time needed to manage backups.

Tens of Thousands of Recoveries

• Automated, continuous backups: Protect Exchange,
With more and more companies depending on Microsoft 365 OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams with 3x daily backups
for collaboration and business operations, these risks are or perform additional backups as needed at any time.
impossible to ignore. Backup is just as important in the cloud • Streamlined client onboarding: Get your clients’
as it is in traditional, on-premises IT systems. An independent, critical cloud data protected in a matter of minutes
third-party, SaaS backup solution is the best way to protect with a simplified setup and an easy click-through
organizations against the most common data loss pitfalls. onboarding process.
• Flexible retention: Not all client environments are the

Datto SaaS Protection for

Protecting Your End Clients in the Cloud — same. That’s why SaaS Protection offers different data
A Shared Responsibility retention options to meet clients’ individual needs.
• Intuitive, user-friendly management portal: Quickly and
Many organizations mistakenly believe that Microsoft 365
easily determine the number of licenses in use, gauge
data is automatically protected. But, that’s only partially true.
profitability, and view clients’ backup status all from a
Microsoft does ensure that it won’t lose your data, but it does
single pane of glass.

Microsoft 365 → Hundreds of Thousands of Teams Protected

not make any guarantees about restoring data if you do.

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