The modern workplace has undergone a seismic transformation over recent years, with hybrid work becoming the norm and businesses rapidly adopting cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications to facilitate it. SaaS applications like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace have now become the backbone of business operations, enabling seamless collaboration and productivity. However, this dependence on SaaS solutions has also attracted a surge in cyberthreats, exposing critical business data to risks like ransomware and phishing attacks.
Amid these challenges, the 2025 State of SaaS Backup and Recovery Report offers a timely analysis of the SaaS data protection landscape. By surveying over 3,700 IT professionals from diverse industries and company sizes, this report highlights trends, challenges and solutions shaping the future of SaaS data resilience. For organizations seeking clarity in navigating these turbulent waters, the findings provide invaluable guidance.
Key revelations from the report are both eye-opening and concerning. For instance, 87% of IT professionals reported experiencing SaaS data loss in 2024, with malicious deletions as the leading cause. Moreover, while 61% of applications and workloads are expected to run on public cloud platforms in the next two years, only 14% of IT leaders feel confident they can recover critical SaaS data within minutes following an incident. These findings underscore an urgent call to action for businesses to strengthen their data resilience strategies.
In this blog, we’ll uncover the survey’s key findings, revealing how organizations are adapting to meet the ongoing challenges. From revealing the biggest threats to understanding the strategies IT leaders are leveraging to stay ahead, you’ll gain a clear picture of the trends shaping SaaS data protection.
Organizations worldwide are increasingly relying on hybrid cloud environments, with 54% of workloads and applications already cloud-hosted. This trend shows no signs of slowing down, as businesses anticipate growing this figure to 61% by 2026. The acceleration of cloud adoption reflects the critical role cloud solutions play in driving digital transformation and enabling organizations to scale effectively.
The benefits propelling rapid cloud migration are clear: leveraging cloud platforms allows organizations to enhance operational efficiency, optimize strategic analytics and support real-time decision-making. However, this enthusiasm comes with a caveat — companies are carefully navigating concerns about data sensitivity, security and compliance as they transition.
Certain types of data dominate cloud migration trends, illustrating where organizations feel confident leveraging the cloud’s potential. The top candidates for data migration to the cloud include:
Despite the allure of the cloud, businesses are cautious about entrusting their most sensitive information to third-party environments. The top candidates for data to remain on-premises include:
Cloud adoption is driven by practical needs that align with modern business challenges:
The adoption of SaaS applications continues to transform how businesses collaborate, manage operations and scale their services. Collaboration platforms remain at the forefront of SaaS adoption, reflecting their critical role in today’s hybrid and remote work environments.
Microsoft 365 maintains its position as the leader in SaaS collaboration solutions, with a 53% adoption rate among survey respondents. However, this represents a decline from its 71% adoption rate in 2022, indicating a potential shift in preferences or increasing competition in the SaaS space.
Meanwhile, Google Workspace has seen a consistent rise in adoption, climbing to 35% in 2024 compared to 25% in 2022. This growth is particularly pronounced among SMBs, with 38% adoption compared to 32% among enterprises.
The survey also highlighted distinct preferences between SMBs and enterprise organizations when it comes to SaaS tools:
Despite the widespread adoption of cloud solutions, many organizations face significant hurdles in migrating workloads and data to the cloud.
Backup strategies are essential to securing critical SaaS data, yet IT professionals’ confidence in these systems remains alarmingly low.
Organizations leveraging SaaS applications report varying levels of backup strategy implementation:
Despite the presence of backup strategies, only 40% of IT professionals expressed confidence in their systems’ ability to protect critical data during a crisis. This hesitancy is fueled by:
Managing backups for SaaS applications presents unique challenges, varying by platform and user cohort. The survey reveals distinct pain points for users of Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and Salesforce:
Backup management has become increasingly time-intensive for IT teams:
The majority of organizations report having policies and controls in place to secure access to their backups across key areas, including public cloud (77%), servers or virtual machines (76%), SaaS applications (74%) and endpoints/PCs (73%).
While these numbers reflect a proactive approach, around 25% of organizations still lack policies and controls for backup security, presenting vulnerabilities in an increasingly hybrid and multicloud environment.
SaaS data loss remains a significant challenge, with only 13% of organizations reporting no data loss incidents in the past year. Key causes include:
The ability to swiftly recover lost SaaS data is critical for minimizing downtime and avoiding costly compliance breaches. Yet, recovery times vary widely:
The frequency of recovering SaaS data objects is as follows:
The 2025 State of SaaS Backup and Recovery Report paints a vivid picture of the evolving SaaS data protection landscape. Cloud adoption continues to surge among organizations, driven by the operational efficiency and scalability of SaaS platforms. Yet, alongside these advancements lie significant challenges. From tackling data threats to addressing the complexities of backup management, the findings highlight an urgent need for businesses to rethink and modernize their data protection strategies.
On that front, businesses must adopt a comprehensive, scalable backup strategy that aligns with the complexities of today’s hybrid and multicloud environments. Such a strategy should include robust data protection and rapid recovery capabilities to address SaaS data threats like accidental deletions and ransomware attacks. By investing in the right tools and practices, organizations can enhance their data resilience, minimize downtime and confidently meet the demands of an increasingly cloud-driven future.
For deeper insights into the SaaS world and actionable recommendations, download the full 2025 State of SaaS Backup and Recovery Report.
