The Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS) Market in 2022

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Backup-as-a-service (BaaS) is an approach to data backup where the duplicate files are stored and regularly updated on a third-party secure cloud. In addition to the cloud storage, the backup process is also included, from scheduling and security to updates and restoration.

Through BaaS, companies can choose to store their data in a public, private, or hybrid cloud, with varying sizes, capacities, and security and privacy configurations.

See below to learn more about the global BaaS market:

See more: The Best Enterprise Backup Software

BaaS Market

The global BaaS market is estimated to reach $17.73 billion by 2026. It’s projected to maintain a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33.15% over the analysis period from 2021 to 2026.

Regionally, the U.S. segment is forecast to contribute to 40% of the market’s growth. However, the Asia-Pacific segment is projected to have the fastest growth rate.

Other regions contributing to the growth of the global BaaS market include:

  • Europe
  • South America
  • Africa
  • Middle East

By industry, the global BaaS market is segmented into the following industries:

  • Banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI)
  • Government and public sector
  • Health care
  • Manufacturing
  • Media and entertainment
  • IT and telecommunications

BaaS Features

BaaS solutions are used by small companies and teams, corporations, organizations, and institutions with massive amounts of data. It’s a form of outsourcing that allows the original company to allocate the legal and private responsibility of regular data backups to a third party until needed.

There are three levels and BaaS solutions, depending on the type and location of the data:

Application-Level Backups

Application-level backup is the duplication and storage of an entire server’s data. As an all-inclusive and comprehensive backup solution, it copies everything from the web files and database of the app, to the settings and temporary files.

This allows the owner to restore the data of an application and continue where they left off.

File-Level Backups

With file-level backups, only individual files, folders, and databases are duplicated and stored in the alternative location during the backup process. This type doesn’t preserve the external structures of the files or their relationship to the operating system or applications.

This is the simplest and most efficient type of backup service. It’s oftentimes easier to update changes in files and the recovery process is smooth and straightforward.

System-Level Backups

Similar to application-level backup, system-level backup doesn’t target individual files or folders. Its goal is to recreate a version of the system, along with its files, settings, and app configurations using another bare metal server for storage.

System-level backups are usually stored as ISO images, allowing for efficient compression of the original database and saving up on storage space.

The three different levels of backup are also constricted by the three types of backup that depend on frequency. 

Full Backup

Full backup is an approach that indiscriminately copies all the files within the selected location, moving them onto the target storage server. It’s the most basic approach to backup. It’s the most time and network bandwidth consumption.

Incremental Backup

Incremental backup is complementary to full backup. It requires you to already have performed a recent full backup, that’s then regularly updated whenever data in the original file, system, or application changes.

It’s the most light-weight form of backup when it comes to time and bandwidth consumption. However, it carries the risk of a failed backup complicating the recovery process.

Differential Backup

Differential backup also requires you to have already performed a full backup. Operating on a schedule, it only updates files, applications, or system parts that were changed since the last backup.

While requiring more bandwidth than incremental backup, it uses up less space in the long run.

Regulatory Compliance and Data Protection

One of the limitations that first hindered the growth of the BaaS industry was data security concerns. That’s especially the case with organizations carrying sensitive customer and client data, such as financial information.

BaaS providers with strict data sovereignty clouds and compliance with mandatory and complementary regulations bridge both the trust and legality gaps.

“The process should happen continuously in the background. However, as businesses digitize more processes and as IT environments expand, executing a robust backup and recovery plan can become anything but simple,” says Virtual Systems.

“Fortunately, backup-as-a-service (BaaS) and disaster recovery-as-a-service (DRaaS) providers are stepping up to meet the challenges of prioritizing simplicity in a world that is becoming increasingly complex every year.”

See more: How Cloud Storage is Used by Good Eats, Toyota Mapmaster, Sheppard Mullin, State of Utah, and Roblox: Case Studies

Benefits of BaaS

When it comes to BaaS solutions, the benefits are a combination of both regular backups and those outsourced, ready-for-you services offered by third parties.

Benefits of BaaS include:

  • Convenience
  • More affordable
  • Highly scalable and reliable
  • User friendly
  • Up-to-date security
  • Vendor support
  • Industry-specific

“BaaS is an essential part of a comprehensive disaster recovery plan (DRP) for many organizations as it supports business continuity, helping them avoid prolonged downtime and loss of revenue and reputation,” says Mike Potter, co-founder and CEO, Rewind.

“For organizations that are growing or process massive amounts of data, BaaS is essential as it lowers IT costs and provides reliable protection against any data disaster. … BaaS costs include recovery and cloud storage, so it’s always a good idea to consider these factors and how they will impact your budget.”

BaaS Use Cases

BaaS applications vary in level and backup type depending on the industry and backup requirements. Numerous providers offer BaaS solutions that fit the needs and requirements of their clients:

Saytel

Saytel is part of the Seidor Group that specializes in IT managed services and infrastructure technology. It has over 80 offices around the world, serving more than 8,000 clients in a variety of industries.

Saytel’s solutions for its clients generate large volumes of data that it must maintain and organize in a cost-efficient way. 

Needing a robust data backup and recovery solution to keep up with the growth, Saytel opted for a BaaS offering deployed on the IBM Cloud Object Storage at three of its data centers. 

“When it comes to the time to scale up IBM Cloud Object Storage, we’re confident that it will be very straightforward, allowing us to move fast on new client prospects,” says David Moreno García, Pre-sales infrastructure services manager, Saytel.

“We’re currently in discussions with a leading Spanish pharmaceutical company to provide secondary backups using IBM Cloud Object Storage, so we know that the demand is there.”

With IBM, Saytel was able to simplify the management of its databases, optimize backups for clients, and enhance operational efficiency.

SysCloud

SysCloud is a provider of cloud backup, compliance, user safety monitoring, and data loss prevention services for digital-native companies and educational institutions. Based in Red Bank, New Jersey, it serves over five million users across 32 countries.

Previously running its own backup application on the AWS cloud, SysCloud needed a more efficient and cost-effective solution for the long run.

Switching to an Amazon-managed, SaaS data backup solution, SysCloud was able to drastically reduce client onboarding times and improve its backup speeds. The solution was cost-effective and highly scalable, suitable for long-term growth.

“Using AWS storage services, we can show our customers that our solution can comply with the security and compliance requirements that they are asking us to meet,” says Vikram Srinivasan, head of cloud operations, SysCloud.

“This process made code maintenance difficult and required customers to perform manual updates.”

Working with AWS, SysCloud was able to onboard new clients 300% faster, automatically encrypt its in-transit data, and reduce storage costs by 70%.

Yantai Shinho

Yantai Shinho is a food manufacturer that went from making a single soy sauce brand to 13 popular condiments. Based in Yantai, China, it’s a condiments brand for over 40 million families worldwide and is committed to promoting healthy farming and food production practices.

As a rapidly growing company, Yantai Shinho’s data volume was increasing beyond its in-house backup capabilities. It needed a centralized data backup solution across its multiple platforms that also strengthened its compliance requirements.

“With AWS and Commvault, we have achieved significant cost savings: from cutting down on maintenance personnel and datacenter expenses for local storage to reducing data volumes,” says Jundong Xia, senior manager of IT platform management, Yantai Shinho.

“Commvault also ensures any important files can be restored after making major changes to the systems. Now we can reliably roll back to any backup copies created prior to new function release, which was not guaranteed with our previous backup solution.”

Working with AWS and Commvault, Yantai Shinho was able to reduce its RTO from 8 to 2 hours and its RPO from 12 to two hours. Additionally, it was able to perform regular complete database backups in under 30 minutes.

BaaS Providers

Some of the leading providers of BaaS solutions in the global market include:

  • NetApp
  • Microsoft
  • AWS
  • Quantum
  • Rubrik
  • Alphabet
  • IBM
  • Oracle
  • Broadcom
  • Cisco

See more: The Backup Software Market

Anina Ot
Anina Ot
Anina Ot is a contributor to Enterprise Storage Forum and Datamation. She worked in online tech support before becoming a technology writer, and has authored more than 400 articles about cybersecurity, privacy, cloud computing, data science, and other topics. Anina is a digital nomad currently based in Turkey.

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