Is your SaaS Data Recoverable?

Back Up Your SaaS Data — Because Most SaaS Providers Don't

Software as a Service (SaaS) has become an increasingly popular option for businesses looking to streamline their operations and reduce costs. However, while SaaS providers often offer a range of services, data backup may not be one of them. This means that if you don't have a backup solution in place, you could be putting your data at risk.

This is particularly important for life sciences companies, which must comply with a range of regulations and standards, such as the FDA's 21 CFR Part 11. Backing up your data is essential for disaster recovery, and it is also a key regulatory requirement for many systems that are deemed GxP. GxP (Good Practices) refers to a set of guidelines and regulations that ensure the safety, efficacy, and quality of pharmaceutical products and medical devices.

For life sciences companies, losing data could have serious consequences, including regulatory non-compliance, lost revenue, and damage to their reputation. Therefore, it is crucial that these companies have a robust backup and restore solution in place.

The problem is that not all SaaS providers offer data backup solutions. In fact, some SaaS providers do not have any backup solutions in place, and it is the responsibility of the user to ensure that their data is backed up regularly. This means that if you are using a SaaS provider, you need to carefully review their terms of service and backup policies to ensure that your data is protected.

In fact, Salesforce, one of the largest SaaS providers and the engine behind numerous other workflow based SaaS software decided in 2020, that it is no longer offering its Data Recovery Service to customers. On its website, the SaaS CRM platform provider admitted “the?Data Recovery Service had reached its end-of-life“ due to the length of time and reliability of the process.” Essentially, restoring lost data cost $10,000, took more than 6 weeks, and the results were not always 100%!!! That is unacceptable for a LS company.

When was the last time you ran RPO and RTO tests on your SaaS tools. Is that even a part of your SLA or the Quality Agreement with your supplier?

This highlights an important reason why organizations cannot depend on their SaaS provider to backup and restore their data. Waiting weeks for critical data to be restored is just not an option for most organizations.

There are several ways to back up your SaaS data. One option is to use a third-party backup service that specializes in backing up SaaS data. Another option is to use a cloud-based backup solution that automatically backs up your SaaS data to a remote server. Some SaaS providers also offer API access, which allows you to connect to a backup service or cloud-based backup solution.

Regardless of which backup solution you choose, it is important to establish a regular backup schedule to ensure that your data is protected. This means backing up your data frequently enough to prevent data loss, and testing your backups regularly to ensure that you can restore your data in the event of a data loss scenario.

In conclusion, backing up your SaaS data is essential for disaster recovery and regulatory compliance, especially for life sciences companies. Not all SaaS providers offer data backup solutions, so it is important to carefully review their backup policies and establish a regular backup schedule. By doing so, you can ensure that your data is protected and that your business is compliant with regulatory standards.