Why do you need a 3rd party tool for Salesforce Backup & Restore?

In recent times, several data loss instances worldwide have catapulted the need for backup & restore functionalities in critical IT environments. Talking specifically about the mammoth growth in usage of SaaS applications, cloud data is growing in leaps and bounds. However, several organizations are dependent on their SaaS vendors for backup & restoration of their data. There is a widespread belief that businesses need not add another external vendor to their environment for pricing and policy reasons. However, having a third-party tool specifically for backup & restore addresses pain points related to compliance, easier on & off-boarding of data, quality checks, granular restores etc. Does this whole argument hold to Salesforce as well? Let’s find out.

Salesforce announces its new backup & restore service. What is it about?

Salesforce announced their Backup & Restore function in Dreamforce 2021. This is in conjunction with the recovery service, which was discontinued later.

Some of the Salesforce backup & restore service’s salient features include automated daily backups, restoring backup data into orgs, automatic deletion of older backups, high-level audit of backup administration, data encryption at rest and in transit, etc.

Pros: For those who want a native backup solution for Salesforce, the solution does tick most of the boxes adhering to primary use cases.

Cons: Salesforce’s new backup & restore service is a rudimental solution for businesses that are not highly dependent on their Salesforce applications for day-to-day operations. In other words, the solution will grow and add features based on the customer’s needs. The new backup & restore solution cannot be claimed as enterprise-ready. The solution also stores backup copies in a co-located location, and an outage can mean losing both primary and backup data.

Recommendation: We need to hear from Salesforce users whether they can use the new backup solution for mission-critical applications. Hence, it is imperative that you discuss internally whether the new backup solution answers all your questions related to the backup & restore.

Other native data protection of Salesforce include:

For Backup

For Metadata backup

Will Salesforce’s new backup & restore service address all the data loss woes of their customers?

Backup & Restore is widely discussed as a more straightforward offering than Salesforce’s recovery service. However, there is no existing data to prove that it will comply with all the use cases of all types of businesses – specifically midsize to enterprises. Salesforce has said that it will keep adding features based on demand from customers. Interestingly, Salesforce wants to hear from their customers about the need for a native backup solution. However, a third-party backup solution based on their experience with customers would have multiple use cases they serve. Also, one of the primary reasons for having a backup solution is to make sure that there is a copy of data outside the application. We need to wait and see whether Salesforce’s new backup solution will address all the backup data issues of an organization.

Top three reasons to have a third party tool for Salesforce Backup & Restore

1. Salesforce built-in data protection facilities might not be the best solution for businesses of all types

The results of a 2021 poll on cloud data protection were released by Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), a part of TechTarget. These findings imply that, while cloud backup is becoming more popular, there is still a lot of ambiguity about the roles and responsibilities of SaaS data security. Organizations deploy mission-critical SaaS apps without backup in certain particularly worrisome circumstances.

While Salesforce provides in-built data protection facilities, it might not be the ultimate solution for data loss. It is not viable to have the backup in the same platform as the source data, as downtime can cause data loss comprehensively. Also, the administrators might not have complete control over backup data in the case of Salesforce-initiated backup data. Also, it is said that Salesforce Backup is priced with a minimum fee of $4000/month at $10/GB storage. SMBs might not have such large-scale storage requirements and might not have a budget as well.

Recommendation: Having a third-party backup & restore tool only increases the chances of data availability as administrators can have peace of mind that there is a platform automating the whole backup process based on business requirements and meets compliance.

2. Data loss instances are more common than we think they are

Most of the time, organizations do not have control over their data loss instances unless they have a comprehensive data backup strategy. When you consider the frequency of data loss occurrences, the need for a reliable Salesforce data backup tool becomes clear. These costly incidents might occur due to many factors like Error by the user, Corruption of software, Failure of hardware, Cyberattacks, Data theft.

Data loss might result in poor operations, redundant tasks, a tarnished reputation, and regulatory fines. These negative consequences are mitigated by third-party Salesforce data backup mechanisms.

Recommendation: When it comes to data loss, time is money. Finding a third-party data backup application that can swiftly restore your system to operational status can save your firm a significant amount of time and money.

3. Comprehensive data protection strategy means better data accessibility

Creating a Salesforce Data Backup Strategy gives businesses additional strength to better use data without the risk of losing it. If the backed-up data isn’t accessible, the goal of backing up data for business continuity will be defeated. Backup and recovery are inextricably linked, and businesses must always be prepared to recover data. Companies use the recovery readiness index to assess the performance of their backup and recovery systems. Not only should the system allow for immediate data recovery, but it should also keep the data accessible. Third-party backup solutions ensure that the Salesforce users can access the data in more straightforward steps.

Recommendations: Salesforce Backup vendors like DBSync allow the admins to have backup copies either on cloud/on-prem, thus providing flexibility in case of downtime. Such an approach would help the admins quickly restore the data to the original data source in case of any business continuity issues.

Questions to be asked before choosing a third-party tool for Salesforce Backup & Restore

• How critical is your Salesforce data, and how much of your business is dependent on Salesforce data?
• Do you have the required resources to work on manual/scripted backups/API programming for backups?
• How important is business continuity for your organization? Can you afford a slow data restore in the event of a data loss incident?
• What would be the budget you wish to allocate for Salesforce backup? Does the third-party vendor fit your pricing expectations?
• How good is the support & reputation of the third-party vendor in the market?
• Will you be in complete control of the data when managing your data with third-party vendors?
• Does the vendor offer the best practices for data backup & restore?

Conclusion:

Apart from the reasons we have mentioned above, note that as a business, you are the custodian of your critical business data, which includes customer data as well. Having an additional layer of protection to your data will ensure that you have the necessary peace of mind to focus on other essential business functions.