Backup as a service (BaaS) is more than just cloud storage; it’s a strategic shift in how businesses approach disaster recovery and resilience. BaaS is delivered via a subscription-based model where a third-party provider manages the backup, storage, and recovery of data. Unlike traditional on-premises solutions, which require substantial investments in hardware and in-house management, BaaS delivers cloud-based convenience, scalability, and predictable costs.
To help you develop a backup strategy, we’ll break down the advantages, disadvantages, and most common use cases regarding BaaS to help managed service providers (MSPs) and IT pros determine where it fits best into your service offerings.
Key takeaways
- BaaS simplifies data protection by outsourcing backup management to a third-party, freeing up time for IT resources.
- Cloud scalability enables backups to scale with changing needs, without requiring significant infrastructure investments.
- Security and compliance can be strengthened through provider-managed encryption, redundancy, and regulatory expertise.
- BaaS is best suited for businesses needing off-site backups, disaster recovery readiness, or long-term data retention.
What is backup as a service (BaaS)?
Backup as a service, or BaaS, is a cloud-delivered solution provided by an external vendor who manages the end-to-end backup process. This typically includes:
- Data capture from servers, workstations, applications, and/or virtual machines.
- Secure transmission of data to off-site cloud storage.
- Ongoing monitoring and maintenance of clients’ data backups.
- Fast, reliable restoration capabilities in the event of data loss.
For MSPs, BaaS can be offered as a standalone service or bundled into broader data storage, data protection, managed security, and business continuity offerings. It is an appealing offer for clients who lack the resources or in-house expertise to manage backups internally but require strong assurances that their data is recoverable. For IT pros serving a single organization, BaaS can alleviate some of the workload from technicians, freeing them up for higher-value tasks.
For large organizations, BaaS delivers resilience through modern data protection protocols and architectures. Data is transmitted over secure channels (TLS 1.2/1.3) and written into cloud repositories that leverage deduplication, compression, and immutability features.
Pros of BaaS for MSPs and IT teams
- Reduced infrastructure costs
Traditional backup systems can require servers, network appliances, and significant capital expenditure. BaaS eliminates the need for most on-premises backup hardware, replacing it with a predictable monthly or annual subscription model.
As end user or organizational data grows, so can backup storage, without expensive appliance upgrades. This scalability is significant for MSPs managing diverse client sizes, from small offices to enterprises.
With BaaS, data is transmitted over secure channels (TLS 1.2/1.3) and written into cloud repositories that leverage deduplication, compression, and immutability features. For IT teams offloading the management of backup software, encryption, and repository integrity, BaaS enables organizations to simplify operations while still retaining granular control over recovery points and recovery times.
BaaS providers often specialize in data protection and provide proactive oversight from a dedicated network operations center (NOC), offering 24/7 monitoring, automated backups, and proactive error resolution. Partners benefit from knowing their backups are continuously validated and compliant with recovery objectives, without diverting internal staff resources. In this way, the NOC transforms BaaS from simply a storage service into a managed resilience solution.
For IT providers, BaaS offloads the management of backup software, encryption, and repository integrity. BaaS enables organizations to simplify operations while still retaining granular control over recovery points and recovery times.
- Improved disaster recovery readiness
Since backups are stored off-site in secure, geographically redundant data centers, BaaS ensures quick recovery from events such as ransomware attacks, floods, or fires. Some providers integrate disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) capabilities for near-instant failover.
- Security and compliance benefits
Top-tier BaaS providers offer features such as AES-256 encryption for data at rest and in transit, role-based access control to limit exposure, and compliance support for regulations such as HIPAA, GDPR, and SOC 2. For clients in regulated industries, this can be an attractive selling point.
Cons of BaaS for MSPs and IT teams
- Ongoing subscription costs
While BaaS reduces CapEx, subscription costs accumulate over time. For clients or organizations with massive data volumes, cloud storage fees can add up based on their vendor’s pricing model.
Backup speed and recovery depend heavily on network bandwidth. During outages or slow connections, recovery may be delayed, resulting in extended downtime.
Switching providers can be challenging due to the complexity of data migration, proprietary formats, and contractual terms.
- Data sovereignty concerns
Some clients or organizations may require that data remain within specific geographic boundaries. Not all BaaS providers guarantee storage location options.
- Not always optimal for large-scale restores
Restoring terabytes of data over the internet can take a significant time. Hybrid cloud backup models, which combine local and cloud backups, can help mitigate this issue.
Use cases for BaaS
Small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) often lack in-house IT resources. BaaS provides them with enterprise-grade protection without the cost or complexity of managing backups themselves. This ensures that crucial data is safeguarded without overburdening limited technical staff, allowing them to focus on threat prevention rather than manual backup processes.
BaaS solutions can quickly restore clean backups after an attack, helping minimize downtime and financial losses. Many modern BaaS platforms now include immutable backup storage, which makes backups tamper-proof, even if ransomware reaches the production environment. Security teams can respond to incidents knowing they have a guaranteed clean copy of data to restore from, drastically improving recovery confidence.
For industries such as healthcare, finance, and legal services that require data to be retained for years, BaaS offers a secure, cost-effective archive that supports compliance. BaaS also aids in discovery needs, enabling MSPs and IT teams to respond quickly to audits, litigation holds, forensic investigations, and cyber insurance requirements without scrambling to locate legacy data.
With employees working from multiple locations, centralizing backups in the cloud ensures that data from laptops, home offices, and branch locations is consistently protected. This is particularly valuable for cybersecurity teams managing endpoint risk, as it mitigates the danger of data loss from device theft, accidental deletion, or local hardware failures; issues that have become more common in hybrid work environments.
- Disaster recovery integration
When combined with DRaaS, BaaS supports business continuity strategies by enabling quick failover to cloud-hosted infrastructure. For both MSPs and security teams, this means the ability to keep mission-critical services running during large-scale outages, ensuring operational resilience even in worst-case scenarios, such as natural disasters or regional network failures.
Best practices for offering BaaS as an MSP
- Assess client needs first: Not every client needs daily cloud backups of all systems. Identify critical workloads and prioritize them.
- Offer tiered plans: Provide options for backup frequency, retention, and recovery time objectives (RTOs) to match budgets.
- Bundle with security services: Position BaaS alongside endpoint protection, patch management, and monitoring for comprehensive protection.
- Communicate recovery SLAs: Be clear about how long restores will take for different scenarios to set expectations before disasters.
- Perform regular testing: Schedule backup verification and test restore to ensure recoverability.
The future of BaaS
The BaaS market is expected to grow as more organizations migrate to the cloud, cyberthreats intensify, and data volumes increase. Innovations such as immutable backups, AI-driven anomaly detection, and integrated compliance reporting will make these services even more attractive for small and large companies.
By proactively adopting BaaS and tailoring it to your needs, MSPs and IT pros can differentiate their services, strengthen revenue, and enhance trust. ConnectWise provides the backup tools IT providers need, including a fully managed NOC to protect client and organization-wide data with security, flexibility, and visibility.
Watch an on-demand BCDR demo or start your free trial of x360Recover today to see what BaaS can do for your business.
