As organizations increasingly prioritize data security and business continuity in the wake of rising cyber threats and compliance demands, backup and disaster recovery solutions are becoming more sought after than ever. Due to this, enterprise-level Backup as a Service (BaaS) is experiencing significant growth.
To find out more, we leveraged AI-driven audience profiling to synthesize insights from opinions expressed online to a high statistical confidence level. Our data focused on 340,689 MSP professionals operating in the BaaS space and spanned a year ending on January 15, 2025.
These are the current stances and opinions on the state of BaaS.
Which Types Of Data Backup Solutions Do You Offer?
86% of MSP professionals offer cloud backup solutions
The graph below provides insight into which types of data backup solutions MSPs use the most and least:
At 86%, an overwhelming majority of our audience of MSPs focuses on offering cloud backup solutions. As the cloud backup market size is currently estimated at $7.13 billion and is set to grow to $21.6 billion by 2030, it’s clear that this is a very popular BaaS choice.
In contrast, just 13.2% offer continuous data protection (CDP). But when you consider that CDP requires significant storage, network bandwidth, and processing power to track and record all data changes continuously in real time and generally comes with higher costs, increased complexity, and resource demands, it’s evident why it’s less common despite still being a powerful backup solution.
File-level backup solutions barely register at 0.7%, which makes sense as these solutions may not fully support disaster recovery scenarios that require restoring an entire system or operating environment.
How Frequently Do You Back Up Client Data?
47.6% of MSPs back up client data on demand
The timing of backups can have a major impact on disaster recovery. Here’s how often MSPs back up client data:
In December 2024 alone, 8,172,797 people in the US were impacted by data breaches. This highlights the importance not just of data backups, but also their regularity. For 47.6% of MSPs, the frequency of backups was on-demand, allowing backups to be initiated at any time, outside of any pre-scheduled or automated backup processes.
This approach gives users or administrators greater control over when critical data is secured, making it particularly useful in situations that require immediate protection before changes, updates, or potential risks occur. 34.4% ran backups daily, correlating with the need to save updated data regularly, while 18% ran them continuously.
These statistics reinforce the critical need for tailored backup strategies, as varying backup frequencies—whether on-demand, daily, or continuous—offer unique advantages in protecting data and ensuring business continuity.
What Is The Biggest Challenge To Provide Data Backup Services?
35.9% of MSPs find cost management the biggest challenge for providing data backup services
For MSPs, cost management was the biggest challenge in providing clients with backup services. Here’s what our data revealed:
Over a third (35.9%) of MSPs cite cost management as the biggest challenge in providing BaaS solutions. This high number likely reflects the high expenses associated with storage, infrastructure, and operational complexities in providing reliable backup services.
Regulatory compliance comes in second (24.4%), highlighting the need for MSPs to ensure backups adhere to legal and industry standards, such as GDPR, HIPAA, or CCPA. The average price of noncompliance is 2.71 times higher than compliance, which explains why it poses such a challenge, especially when working with clients who may not understand or enforce the requirements correctly.
Integration of backup solutions with existing technologies ranks third (18.3%), indicating the difficulties MSPs face in creating seamless and compatible systems for clients, while service reliability got lower engagement at (11.3%), pointing to issues such as downtime, data recovery speed, or hardware/software failures. Just behind was client trust (10.2%), which, although the least challenging, still shows that confidence in backup services can impact client retention and overall satisfaction.
Which Encryption Types Do You Use For Client Data Backups?
46.2% MSPs use AES for client data backups
The graph below highlights the encryption types MSPs use for client data backups. Here’s the breakdown:
At 46.2%, AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is favored by nearly half of MSPs. The US government also uses AES due to its robust security, efficiency, and compliance with various data protection standards. A good portion of our audience also commonly uses the Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) encryption algorithm, with 32% opting for this public-key encryption method.
PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) is the least used encryption type among the three (21.8%), likely due to its complexity or specific use cases. However, at over 20% usage, it still clearly remains a solid option for MSPs offering BaaS.
Which Standards Do You Meet With Your Backup Solutions?
At 42.8%, HIPAA compliance is the standard most met by MSPs backup solutions
Nearly half of our audience meets HIPAA compliance standards, while a fraction of that meets CMMC compliance. Let’s unpack what the data shows:
Fines for failing to comply with the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) can range from as little as $100 up to $2 million, so protecting the privacy and security of healthcare information is crucial for MSPs. Of our audience, 42.8% met the standards with their BaaS solutions, while 31.7% met GDPR standards. Although not a US Act, GDPR still applies to those who provide goods or services accessible to consumers in the EU or EEA, and failing to adhere to its conditions can lead to fines of up to €20 million.
Dropping down to 17.5% were those who met SOC 2 (System and Organization Controls 2) standards. This set of standards was developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and is crucial for service organizations that handle customer data, particularly in sectors like tech, healthcare, and finance.
The lowest engagement (8%) was for MMC (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification) compliance, which was introduced by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to assess and enhance the cybersecurity posture of organizations within the Defense Industrial Base (DIB). This compliance is mandatory for any organization doing business with the DoD that handles CUI or Federal Contract Information (FCI).
Overall, the standards met depend on the type of business MSPs serve and the data they store, and this paints an interesting picture of the segmentation in the market.
Which Data Backup Option Do You Expect Your Clients To Favor Going Forward?
83% of MSPs expect their clients to favor cloud backups in the future
The graph below illustrates the dominance of cloud backup as the preferred data backup solution among MSPs in the U.S and what other solutions clients are expected to favor:
With our data showing that 86% of MSP professionals offer cloud backup solutions, it’s evident that this option isn’t just a popular service now; it’s one that’s expected to grow in demand in the future.
83% agree that clients will favor this data backup option going forward. This correlates with broader industry trends, where cloud adoption is rapidly growing, with a 20.4% increase in spending between 2023 and 2024.
Disaster recovery comes in 72.5% behind at just 10.5%, while hybrid backs only score 3.4% engagement, incremental backups 1.8%, and automated backups 1.3%. Once again, this aligns with global trends in data management and cybersecurity, where businesses are prioritising scalable, resilient, and cost-effective solutions.
Continual Growth Of The Cloud Backup Market
In recent years, the cloud backup market has experienced significant growth, with its valuation reaching over $5.66 billion in 2024. Projections indicate a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) exceeding 25.4%, aiming for over $112.89 billion by 2037.
This expansion is driven by the increasing volume of data generation, the adoption of Software as a Service (SaaS) and BaaS solutions, and the demand for efficient, cost-effective data protection strategies. It’s also driven by the increase in cyberattacks, which has registered a 44% increase globally year-over-year, reinforcing the need for stringent security and backup solutions.
Increased Adoption Of Backup As A Service (Baas)
Backup as a Service (BaaS) emerged in the early 2010s as a cloud-based solution to simplify data protection and disaster recovery for businesses. Since then, it has grown dramatically, with the BaaS market valued at $4.80 billion in 2023 and predictions that it will reach $33.56 billion by 2030.
Its popularity is fueled by the increasing need for scalable, cost-effective backup solutions, growing cloud adoption, and heightened cybersecurity threats, which make traditional backup methods less practical for modern businesses. BaaS also offers flexibility, accessibility, and reduced infrastructure requirements, making it an essential tool for MSPs managing large volumes of data.
Growing Data Volumes Boost Demand For BaaS
The global data volume is expanding rapidly, with projections indicating it would reach 149 zettabytes in 2024. This surge is driven by increased Internet usage, the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and the widespread adoption of digital technologies, both in business and for personal use. Additionally, stringent data compliance regulations, such as the HIPAA and GDPR, mandate organizations to securely store and manage vast amounts of data.
Consequently, businesses increasingly opt to outsource their data storage to MSPs offering BaaS solutions that can efficiently handle the growing volumes, ensure compliance, and safeguard against data loss.
Demographics
Age
45% of MSP professionals are between 45 and 64
Of our audience of MSPs in the BaaS space, the largest number were between the ages of 45 and 64. Here’s how the age groups measured up:
In the U.S., Zippia reports that the average information technology professional age is 42 years old. For our audience, the highest engagement was recorded for those between age 45 and 54 (22.6%) and 55 and 64 (22.4%), which puts our average at older.
However, those in the 35-44 group scored 14.3%, so there’s still a definite presence. Interestingly, those older than 65 measured higher, with 15.9% engagement, while those under 25 scored 17.5%, and those between 25 and 34 had the lowest at 14.3%.
Overall, while engagement in the sector is strongest among older professionals, there is notable activity from the youngest and oldest age groups, highlighting a multigenerational interest in the field.
Gender
Only 9.2% more men working in MSPs than women
There’s only a small gender gap in those employed by MSPs in the US, and our graph reveals this:
The gender gap in our data is surprisingly minor, with less than 10% separating men (54.6%) and women (45.4%). Considering that studies currently show that women make up about 35% of the tech workforce, our results show a positive trend of female engagement.
Which Cities Do You Primarily Operate In?
41.1% MSPs operate in San Francisco
The graph below reveals where our audience of MSP professionals operates in the US:
San Francisco, home to Silicon Valley, garnered the highest engagement levels with our audience at 41.1%. This was followed by Houston, at 19.5%, which is also fast establishing itself as a tech hub, and Atlanta, at 12%, which has also been named the No. 1 Tech Hub spot twice. Coming in under 10% engagement were Chicago (9.4%), L. A (7.7%), Dallas (6.5%), and Miami at 3.9%, all showing a minor presence in the sector. However, each of these regions has room for expansion in the future, and those already operating there will have the advantage.
Overall, the insights gleaned from this data clearly show which direction the BaaS industry is moving in in the U.S. and what the challenges and considerations of MSP professionals are. A huge amount of growth is on the horizon at an enterprise level, and as the increase in data volumes accelerates, so will the demand for reliable BaaS offerings.
About the data
Sourced from an independent sample of 340,689 MSP professionals from X, Quora, Reddit, TikTok, Bluesky and Threads. Responses are collected within a 70% confidence interval and 5% margin of error. Engagement estimates how many people in the location are participating. Demographics are determined using many features, including name, location and self-disclosed description. Privacy is preserved using k-anonymity and differential privacy. Results are based on what people describe online — questions were not posed to the people in the sample.
