As the complexity of IT environments continues to escalate, the pressure on IT professionals to safeguard business-critical data has never been more intense. With the rise of hybrid work and the increasing adoption of cloud solutions, data is being distributed across multiple environments, providers, and locations, thereby expanding the potential attack surface for emerging cyber threats. Although the need for a robust data protection strategy has become more critical than ever, organizations are finding themselves in a challenging predicament. They are struggling to manage the escalating costs and complexities associated with business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) while ensuring the security and recoverability of their business-critical data.
To provide IT teams and managed service providers (MSPs) with a deeper understanding of how their peers are navigating these challenges, the State of Backup and Recovery Report 2025 has compiled insights from over 3,000 IT professionals, security experts, and administrators worldwide. The report reveals how businesses are addressing the biggest data protection challenges of today, the strategies they are adopting, and the critical gaps that could leave them susceptible to data loss and downtime.
So, what is the current state of organizations in terms of data protection? The survey indicates that confidence in backup systems is on the decline, cloud adoption is outpacing data protection strategies, and recovery expectations often do not align with reality. In this article, we will delve into the key findings from the report to help IT teams and MSPs prepare for the future. For comprehensive insights and actionable strategies, you can download the complete report now and compare your organization’s standing.
The Backup Conundrum: Essential yet Increasingly Unreliable
Data backup and recovery should serve as a safety net for businesses, but for many, it has become a source of frustration, complexity, and risk. The statistics paint a clear picture — backup inefficiencies are rising, IT teams are overburdened, and security vulnerabilities remain widespread. Let’s examine the key findings.
Trend #1: Data Loss is No Longer a Question of “If” but “When.”
9 out of 10 organizations experienced operational downtime in the past 12 months.
Trend #2: Confidence in Backup Systems is Declining.
Trust in backup solutions is slipping, leaving many businesses uncertain about their ability to reliably recover from data loss.
- Only 40% of IT teams feel confident in their backup systems.
- About 30% worry their backup strategy is inadequate, raising concerns about data security and recoverability.
- More than half of organizations plan to switch backup providers, citing cost, inefficiency, and limited disaster recovery capabilities as major pain points.
Trend #3: Backup Management is a Time-Consuming Burden.
Managing backups isn’t just complex — it’s draining IT resources. As data volumes grow, IT teams are spending more time than ever maintaining backup systems, testing recovery processes, and troubleshooting failures.
- IT teams now spend over 10 hours per week managing backups, adding to operational strain.
- The number of businesses spending more than three hours weekly on backups jumped from 5% in 2022 to 23% in 2024, denoting a significant rise in time and effort.
- Around 35% of organizations wouldn’t even know if backups were skipped or missed, highlighting critical gaps in monitoring and testing.
Trend #4: Security Gaps are Leaving Backups Exposed.
Backup systems are supposed to be the last line of defense against cyber threats. However, many contain serious security flaws that put data at risk.
- About 25% of workloads lack policies that limit unauthorized access to backups, leaving them vulnerable to malicious attacks.
- There are varying levels of protection for credentials across businesses. Only 33% of businesses use dedicated password managers. Others rely on less secure methods like document storage platforms or browser-based password tools, introducing potential vulnerabilities.
The Recovery Gap: Why Businesses Can’t Bounce Back Fast Enough
Holding onto data is one thing; recovering it quickly and reliably is another. IT teams face significant hurdles in ensuring fast, seamless recovery when disaster strikes.
Trend #1: Quick and Reliable Data Recovery Remains a Major Challenge in Data Protection.
The top concerns cited by IT teams regarding data protection are costs, compliance requirements, and the actual process of recovering data. Since IT teams spend hours managing and troubleshooting backup issues, it leaves little time for testing and validating recovery processes, increasing the risk of failure when it matters most.
