Data Protection Trends in 2025

What MSPs and SMBs Need to Know

The start of a new year is always a good time to review current trends and prepare for what's to come in the months ahead. As we step into 2025, the world of data protection continues to present both challenges and opportunities for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and Small Businesses (SMBs) alike and with data being the lifeblood of any business, ensuring robust backup and recovery strategies remains a top priority.

In this blog post, we'll explore the key trends that will shape data protection strategies in 2025, with a focus on backup and recovery aspects, and how MSPs and SMBs can stay ahead of the curve.

Trend #1 - Increasing Cost for Cloud

The cloud has long been an integral part of most IT environments. From applications to systems to entire networks, cloud usage continues to grow. However, the cost of cloud usage can be unpredictable, starting with the cost of not only storing the data, but also outbound and inbound traffic, API calls, and more.

So, it's no surprise that IT budget managers are looking for ways to save money. One of those options should be the backup solution. As an MSP, managing these costs for your customers is even more critical. However, backing up a company's data to the cloud is important to ensure the recoverability of an organization's data after any type of data loss, so simply not having a cloud backup is not the answer.

Instead, features like incremental forever backup offer a way to significantly reduce redundancies without compromising the reliability of data recovery. This method backs up only the changes made since the last backup, rather than duplicating entire records. At the same time, it preserves links to previous backups without having to back up the same data again, resulting in lower storage costs over time.

Learn more about the benefits of incremental forever backup solutions in our detailed blog post "Incremental Forever Backup: Addressing Modern Backup Challenges"

In addition, MSPs should prioritize backup solutions that:

• Provide visibility into what data is sent to the cloud and how long it is stored there.
• Minimize unnecessary and redundant backup storage usage.
• Maintain restore reliability to ensure seamless recovery when needed.

Trend #2 - Mixing On-Prem and Cloud Solutions

Another way to optimize your IT budget is not to rely solely on the cloud for your entire IT environment. In recent months, many companies have started to pull some systems back - out of the cloud and set up as local systems. There are many advantages to using the cloud, such as flexibility and scalability, but in some cases an on-premises system makes more sense. Especially if you need to own the environment and application for security reasons, or if it's just cheaper to host it yourself.

But even these hybrid environments need to be backed up. That's where a backup solution that can do both comes in handy. Instead of running multiple different backup solutions that only address parts of your or your customers' systems, use one that can protect your on-premises and cloud environments with the same 3-2-1 backup strategy.

So-called hybrid backup solutions address this balance by offering:

• Simplified operations through unified management of local and cloud backups.
• Redundancy to improve disaster recovery.
• Faster recovery times by accessing local backups for speed-critical restores and cloud backups for long-term retention.

All of this translates into time savings by greatly simplifying setup and maintenance, and reduced costs by intelligently managing backup storage both locally and in the cloud.

Trend #3 - Ever-Evolving Ransomware Threats

Ransomware is not new, and calling it a trend might be a bit of a stretch. But it continues to be a threat, and its tactics and impact continue to grow in complexity. That's why it's critical for MSPs and businesses alike to stay ahead of these risks to protect their data and ensure business continuity.

Various security solutions help with detection, deletion, and scanning to reduce the risk of a ransomware attack occurring in the first place. But for those cases where the bad actors still get through, a reliable backup solution is the only way to ensure that an organization can recover its critical data without paying a hefty ransom.

Here are the top strategies for ransomware-resistant backups:

• Encrypt backups to prevent unauthorized access.
• Maintain multiple backup copies in different locations.
• Isolate backups from production environments to prevent cross-contamination.
• Create a dedicated backup user account with limited privileges.
• Test backups regularly to ensure they can be restored if needed.

A key strategy is to always secure encryption keys and MFA credentials. For example, there have been cases where immutable backups - designed to be tamper-proof - were rendered inaccessible because the encryption keys were stored on systems encrypted by ransomware.

Trend #4 - The Service Provider of the Future

Thanks to various digital transformation efforts and cyber threats that have increased our security needs, IT has become too complex for the "jack-of-all-trades" approach to remain viable. Gone are the days when IT professionals were primarily concerned with making sure hardware and software worked well together. Today, they need to know about so many variations of hardware vendors, device types, and applications for all sorts of specific use cases that it becomes difficult to stay on top of everything related to IT.

That's why many IT resellers and system integrators are starting to specialize, focusing on specific verticals, solution sets, or subsets of IT requirements, such as cybersecurity or compliance.

In addition, there is a clear shift away from break-fix models that make it difficult for IT businesses to survive to managed services that provide predictable, recurring revenue. But there are other benefits to offering managed services:

• Expertise: Specialization builds trust and positions the MSP as an expert in their chosen niche.
• Simplicity: Offering comprehensive managed services - where the MSP selects and manages the hardware and software - simplifies decisions for customers while providing predictable revenue streams for the provider.
• Growth: With a dedicated set of solutions and processes, MSPs can take on more customers, growing their customer base without adding hours or staff.

Is this an avenue you'd like to explore further? Take a look at our guide: Managed Backup-as-a-Service Guide

Trend #5 -The Human in the Loop

In a world of rising costs, companies are looking for different ways to keep costs down. Artificial intelligence (AI), automation, outsourcing... there are many options that can help. But a big downside to all of these efforts, and one that we see especially in larger enterprises, is that the human connection gets lost.

That's where MSPs can differentiate themselves from the “big guys" without it being a time sink. Here's an example from our own experience: One of our MSP clients was experiencing Internet issues that prevented them from restoring their customer’s cloud backups after a catastrophic hardware crash. Instead of leaving the MSP to figure things out on their own, we stepped in to help by downloading the necessary backup files and securely shipping it to the MSP on an encrypted USB drive. It didn't take us much time, but we knew that for the MSP, this kind of assistance not only solved their problem quickly, but also strengthened their relationship with their customer.

That's not to say you shouldn't use AI to automate certain processes. But it's important to keep the human in the loop and step in when technology alone can't solve the problem. And that goes both ways - from us as a vendor to the MSP and from the MSP to their customers - humanizing IT support and allowing customers to rely on their vendors will ultimately save time and improve the company's reputation.

Happy New Year

Data protection in 2025 will be shaped by a mix of technological advances and evolving threats. For MSPs, staying ahead of the curve means not only adopting the latest backup solutions, but also rethinking their strategies to better meet customer needs.

By leveraging tools such as incremental forever backups, hybrid environments, and ransomware-resistant strategies, MSPs can offer reliable, cost-effective solutions. Meanwhile, specializing and maintaining the human connection will help them stand out in an increasingly competitive landscape.

Are you ready to embrace these trends and position your business for success in 2025? Let's talk about how NovaBACKUP can support you and your customers' backup and recovery needs.

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