Photo Courtesy of IT Press Tour
In a world where data is the lifeblood of organizations, protecting
it has never been more critical - or more challenging. At the 58th IT
Press Tour in Boston, HYCU, a leader in data backup and recovery
solutions, showcased how it's rising to meet these challenges head-on.
The company's leaders, including CEO Simon Taylor, SVP of Products
Subbiah Sundaram, and Director of Product Marketing Andy Fernandez,
painted a picture of a rapidly evolving data protection landscape and
HYCU's role in shaping it.
The SaaS Explosion and the Protection Gap
Simon Taylor kicked off the briefing with a stark reminder of how dramatically the IT landscape has changed. Taylor's story involved his dad, who ran a huge IT department in the 80s and 90s. And back then, IT departments had a bunch of racks of equipment. You had a whole bunch of on-prem in
the basement, and everybody understood one fundamental truth -- it's my
infrastructure. It's my data. And if it goes away, we all get fired.
Fast forward to today, and the picture couldn't be more different.
Organizations are grappling with a dizzying array of SaaS applications,
public cloud services, and hybrid environments. HYCU's research reveals
that the average mid-market company uses 212 SaaS services internally.
Even HYCU itself, a relatively lean operation, utilizes 98 such
services.
This explosion of SaaS adoption has created a significant protection
gap. Many organizations assume their data is safe in the hands of SaaS
providers, unaware of the shared responsibility model that places the
onus of data protection squarely on their shoulders.
HYCU's State of SaaS Resilience Survey uncovered some alarming trends:
- Organizations underestimate their SaaS footprint by a factor of 10.
- SaaS was the number one source of data breaches for over 60% of respondents.
- Nearly half of organizations incorrectly assume cloud vendors are responsible for data protection.
- 75% said their business would be significantly impacted if Single
Sign-On (SSO) and Identity and Access Management (IAM) configurations
became unavailable.
Protecting the Entire Tech Stack
In response to these challenges, HYCU has dramatically expanded its
data protection capabilities. While other vendors in the space typically
support around 9 SaaS applications, HYCU now protects over 80
applications and databases across the entire tech stack.
Subbiah Sundaram emphasized the importance of this comprehensive approach:
"The key thing from a customer perspective, all of these individual point solutions, or point products, are not solutions. What they care about is that, hey, what's happening with my software development? Just because GitLab went down, your entire
development stops. It's not that just one SaaS app went down, no. Your entire development team of 3,000 developers stopped working. That's the
challenge here."
HYCU's protection now spans:
- Infrastructure Services
- IT Service Management
- Software Development, App Management & DevOps
- Information Security & Compliance
- Data Management & Analytics
- Collaborative Work Management
This breadth of coverage allows organizations to protect their entire
application ecosystem, from build to run, addressing the complex
interdependencies of modern IT environments.
Cross-Cloud Mobility: Freedom to Move
Another key focus for HYCU is enabling cross-cloud mobility. As
organizations increasingly adopt multi-cloud strategies or look to
repatriate workloads from the cloud back to on-premises environments,
the ability to move data seamlessly becomes crucial.
Simon Taylor highlighted this trend:
"People are starting to move back. And I think having those hybrid cloud resources, it was important from day one for
us; but I think now, with what we've added, and the breadth of support we have, people are turning to us to move
back and forth. It used to be migration was a one way street,
and now they're asking for things to go both ways."
HYCU demonstrated its ability to move workloads and data between
various environments, including on-premises infrastructure, multiple
public clouds, and SaaS platforms. This flexibility allows customers to
optimize their IT resources without being locked into any single vendor
or platform.
Meeting Regulatory Requirements: DORA and NIS2
Until this briefing, I thought DORA was just a small cartoon child who had a magic backpack and a friend named Boots, trying to cross the crocodile river to get to a magic dance party somewhere in the rain forest. I was wrong. This particular DORA is not cute at all.
As the regulatory landscape continues to evolve, particularly in Europe, they have introduced something called the 'Digital Operational Resilience Act' (DORA), along with NIS2,
where organizations will face new compliance challenges related to data protection
and resilience.
Andy Fernandez explained the significance of these regulations, specifically calling out Article 12 of DORA:
"This is huge. It explicitly requires that the backup system and the
ICT system is recovered from a logically separated component."
This requirement means that organizations, particularly those in the
financial sector, must maintain offsite backups separate from their
production systems. HYCU is positioning itself as a key enabler for
compliance with these regulations by allowing customers to store their
backups in their own storage, either on-premises or in the public cloud
of their choice.
The HYCU Difference: Customer-Centric Data Protection
Throughout the briefing, HYCU's leadership emphasized their
customer-centric approach to data protection. Unlike some competitors
who store customer backups in their own infrastructure, HYCU made it clear that they believe in
giving customers full control over their backup data.
Simon Taylor articulated this philosophy, saying, "You should never let somebody else control your data, whether it's
your primary or your target, right? But if you're going to use SaaS
services, you've already given up production. At least be in
control of your backup, your secondary copy, that's so
important."
This approach not only aligns with regulatory requirements but also
gives customers peace of mind knowing they have full control over their
critical data.
Real-World Impact: Customer Stories
The HYCU team shared several customer stories that illustrate the
real-world impact of their solutions. One particularly striking example
involved a municipality that accidentally deleted 2,000 assets due to a
misconfiguration. When they reached out to their SaaS provider for help,
they were told, "This is your data, we unfortunately can't help you
with that."
This incident underscores the importance of having robust,
independent backup and recovery solutions for SaaS data. It also
highlights the misconception many organizations have about the level of
protection provided by their SaaS vendors.
Looking Ahead: The Future of Data Protection
As HYCU continues to innovate and expand its capabilities, the
company sees several key trends shaping the future of data protection:
- Increased regulatory pressure, particularly in Europe with DORA and NIS2, driving demand for comprehensive backup solutions.
- Growing awareness of the shared responsibility model in cloud and
SaaS environments, leading to more proactive data protection strategies.
- The need for cross-cloud mobility as organizations optimize their IT resources across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
- Rising concerns about cybersecurity, with SaaS applications becoming a prime target for attacks and data breaches.
Delivering on the Promise
HYCU's presentation at the 58th IT Press Tour demonstrated how the
company is delivering on its promise to provide comprehensive SaaS and
multi-cloud data protection. By supporting over 80 applications across
the entire tech stack, enabling cross-cloud mobility, and helping
customers meet evolving regulatory requirements, HYCU is positioning
itself as a leader in the rapidly evolving data protection landscape.
As Simon Taylor aptly put it, "We are actually the bulwark that is going to help these customers to
get what they really need. As long as we can get the customer base and
the marketplace to really understand the shared responsibility model is
not going anywhere, not even for Salesforce."
In a world where data is increasingly distributed and vulnerable,
HYCU's approach to data protection offers a beacon of hope for
organizations struggling to keep their critical information safe and
compliant. As the SaaS explosion continues and regulatory pressures
mount, HYCU's comprehensive, customer-centric approach to data
protection is likely to resonate with organizations of all sizes looking
to secure their digital future.
##