2020 Salesforce Data Protection Survey

This report was written on May 8, 2020, by Sam Gutmann, CEO, OwnBackup, Inc.

Cloud Backup Expert Tips: 2020 State of Salesforce Data Protection Survey Results

The 2020 OwnBackup’s State of Salesforce Data Protection survey reports on the data loss and corruption trends in the SaaS world is based on insights collected from 2,000 Salesforce customers at Dreamforce 2019.

From sales cloud and service cloud, to marketing cloud and Einstein, digital transformation on Salesforce has helped enterprises break data silos and deliver connected experiences across channels and departments.

To provide these exceptional experiences, companies store extensive data within Salesforce. The most critical data, according to the survey, consists of customer data, accounts, opportunities, and contacts. Digital transformation initiatives rely on accurate and available Salesforce CRM data…as do winning sales departments!

Missing data could impact the entire company with increased labor costs, data recovery fees, lost reputation, revenue impact, compliance fines, and loss in productivity. This begs the question: which department should take responsibility for Salesforce data protection? The majority (41%) of respondents said the IT department manages their Salesforce instance.

Does that mean IT, or the Salesforce owner, should be solely responsible for backup and recovery, and as a result liable for data loss and corruption incidents? Yes, they hold some responsibility for establishing and testing their company’s Salesforce backup and recovery plan, as well as ensuring connected technologies are functioning properly. Yet, since Salesforce CRM data is such a critical asset to digital transformation initiatives, it should also be a board and C-Suite responsibility to demand that data protection is prioritized.

A significant number of companies aren’t taking responsibility for data protection. The survey results uncovered that 69% of companies are not or are unsure they’re prepared for a data loss or corruption. This makes sense since 88% of companies have no comprehensive backup and recovery strategy. 51% of companies who experienced a data loss or corruption plan to increase their investment in Salesforce backup and recovery within the next year.

Data loss and corruption can often go unnoticed. This is why so few respondents (13%) know for sure that they’ve experienced a data loss or corruption.

To put this in perspective, it was asked OwnBackup customers about their data protection experiences in the same survey. What was uncovered drives the point home: data loss and corruption is happening more often than you realize. OwnBackup customer respondents were almost 3x more likely to notice a data loss or corruption than non-customer respondents. Furthermore, OwnBackup customers felt over 3x more prepared for a data loss or corruption than non-customer respondents. This is huge and demonstrates how the company brings ROI to its customers by helping them protect their Salesforce data and shore up their digital transformation.

To download the 2020 State of Salesforce Data Protection report (registration required)