Continuum Recover to Protect User Data in Office 365, G Suite, Salesforce

Continuum is beefing up its Continuum platform for MSPs with new data backup and recovery services for customers who are using software-as-a-service applications including Microsoft Office 365, Google G Suite and Salesforce.

Continuum Recover for SaaS is a new product that provides MSPs and other IT service providers with an automated process to protect data for their customers who are using those SaaS environments, which don’t usually include their own data backup capabilities as part of those services.

That gap in critical data backup and recovery capabilities for customer data is what Continuum wants to try to fill with this new product, David LeClair, senior director of product management for Continuum, told Channel Futures.

Continuum’s David LeClair

“We have had an on-premises backup appliance product that replicated data into the cloud for disaster recovery and long-term storage, but this is the first time we are bringing a backup solution for SaaS applications,” said LeClair.

The service is designed for users of Microsoft Office 365 – including SharePoint and Teams – Google G Suite and Salesforce.com, because the platforms don’t take steps to protect user data, he said.

“Microsoft and the SaaS applications really focus on protecting their own infrastructures against power outages and other interruptions,” he said. “They are not protecting your data from a malicious attack or from a virus. That’s all on you.”

For channel partners, the new Continuum Recover service is available on the Continuum platform, which allows MSPs to sell and support it while adding other needed consulting and services for end-user customers, said LeClair.

 “It will let MSPs use the same Continuum platform they are now using to now protect customer SaaS data as well,” he said.

The Continuum platform provides a wide range of IT services for MSPs, including remote monitoring, backup and security for customers.

“We’re finding that more and more MSPs want to consolidate offerings in a single tool,” said LeClair, adding that a number of channel partners have been asking for these kinds of services to be added to the Continuum platform. “They really wanted it from a single company as much as possible. This is part of a larger strategy maneuver on our part to help our partners in their move to the cloud.”

For SMBs, enterprises and other business users, the service will make it easy for them to back up this critical business data – which in many cases they didn’t know wasn’t being backed up – as part of their SaaS operations, he said.

Pund-IT’s Charles King

“A lot of them are either not aware that SaaS providers are not protecting their data for them or the users are only protecting some of their files,” said LeClair. “Our solution is very comprehensive in what it protects,” including files, SharePoint documents, metadata, Microsoft Teams data, Wikis, chats and more. “We’re able to protect all of it with a very simple user interface and a very simply recovery method.”

Charles King, principal analyst for Pund-IT, said Continuum’s latest offering provides integrated, easy-to-use backup and recovery options for popular SaaS services that go beyond any capabilities offered by the SaaS vendors themselves.

“That should provide better levels of service and protection, something security-conscious customers and those in highly regulated industries will appreciate,” said King. “Plus, it offers a way for Continuum’s MSP clients a way to differentiate themselves and their services.”