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Business Data Backup Adoption Statistics: Organizational Practices and Gaps

Survey findings on business backup adoption, storage, SaaS protection, coverage, and recovery across the EU, UK, US, and Canada.

November 12, 2026 8 min read computertechnician.net Editorial Team

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Business data backup adoption statistics: how many organizations back up data

Backup adoption rates depend on what a survey counts as a backup. A measure may include any backup, a copy stored separately or in the cloud, a cloud service specifically, or an organization’s reported security control. These definitions capture related practices, but they are not interchangeable. The figures below retain each source’s population and wording so the percentages can be read in context.

In Eurostat’s 2024 survey, 79.23% of EU enterprises used data backup to a separate location or cloud. The measure covered enterprises with 10 or more employees or self-employed persons in specified economic sectors. It is an EU-wide enterprise indicator, not a census of all businesses or microenterprises. [Eurostat, ICT security in enterprises]

A UK government survey presents a broader combined indicator. Among UK businesses surveyed from August through December 2025, 88% reported cloud backups or other kinds of backups under Step 7 of a 10-step cyber security framework. Among charities, the corresponding figure was 72%. This framework item records whether an organization says it has backups; it does not measure how much data is covered or whether restoration would succeed. [UK Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025/2026]

A 2024 Rewind report gives another view, focused on software-as-a-service (SaaS). 85% of its survey respondents said they had SaaS backup or recovery capabilities beyond those provided by vendors. The report describes more than 400 IT decision-makers, but the opened passage does not state the survey fieldwork dates. This finding concerns respondents’ reported capabilities for SaaS applications; it is not a general measure of all business backups. [Rewind, 2024 State of SaaS Data and Recovery]

Survey measurePopulation and periodReported backup adoption
Backup to a separate location or cloudEU enterprises, 202479.23%
Cloud or other kinds of backups under a security framework itemUK businesses, August–December 202588%
Same framework itemUK charities, August–December 202572%

These figures provide distinct reference points, not a direct ranking. The EU indicator names the destination, the UK framework item combines cloud and other backups, and the Rewind result asks about capabilities beyond SaaS vendors’ provision. [Eurostat] [UK Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025/2026] [Rewind]

Business data backup adoption statistics by company size

Eurostat’s 2024 size breakdown measures enterprises using data backup to a separate location. Adoption varied across its three reported size classes: 77.09% of small enterprises, 88.48% of medium-sized enterprises, and 94.95% of large enterprises reported this practice. Eurostat defines small enterprises as those with 10–49 persons employed, medium-sized as 50–249, and large as 250 or more. The measure is specifically backup to a separate location; it should not be substituted for the EU-wide measure that also includes cloud. [Eurostat, Figure 3]

EU enterprise size (persons employed)Backed up to a separate location, 2024
Small (10–49)77.09%
Medium-sized (50–249)88.48%
Large (250 or more)94.95%

The UK government survey uses its own size categories and the combined Step 7 indicator. 95% of medium UK businesses surveyed in August–December 2025 reported cloud backups or other kinds of backups. This is a different measure and classification from Eurostat’s separate-location series, so the two size comparisons should be read within their own surveys. [UK Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025/2026]

A separate North American SMB survey focused on application coverage. In a survey of 453 IT professionals at US and Canadian companies with 50–1,000 employees, 27% of small-company respondents and 48% of mid-sized-company respondents said their organizations backed up all applications. The source does not define the split between small and mid-sized companies on the opened page, and it does not state the fieldwork date. This is a coverage measure, not a general adoption indicator. [BackupWorks, Survey of IT recovery for SMBs]

Business data backup adoption statistics: Backup storage and offsite copies

Location figures distinguish a copy in the cloud or another place from one stored away from the business premises. In the UK government survey, 74% of businesses and 57% of charities reported securely backing up data via a cloud service. A further 48% of businesses and 38% of charities reported securely backing up data by other means. These were reported controls in place, not tests of backup completeness or restoration. The survey bases were 2,112 businesses and 1,085 charities. [UK Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025/2026, Figure 3.6]

Organization type, UK survey (August–December 2025)Secure backup via cloud serviceSecure backup by other means
Businesses74%48%
Charities57%38%

A historical UK survey illustrates a more specific offsite distinction. In Beaming’s 2018 survey, based on Opinium research among leaders of 514 UK businesses, 35% reported storing backup data outside the office. 18% reported backing up data to facilities at least 30 miles from their premises. These are historical results, not present-day adoption estimates. The distance threshold describes a particular location criterion; “outside the office” is broader. [Beaming, 2018 UK business backup research]

A 2024 US survey captures the use of cloud tools for offsite backup. Among 300 US IT decision-makers, 84% said their organizations used cloud drive services for off-site data backup. In the survey’s tool chart, 70% reported using cloud sync tools for backup and 64% reported using cloud backup tools. These are separate categories as labeled by the source. Cloud drive and sync tools should not be treated as equivalent to dedicated backup software. [Backblaze, 2024 State of the Backup]

Business data backup adoption statistics: SaaS backup adoption

Backing up a SaaS application is a narrower task than making a general business backup. The Datto 2025 report gives application-specific figures among respondents who had adopted each named service. 70% of organizations that adopted Microsoft 365 reported having a backup strategy in place; for Google Workspace adopters, the figure was 66%. The passage does not state the survey fieldwork period. These percentages apply to adopters of each product, not to all surveyed organizations. [Datto, The State of BCDR 2025, page 22]

The same Datto passage reports 53% of organizations that adopted Salesforce having a dedicated backup strategy. For other applications, it reports that 38% of organizations using Zapier, 42% using Slack, and 49% using Zendesk backed up their data. The report describes these as lower backup rates among the SaaS applications discussed. Its wording varies between “backup strategy” and backing up data, so those descriptions are retained rather than combined into a single technical standard. [Datto, The State of BCDR 2025, page 22]

SaaS application and respondent groupReported backup measureShare
Microsoft 365 adoptersBackup strategy in place70%
Google Workspace adoptersBackup strategy in place66%
Salesforce adoptersDedicated backup strategy53%
Zapier usersData backed up38%
Slack usersData backed up42%
Zendesk usersData backed up49%

Rewind’s 2024 survey adds context about responsibility beyond the platform vendor: 85% of respondents said they had SaaS backup or recovery capabilities beyond those vendors provide. Taken together, these survey findings show why an organization-level “has backups” response does not establish whether each cloud application has a separate strategy. The studies use different samples and questions, and they do not establish a single common rate across SaaS products. [Rewind, 2024 State of SaaS Data and Recovery] [Datto, The State of BCDR 2025]

Business data backup adoption statistics: Backup coverage and gaps

Having a backup and covering all important data are different measures. In the BackupWorks survey of IT professionals at US and Canadian companies with 50–1,000 employees, 71% said their organizations backed up both data and applications. 24% said they backed up all data and all applications, while 43% reported backing up laptops and desktops. The results point to different coverage questions: whether data and applications are both included, whether all of them are covered, and whether end-user devices are included. The survey page does not state when fieldwork took place. [BackupWorks, Survey of IT recovery for SMBs]

Backups are also judged by whether they can be used in recovery. In Backblaze’s 2024 survey of 300 US IT decision-makers, 39% said their organizations needed to restore data from backups at least once a month. Among organizations in the survey that had experienced data loss, 42% were able to recover all their data when they performed a restore. The first percentage concerns how often a restore was needed; the second applies only to the subset that had experienced data loss and describes complete recovery. Neither figure alone measures backup adoption. [Backblaze, 2024 State of the Backup]

These distinctions help interpret adoption statistics: an organization may report backups, use a cloud destination, or maintain strategies for particular SaaS applications, while the coverage and restoration measures answer separate questions. The cited surveys use different populations, dates, and definitions, so their findings are best understood as specific indicators of practice rather than a single universal rate of business backup readiness.

Sources

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