Salesforce is the central operation point for countless organizations, managing everything from customer relationships to business-critical workflows. But despite the platform’s robust capabilities, many organizations overlook one vital responsibility: backing up their Salesforce data.

Without a comprehensive backup and archiving strategy, companies expose themselves to significant risks, some of which can be irreversible. Whether it's a data deletion incident, a corruption error, or a cybersecurity breach, the fallout from not having a backup plan can be swift and devastating.

It can happen to anyone. Don’t let it happen to you. In this blog post, we will cover the risks of not backing up your Salesforce data and how you can best protect your organization’s most critical assets.

1. Permanent Data Loss

Perhaps the most obvious and most catastrophic risk is permanent data loss. Salesforce is a powerful platform, but even the best technology can’t prevent human error. A user may accidentally delete records, a developer may overwrite important configurations, or a third-party integration might disrupt core data.

While Salesforce offers some native recovery capabilities, these are limited and often time-consuming. For example, Salesforce’s data recovery service was retired in 2020 and only reintroduced due to high customer demand—at a steep cost. Relying on built-in tools or manual exports is not a sustainable or reliable backup strategy.

2. Extended Downtime and Business Disruption

When data is lost or corrupted, time becomes your enemy. The longer it takes to identify, assess, and recover from a data incident, the greater the impact on your business. Sales teams may lose access to key leads and accounts. Support teams may be unable to view open cases. Operations may grind to a halt.

Every hour spent trying to recover lost or compromised data is an hour of lost productivity—and potential revenue. For regulated industries, this downtime could also mean failing to meet compliance obligations.

3. Compliance and Legal Risks

Many industries are subject to strict data governance and retention requirements. Financial institutions, healthcare providers, and companies handling personal data must adhere to regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, and FINRA.

Without a reliable backup and archiving solution in place, organizations risk non-compliance, which can result in significant fines, audits, and reputational damage. Having a secure, automated backup system helps prove that your organization is taking appropriate steps to protect sensitive data.

4. Incomplete Data Visibility

Not all data loss is immediate or obvious. Sometimes records are overwritten or slowly degraded over time without anyone noticing until it’s too late. Without a comprehensive snapshot of historical records, your team may lack visibility into changes, trends, and anomalies, making accurate reporting and forecasting impossible.

A robust backup solution can provide version history, granular restore options, and audit trails, helping you confidently investigate and recover from changes.

5. Security Breaches and Ransomware Attacks

Cyberattacks are on the rise—and Salesforce data is a prime target. If your data is compromised or held for ransom, your options are severely limited if you don’t have a secure backup available.

An encrypted backup solution that lives within your own infrastructure, meaning you own your data, helps ensure that you can restore your data quickly without paying ransoms or sacrificing sensitive information. It’s your insurance policy against the unknown.

Flosum Backup & Archive: Your Data’s Best Defense

To mitigate these risks and protect your Salesforce investment, you need more than good intentions—you need a purpose-built solution. Flosum Backup & Archive is designed specifically for Salesforce environments, offering secure, automated, and compliant backup and archiving capabilities.

With Flosum, you get:

• Granular recovery options for metadata, records, and attachments
• Automated, scheduled backups that reduce human error
• Immutable, encrypted storage to safeguard against tampering and ransomware
• Scalable archiving capabilities to manage data growth and retention policies
• Point-in-time restore functionality so you can rewind to exactly when things went wrong
  

Whether you're facing compliance challenges, preparing for audits, or just want peace of mind, Flosum Backup & Archive gives you the tools you need to stay resilient.

Want to learn more about how Flosum Backup & Archive can help with all of your Salesforce data backup and archiving needs? Connect with an expert today!