At the start of every year, vendors and analyst firms publish their predictions for what’s next in IT. In 2026, much of the conversation in backup and data protection revolves around AI-driven features, evolving compliance demands, and enterprise-scale architectures. But for smaller providers and lean teams, the priorities haven’t changed dramatically over the years: making data backup reliable, recoverable, and easy to run day to day.
This focus is becoming increasingly important as ransomware and operational disruption continue to pose significant risks in the real world.
Verizon’s 2025 DBIR links ransomware to 75% of system-intrusion breaches, reinforcing why proven recovery capabilities still matter more than hype. (Verizon DBIR)
And when incidents do happen, the financial impact can be massive—Microsoft Security research (with Bredin) found the average total cost of a cyberattack on SMBs is $254,445, with some incidents reaching much higher. (Microsoft Security and Bredin, SMB Cybersecurity Research Report)
For many small organizations, the difference between a bad week and an existential crisis often comes down to whether their backup services and managed backup processes actually work under pressure.
Based on our experience working with MSPs, the following five backup strategy trends will have a real impact on MSP backup operations and SMB backup outcomes in 2026, especially when you filter out the enterprise noise and focus on what’s deployable, supportable, and resilient (including modern backup software and backup cloud options).
Industry research shows that attackers don’t just encrypt production systems. They actively try to undermine backup and data protection, so recovery becomes impossible. In real incidents, that often looks like compromised credentials, weak access controls, poor segmentation, and repositories that are easy to discover and tamper with.
For MSPs supporting SMBs, this means secure backup can’t be treated as an optional “add-on.” It has to be built into the operating model and enforced consistently across customers, especially because ransomware impact is disproportionate for smaller organizations. Verizon’s SMB materials note that there are two times as many SMB victims as large organizations, and the DBIR summary also reports ransomware involvement is far more prevalent in SMB breaches than in those of larger organizations.
A practical, MSP-friendly approach to ransomware backup protection typically includes:
Stronger access controls for backup infrastructure (separate admin roles, MFA, least privilege).
Logical or physical isolation (separate credentials, segmented networks, or offline/air-gapped copies).
Restore testing as a recurring operational task, because ransomware recovery is only as good as your last verified restore.
While full zero-trust architectures may be unrealistic for many small MSPs, “secure-by-design backups” is now the baseline expectation. Attackers deliberately choose environments where recovery options are weak, often SMBs with limited IT resources and limited time for proactive hardening. The takeaway is simple: if a backup strategy can’t withstand an attack (or prove recoverability under pressure), it’s no longer sufficient.
What this means for MSPs:
Position backup as part of a resilience program, not just backup software installed on a client.
Treat restore speed and reliability as first-class KPIs, alongside backup success.
Provide customer-facing visibility (basic backup reporting, recovery-point objectives, and proof of restore tests).
Standardize policies and ongoing maintenance across tenants (a hallmark of managed backup), so protection doesn’t depend on tribal knowledge.
Do you want to make secure-by-design backups the standard for your MSP business? NovaBACKUP can help. We provide managed backup with ransomware-ready capabilities, such as immutable backups, isolation options, and restore verification. With these features, you can prove recoverability, not just promise it. Learn more.
The rise of ransomware targeting SMB environments means backup can’t be treated as an optional add-on or something customers can opt into later. When recovery becomes urgent, “we didn’t buy that module” isn’t a viable answer. That’s precisely why MSPs need consistent, repeatable protection rather than ad hoc decisions for each client.
À la carte service menus and “bring your own tool” setups usually create the same operational trap: inconsistent coverage, unsupported configurations, and growing complexity that MSPs still get blamed for when something fails. In practice, it forces teams to manage multiple tools, policies, retention rules, alerting patterns, and recovery runbooks—all of which increases the likelihood of missed changes, untested restores, and preventable downtime.
In 2026, standardized, auditable, and tested backup services should be a mandatory component of any managed services offering. That doesn’t mean “one-size-fits-all” for every customer, but it does mean one accountable model: a defined backup strategy, a limited set of approved backup software options, and consistent operating procedures across tenants. The alternative is long-term technical debt driven by customer preferences (often made without understanding recovery trade-offs), with MSPs inheriting the risk.
There’s also a straightforward business reality: concentrating your MSP backup footprint around fewer vendors typically improves support outcomes, reduces training overhead, simplifies troubleshooting, and strengthens pricing leverage over time. Most importantly, it improves recoverability at scale. And that is exactly what SMB customers expect when they hire an MSP for data protection rather than a collection of disconnected tools.
What this means for MSPs:
Make backup part of the baseline package for every customer (no exceptions, no “optional later”).
Standardize on a clear backup strategy with defined RPO/RTO targets and restore testing.
Limit supported backup software stacks to reduce operational complexity and failure modes.
• • Sell outcomes (recoverability + resilience), not just licenses, because backup services are only valuable when they work under attack.
As data volumes grow and environments become more distributed, manual backup simply doesn’t scale. It pushes MSPs into a reactive loop, forcing them to spend time babysitting jobs, chasing failures, thus discovering problems only when a restore is urgently needed. Missed notifications, silent failures, and untested restores are still common pain points, especially across multi-tenant backup services.
That’s why modern data backup operations have to be both automated and continuously verified. This isn’t just “nice to have”. It aligns with what official guidance emphasizes: keep secure backup practices and regularly test that backups can be restored in real scenarios.
Operationally, a few trends stand out for MSPs:
Automated monitoring and alerting is now the baseline (think: backup alerts that create actionable tickets).
Scheduled restore testing is becoming standard and increasingly expected by customers who want proof of recoverability.
Standardized backup reporting helps both MSPs and customers understand risk, coverage gaps, and recovery readiness.
What this means for MSPs is that backup automation isn’t about adding AI to everything. It’s about reducing operational drag while improving outcomes:
Fewer manual checks means fewer missed failures and less surprise downtime.
Predictable workflows reduce human error and shorten troubleshooting time.
Health checks provide early warning signals (storage issues, credential drift, job failures) instead of last-minute firefighting.
Consistent evidence (reports + test results) supports governance and even compliance backup expectations where applicable.
In practical terms, the goal is a single pane of glass: clear dashboards, automatic ticket creation, actionable backup alerts, and recurring restore verification. That’s how MSPs move from “we run backups” to “we continuously prove recovery”. And that’s the difference customers feel during a real incident.
The “cloud-only” narrative is losing momentum, especially for SMB environments. It concentrates recovery on a single location and a single dependency chain (connectivity, identity access, provider availability, and restore throughput). Instead, the new baseline is a hybrid backup approach that combines multiple recovery paths so MSPs can restore quickly during everyday incidents and stay resilient during ransomware or disasters.
A practical backup strategy for SMBs increasingly looks like this:
Local backup for fast restores (accidental deletions, patch issues, small outages).
Offsite backup (cloud or secondary site) for redundancy and site-level incidents.
Immutable backups or air-gapped copies to survive attacks that try to delete or tamper with recovery points.
That’s also why expanded versions of the classic 3-2-1 approach are gaining traction. Many teams build on 3-2-1 by adding isolation (such as immutable backups or offline copies) and routine restore verification, since redundancy alone isn’t enough when ransomware targets backups. (NovaBACKUP)
For SMBs, the why is straightforward:
They want quick restores for common disruptions (where local backup wins).
They still need offsite protection for ransomware and site disasters (where offsite backup wins).
Cloud-only restores can be slower and more expensive at scale, especially when you’re rebuilding multiple systems.
The takeaway: cloud and local backup together is often the most supportable long-term model. It balances performance, cost control, and resilience, and increases customer trust because recoverability is designed into the architecture and proven through testing.
Heading into 2026, one of the most consequential shifts is a trust problem. Many businesses have backup, but they’re far less sure it will actually deliver data recovery under real pressure. Confidence gets eroded by past failed restores, outdated recovery plans, and unclear ownership when something breaks.
It took 31% of organizations between one and six months to recover from a ransomware attack after paying the ransom. Meanwhile, 45% of those using backups recovered within a week. (Sophos)
Separately, Sophos reported that the use of backups for recovery dropped to a four-year low in its 2025 enterprise findings. (Sophos)
This is a major opportunity for MSPs who want to differentiate their backup services. It changes the conversation from feature lists to evidence. Customers want:
Proof that restores are tested (not assumed).
Proof that recovery times are realistic (not marketing).
Proof that someone is accountable (not “call the vendor”).
That’s why the winning motion in 2026 is recovery validation plus transparency. MSPs that prioritize recurring restore testing, documented workflows, and clear backup reporting—across backup software and backup storage—build confidence without requiring expensive, overly complex tooling.
Ultimately, customers don’t care how sophisticated the backup software is. They care whether their business can recover fast when something goes wrong. If you can consistently demonstrate recoverability (and communicate it plainly), you’ll win trust and keep it.
For small MSPs supporting SMBs, the most important backup trends in 2026 won’t be flashy or experimental. They’re practical, operational, and rooted in what actually holds up during real incidents.
In other words, the winners will be the MSPs who do the fundamentals exceptionally well:
Secure backup that can withstand attacks (including isolation and immutability).
Standardized, mandatory backup services as part of a consistent backup strategy.
Managed backup operations that are automated, monitored, and actively verified.
Hybrid backup design that balances fast restores with resilient offsite backup protection (local backup + offsite backup).
Verifiable recovery readiness from clear backup reporting, documented workflows, to tested restores that prove data protection and data recovery aren’t just assumptions.
We're happy to help if you'd like to explore any of these topics or test your current approach against real-world scenarios. A short review of your backup architecture, restore testing process, and operational ownership can quickly highlight where recoverability is strong and where it needs tightening (including alignment with disaster recovery goals).
1. Verizon, 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) hub
2. Verizon, 2025 DBIR SMB materials (PDF)
3. Microsoft Security and Bredin, SMB Cybersecurity Research Report (PDF)
4. Sophos, The State of Ransomware 2023 (report PDF)
5. Sophos, The State of Ransomware in Enterprise 2025 (blog)
6. NovaBACKUP, What Are Immutable Backups and When Do You Need Them
7. NovaBACKUP, How to Follow the 3-2-1 Backup Rule
8. NovaBACKUP, Managed Backup solution page (MSP)