Executive Summary
Key Takeaways
Data recovery platforms have evolved from periodic backup utilities into strategic resilience systems that support continuous data protection, rapid restoration and cyber recovery across hybrid and multicloud environments. Enterprises increasingly require automated, policy-driven recovery capabilities that protect data integrity, reduce downtime and support regulatory obligations. AI, immutable backup technologies and continuous validation are strengthening recovery readiness as a core component of cybersecurity and business continuity.
Software Provider Summary
The ISG Buyers Guide™ for Data Recovery evaluates 24 software providers offering products that support backup management, continuous data protection and recovery orchestration. The research ranked the top three overall leaders as Microsoft, Veeam and Rubrik. Providers were classified using weighted performance in Product Experience and Customer Experience for ISG quadrant placement. Acronis, AWS, Cohesity, Commvault, Dell, IBM, Microsoft, Rubrik, Myota, Quest and Veeam were rated Exemplary, with Druva and N-able rated Innovative. OpenText was rated Assurance, and Arcserve, Asigra, AvePoint, Bacula Systems, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HYCU, IDrive, NAKIVO, NinjaOne and SEP were rated Merit.
Product Experience Insights
Product Experience, representing 80% of the evaluation, focuses on Capability (50%) and Platform (30%), including adaptability, manageability, reliability and usability. Microsoft, Veeam and Rubrik achieved the highest performance as Leaders in this category, supported by continuous data protection, recovery speed, data integrity and automated recovery capabilities. Leaders demonstrated enterprise-grade platform capabilities across varied backup, resilience and hybrid infrastructure contexts.
Customer Experience Value
Customer Experience, representing 20% of the evaluation, focuses on validation and TCO/ROI. Microsoft, IBM and AWS were the Leaders in this category showing strong customer commitment and clear dedication to customer needs. Providers with lower performance often lacked sufficient information to demonstrate customer success, articulate commitment to customer experience or communicate measurable value through TCO/ROI.
Strategic Recommendations
Enterprises should evaluate data recovery platforms based on the ability to support continuous protection, rapid restoration and validated recoverability across distributed environments. Assessment should prioritize recovery speed, immutable storage, integrity verification, automation, policy enforcement and scalability across hybrid and multicloud infrastructure. Organizations should also evaluate AI-enabled anomaly detection, recovery prioritization and workflow automation that improve resilience while maintaining governance, security and operational control.
The Findings
The software providers and products evaluated in this research offer product and customer experiences, but not every feature is equally valuable to every enterprise or is needed to support the relevant business processes and use cases. Moreover, having too many product capabilities may be a negative factor for an enterprise if it introduces unnecessary complexity. Nonetheless, you may decide that a more comprehensive set of capabilities is important and meets your enterprise’s requirements.
An effective customer relationship with a software provider is vital to the success of any investment. The overall customer experience and the full lifecycle of engagement play a key role in ensuring satisfaction and long-term success. Providers with dedicated customer leadership, such as chief customer officers, tend to invest more deeply in these 
relationships and prioritize customer outcomes in line with TCO and ROI expectations. It is equally important that this commitment to customer success is evident throughout the provider’s website, the buying process and the customer journey.
Overall Scoring of Software Providers Across Categories
The research finds Microsoft atop the list, followed by Veeam and Rubrik. Providers that place in the top three of a category earn the designation of Leader. Microsoft has done so in four categories; Veeam and Rubrik in three; and AWS, Commvault, IBM, N-Able and Quest in one category.
Executive Summary
Key Takeaways
Data recovery platforms have evolved from periodic backup utilities into strategic resilience systems that support continuous data protection, rapid restoration and cyber recovery across hybrid and multicloud environments. Enterprises increasingly require automated, policy-driven recovery capabilities that protect data integrity, reduce downtime and support regulatory obligations. AI, immutable backup technologies and continuous validation are strengthening recovery readiness as a core component of cybersecurity and business continuity.
Software Provider Summary
The ISG Buyers Guide™ for Data Recovery evaluates 24 software providers offering products that support backup management, continuous data protection and recovery orchestration. The research ranked the top three overall leaders as Microsoft, Veeam and Rubrik. Providers were classified using weighted performance in Product Experience and Customer Experience for ISG quadrant placement. Acronis, AWS, Cohesity, Commvault, Dell, IBM, Microsoft, Rubrik, Myota, Quest and Veeam were rated Exemplary, with Druva and N-able rated Innovative. OpenText was rated Assurance, and Arcserve, Asigra, AvePoint, Bacula Systems, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HYCU, IDrive, NAKIVO, NinjaOne and SEP were rated Merit.
Product Experience Insights
Product Experience, representing 80% of the evaluation, focuses on Capability (50%) and Platform (30%), including adaptability, manageability, reliability and usability. Microsoft, Veeam and Rubrik achieved the highest performance as Leaders in this category, supported by continuous data protection, recovery speed, data integrity and automated recovery capabilities. Leaders demonstrated enterprise-grade platform capabilities across varied backup, resilience and hybrid infrastructure contexts.
Customer Experience Value
Customer Experience, representing 20% of the evaluation, focuses on validation and TCO/ROI. Microsoft, IBM and AWS were the Leaders in this category showing strong customer commitment and clear dedication to customer needs. Providers with lower performance often lacked sufficient information to demonstrate customer success, articulate commitment to customer experience or communicate measurable value through TCO/ROI.
Strategic Recommendations
Enterprises should evaluate data recovery platforms based on the ability to support continuous protection, rapid restoration and validated recoverability across distributed environments. Assessment should prioritize recovery speed, immutable storage, integrity verification, automation, policy enforcement and scalability across hybrid and multicloud infrastructure. Organizations should also evaluate AI-enabled anomaly detection, recovery prioritization and workflow automation that improve resilience while maintaining governance, security and operational control.
The Findings
The software providers and products evaluated in this research offer product and customer experiences, but not every feature is equally valuable to every enterprise or is needed to support the relevant business processes and use cases. Moreover, having too many product capabilities may be a negative factor for an enterprise if it introduces unnecessary complexity. Nonetheless, you may decide that a more comprehensive set of capabilities is important and meets your enterprise’s requirements.
An effective customer relationship with a software provider is vital to the success of any investment. The overall customer experience and the full lifecycle of engagement play a key role in ensuring satisfaction and long-term success. Providers with dedicated customer leadership, such as chief customer officers, tend to invest more deeply in these relationships and prioritize customer outcomes in line with TCO and ROI expectations. It is equally important that this commitment to customer success is evident throughout the provider’s website, the buying process and the customer journey.
Overall Scoring of Software Providers Across Categories
The research finds Microsoft atop the list, followed by Veeam and Rubrik. Providers that place in the top three of a category earn the designation of Leader. Microsoft has done so in four categories; Veeam and Rubrik in three; and AWS, Commvault, IBM, N-Able and Quest in one category.
Fill out the form to continue reading.