For small businesses, SaaS tools are a lifeline — file sharing, CRM, payroll, project management. But here’s the risk: not every SaaS vendor protects your data the same way.
Before you trust a provider with customer records, contracts, or financial data, ask these five questions:
1. Where is our data stored?
- Different countries = different laws.
- Storing EU data in the US (or vice versa) may trigger compliance issues.
- Red flag: Vendor can’t clearly answer where your data lives.
2. How is our data protected?
- Encryption (in transit + at rest) should be standard.
- Ask if they support MFA for admin access.
- Red flag: No mention of security certifications (SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR compliance).
3. Who inside your company can access our data?
- Even with encryption, insiders may have “god mode.”
- Vendors should log and limit employee access.
- Red flag: “Only engineers when needed” without formal access policies.
4. What happens if you get hacked?
- Incidents happen. The difference is whether the vendor tells you quickly and has a recovery plan.
- Ask: Do they notify customers within 72 hours? Do they have backups and incident response tested?
- Red flag: Vague answers like “we take security seriously.”
5. What happens if you shut down or we leave?
- SaaS companies come and go.
- You need clear rules for exporting and deleting your data.
- Red flag: “You can download files,” — but no guarantee of full deletion on their side.
Final thought
SaaS tools power growth, but trust without verification is risky.
By asking five simple questions, you separate serious vendors from risky ones — and protect your business, your clients, and your reputation.
Because in the cloud, your security is only as strong as your vendor’s.
