Backup & DR Readiness with Wasabi + Veeam, Part 2: Freedom of Choice Without Tradeoffs

The modern MSP can't afford to treat data management for their customers as one-size-fits-all. Their customers and their needs vary, and so do the right solutions. MSPs need a freedom-of-choice approach that allows them to tailor each solution to their customers’ individual needs.

In Part 1 of this series, we covered why cloud storage costs can become a readiness and margin problem for MSPs. Here in Part 2, we’ll continue with the theme of readiness but shift from economics to control and freedom. Flexibility matters for meeting regional compliance mandates, aligning with data security best-practice recommendations, addressing latency considerations, and maintaining customer trust, while staying within budget. All of that depends on having control over data management and the freedom to provide the best-fit solution for each customer.

In this article, we’ll break down what freedom of choice looks like for MSPs so they can maintain full control to offer enterprise-grade, cyber-resilient cloud storage without vendor lock-in and without trade-offs.

Why freedom of choice is harder than it sounds 

Freedom of choice gets complicated fast when MSPs are responsible for delivering it across multiple customer environments, each with its own requirements, budgets, and storage needs. MSPs have to meet tough expectations around data residency and sovereignty, keep data close enough to hit recovery targets, and still be able to shift when a customer’s needs change, all while maintaining cyber resilience.

The challenge is that many all-in-one, backup-as-a-service (BaaS) models limit choice in practice. Some solutions keep data locked into a single cloud storage provider or dictate where the data is stored, then charge more for the security features needed to stay protected in today’s threat landscape.

That just won’t work for every customer. For many, a multi-cloud strategy is not only recommended; it’s essential. Data security best practices call for multiple copies stored across separate locations. If data is locked into a single vendor, MSPs may lose flexibility in terms of independence, portability, and where those copies can live. When BaaS solutions rely on rigid architectures, forced data storage locations, and slow, low-cost tiers, it becomes harder to access or move data quickly when conditions change.

Regulations and customer needs for DR readiness can also require data to be stored in a particular location or country. That means MSPs need the ability to choose storage regions intentionally while still meeting latency, migration, and Recovery Time Objective (RTO) requirements, without that choice being gated behind a higher-cost tier.

In our recent Spicy Bytes conversation with Rick Vanover, VP of Product Strategy at Veeam, he put it simply: “Sometimes you have to move [your data] because you want to, but sometimes you have to do it because you have to. A server breaks. It’ll take three days to get the part. The business can’t wait.” For MSPs, that includes the ability to move data quickly when conditions change, without breaking recovery plans, violating residency requirements, or taking on new operational complexity.

Freedom of choice without sacrificing security or performance

For MSPs, choice only matters if it holds up under real recovery conditions and meets cybersecurity and DR needs. Three things have to be true at the same time:

• Security by default: Recovery copies must be protected from tampering, and administrative actions must be controlled. Missing critical security features can’t become a new attack surface.

• Performance that matches RTO/RPO reality: Restores and validation work can’t be slowed down by cold-tier delays or where the data resides when customers expect rapid recovery.

• Operational simplicity: MSPs need portability and flexibility across regions and platforms without turning data placement into a management and cost burden, or being locked-in to a single storage vendor with limited options to meet customers’ diverse needs.

This is also why archive assumptions break down in practice. The 2025 Wasabi Global Cloud Storage Index found that 84% of organizations access cold-tier data weekly or monthly, and one in five report negative operational impact from cold-tier performance or access delays. When access becomes more routine than planned, storage choices directly affect readiness and become invaluable for MSPs.

How Wasabi + Veeam Data Platform make freedom of choice practical

MSPs and Veeam Cloud & Service Providers (VCSPs) are only successful if their tools can keep up with how environments and customers actually behave. They aren’t protecting static systems; they’re protecting customers who change hypervisors, add regions, tighten sovereignty rules, modernize workloads, and still expect recovery to work under strict security requirements. Veeam Data Platform and Wasabi are built for that reality.

Veeam Data Platform gives MSPs the flexibility to offer best-in-class data resilience, along with the freedom to choose cloud storage that meets their customers’ needs. Image-based backups can be restored across platforms and locations without redesigning the recovery plan. When a customer moves to a new hypervisor, expands into another region, or needs workloads recovered somewhere other than where the data started, Veeam doesn’t slow the process down. Recovery goes where it needs to go.

Wasabi Account Control Manager (WACM) offers MSPs a cloud storage solution that helps them meet security best practices, offering robust security features at no extra cost and the data management flexibility customers require. MSPs can keep data in-region and close for latency-sensitive restores, while maintaining strong account control and management that’s easy to operate through their preferred stack, all without triggering extra fees. Wasabi removes friction and complexity so that recoverability and secure, scalable data storage stay the design goal.

Because MSP environments are rarely uniform (different backup solutions, customer standards, and compliance expectations), Wasabi integrates cleanly across the data protection ecosystem, including with Veeam Data Platform. Adding or changing a storage target doesn’t force a rebuild or lock MSPs into a hyperscaler-centric pattern. It fits the way MSPs actually operate: flexible stacks, customer-by-customer requirements, and architectures that evolve over time.

DR readiness and performance: No tradeoffs required

Freedom of choice has to come with guardrails. MSPs need recovery copies that stay unaltered and administrative actions that can’t be executed by a single compromised account. All of this is supported through Wasabi’s Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and Multi-User Authorization (MUA). Wasabi Object Lock, combined with Veeam governance controls like multi-user approval and four-eyes authorization, keeps recovery data intact and ensures critical actions are intentionally authorized. Covert Copy adds a hidden, isolated backup copy that attackers can’t see or modify, giving MSPs a last-resort recovery path even if primary and secondary copies are compromised.

That flexibility has to perform under pressure. Wasabi is built for high-throughput access so MSPs can run restores and routine validation without cold-tier delays, while still keeping data where compliance and customer requirements demand. All of this is included without additional costs or complex tiers.

The bottom line

MSPs need the freedom to provide cloud storage that works on their terms and is scalable, secure, and flexible. Wasabi gives VCSPs and MSPs freedom of choice that holds up in real-world conditions: data stays compliant, restores stay fast, security controls stay intact, and the operating model stays manageable at scale, no matter where the data originates.

Together, Veeam Data Platform and Wasabi’s predictable, no-penalty storage model help MSPs support data residency needs, maintain strong security best practices, and stay ready for recovery. The result is the freedom to meet customer needs without lock-in, surprise costs, or compromised readiness.