SaaS Escrow Solutions for Australian Companies

Our unique solutions hosted in Australia,  provide continuity for AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and other cloud hosted software, when the software vendor is unwilling or unable to provide service. 

 

What is SaaS Escrow?

SaaS Escrow involves a three-party agreement between the SaaS vendor, the end user, and a trusted third-party, where essential deposit materials are securely deposited and verified for completeness and usability.

SaaS applications provide companies with increased efficiency and flexibility often at reduced costs. Along with the benefits of SaaS applications come increased risks. In most situations, the SaaS vendor maintains control and storage of your data.

The most efficient way to protect your company is to implement a SaaS Escrow solution. Together with our team of AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud engineers, Escrow London prides itself on providing a range of cost effective, innovative and bespoke solutions depending on individual client requirements. We have a pragmatic approach and the ability and experience to think ‘outside the box’ when it comes to SaaS business continuity solutions. All SaaS Escrow solutions and related data is hosted within Australia to comply with local Australian regulations.

Our SaaS Continuity Escrow Solutions Include:

Verified Software Escrow for SaaS

Secure deposit of the cloud assets required to independently build and deploy the software. The build and deploy of the software is verified by Escrow London on an annual basis.

Software Escrow for SaaS

Secure deposit of the cloud assets required to independently build and deploy the SaaS application.

SaaS Access Continuity

Secure access to the cloud production environment in the event of a software vendor failure.

Enterprise Saas Continuity Escrow

Providing 90 days of live continuity hosted by Escrow London in the event of a software vendor failure.

Solution 1

Verified Software Escrow for SaaS

Everything you will need to recover the SaaS environment -Verified on an annual basis

The Verified Software Escrow for SaaS service incorporates a deposit of all the cloud assets that would be required to build and deploy the SaaS application and cloud environment.

How does it work?

This solution typically includes an automated deposit of the following assets from the SaaS vendor:

  • Source code from the developer’s git repos
    Deployment scripts (IaC) such a Terraform or CloudFormation
  • Containers
  • Virtual Machine images
  • Database backups
What happens in an escrow release event?
 

In the event of an escrow release trigger, the verified Deposit Materials will be released to the Beneficiary.

Included Verification 

This service includes an annual verification to provide assurance that all information, files and source materials including deployment scripts required to build the software have been deposited into escrow. This is then verified for completeness and useability including testing the database functionality. This will provide additional assurances to the Beneficiary that the materials and databases have been tested and processes documented which critically can be used in a release situation.

verified escrow
Solution 2

Software Escrow for SaaS

Deposit of all the cloud assets to recover the SaaS environment

The Software Escrow for SaaS service incorporates a deposit of all the cloud assets that would be required to build and deploy the SaaS application and cloud environment.

How does it work?

This solution typically includes an automated deposit of the following assets from the SaaS vendor:

  • Source code from the developer’s git repos
  • Deployment scripts (IaC) such a Terraform or CloudFormation
  • Containers
  • Virtual Machine images
  • Database backups
Software Escrow
What happens in an escrow release event?
 

In the event of an escrow release trigger, the Deposit Materials will be released to the Beneficiary.

Verification Options

In order to provide additional assurance of recovery, the Beneficiary may request for Escrow London to perform any of the following verification tests:

Cloud Deployment Verification 

Provides the assurance that all information, files and source materials including deployment scripts required to build the software have been deposited into escrow and verified for completeness and useability. An Escrow London consultant observes the Depositor performing a compilation/deployment and documents the process.

Cloud Deployment Verification with Code Quality Audit 

The Cloud Deployment Verification with Code Quality Audit provides the Beneficiary with Independent assurance that in addition to the deployment process as included in a Cloud Deployment Verification, an Escrow London consultant will perform a deep dive into the quality of the source code materials deposited as part of the escrow agreement. This exercise will provide assurance that the deposit contains source code for all components of the software and that the source code may be modified and that variables, functions, etc appear to be defined clearly and explicitly. This additional process is designed so that a third-party developer could continue to maintain the source code if ever required.

Solution 3

SaaS Access Continuity

Verified access credentials to the SaaS production environment

The SaaS Access Continuity service is a cost-effective solution best suited to a single-tenanted environment that provides the Beneficiary with the required access credentials and documentation to the cloud production environment.

How does it work?

Under the SaaS Access Continuity service, the SaaS vendor is required to deposit and update the access credentials on a quarterly basis or more frequently if required. These credentials may include administrator usernames, passwords, MFA and keys to allow full access to the cloud hosting provider’s console and all the live instances and databases.

Source code and deployment scripts may be included as an optional add-on to provide an additional layer of protection.

What happens in an escrow release event?
 

In the event of an escrow release trigger, the administrator access credentials to the production environment will be released to the Beneficiary.

Included Verification 

Escrow London regularly tests the credentials on a quarterly basis to ensure that access can still be gained. This continuity service provides assurance that either the beneficiary or Escrow London can step in and pay future cloud vendor bills to allow for continuity of service of the existing production environment.

saas access
Solution 4

Enterprise SaaS Continuity Escrow

With live continuity hosted by Escrow London 

The Enterprise SaaS Continuity Escrow solution provides a redundant operating environment of the SaaS application that can be quickly spun up in the event of a release situation.

How does it work?

This solution typically includes the automated deposit of the following assets from the SaaS vendor:

  • Source code from the developer repos
  • Deployment scripts (IaC) such a Terraform or CloudFormation
  • Containers
  • Virtual Machine images
  • Databases (including up to daily backups)

After implementation, the cloud instances will be maintained in a dormant state with a daily backup of the database.

What happens in an escrow release event?

In the event of an escrow release trigger, the Escrow London cloud account access credentials, and the Deposit Materials can either be transferred directly to the Beneficiary or Escrow London will maintain the SaaS service live for an agreed period of time (usually 90 days).

Included Verification

To provide assurance that the latest deposit materials are useable, Escrow London performs half-yearly testing of the deployment process to a functional system. During the testing process, the Beneficiary will be provided with the opportunity of acceptance testing of the escrow environment.

gcloud

G-Cloud 13 Approved

Escrow London Ltd have successfully been approved for the 4th year in a row to supply their innovative escrow solutions through the latest iteration of the United Kingdom government’s G-Cloud framework.

The framework agreement covers traditional software escrow, verification services and unique SaaS escrow solutions that provide business continuity for SaaS hosted applications within AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Looking to implement a secure software escrow solution?

Leading Companies Trust Escrow London

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