solutions, prioritizing protection for databases, ERP systems and cloud workloads. Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of manufacturing firms, meanwhile, utilize two to three different solutions and more than a quarter (26 percent) deploy four or more tools to protect their IT and OT systems. Altogether, the findings showed that nine out of 10 manufacturers across the U.S. and U.K. now rely on multiple backup and recovery platforms, yet even with this layered approach, one-third reports low confidence in their ability to recover critical systems and meet recovery targets when disruption occurs. “It points to a growing imbalance across manufacturing environments: more tools are being deployed, but recovery outcomes are not improving at the same pace,” said Macrium Software executives. “Instead of strengthening resilience, fragmented backup environments are adding operational complexity that can slow restoration efforts during incidents.” It’s a bit of warning to providers and trusted advisors that are tempted to approach manufacturers with a strategy for building resiliency that simply involves layering additional tools into their environments. Historical backups may exist, Macrium executives pointed out, “but far fewer organizations conduct regular validation to confirm whether those backups can actually be restored in the current operational environment.” Manufactures should be encouraged, they continued, to invest in comprehensive testing programs and solutions purpose-built for manufacturing complexity. At the same time, manufacturers must be careful not to place all their emphasis on IT at the expense of backing up OT. While cloud workloads, databases and servers lead protection priorities, operational technology, which is responsible for keeping physical systems and the processes that support them running, remain particularly exposed. Only about half (54 percent) of the manufacturers surveyed by NewtonX confirmed that their OT systems are backed up regularly. “While IT environments often receive the most attention, OT downtime can have the most significant impact on businesses, both in terms of revenue and reputation,” argued the report. All told, three-quarters of manufacturers experience downtime at least annually, with planned maintenance gone wrong as the leading cause, followed by configuration loss and network failures. In other words, most outages stem from internal operations rather than external attacks, said the research report. Legacy systems and technical debt emerged as the dominant challenges around backup and recovery, closely followed by multi-site operational complexity and budget constraints. “Ransomware protection dominates investment priorities, followed closely by automation and legacy system modernization – reflecting the triple challenge of escalating cyber threats, operational efficiency demands and technical debt,” said the report from NewtonX and Macrium. According to Macrium executives, the data points to a clear opportunity for partners and resellers to move beyond traditional backup deployment and into structured disaster recovery services. As manufacturing environments grow in complexity, many are actively seeking external expertise to rationalize tool sprawl, validate recovery readiness and align IT and OT resilience strategies. “Manufacturers have clearly invested in protection, but protection alone does not guarantee resilience,” said Dave Joyce, CEO at Macrium. “The ability to recover quickly is what ultimately safeguards productivity. Backups are meaningless if they are not configured correctly, continuously verified and tested against real-world recovery scenarios. As manufacturers grapple with more complex OT environments, recovery needs to be treated as a core operational discipline.” o WINTER 2026 | CHANNELVISION Manufacturers’ Backup and Recovery Invest Focus Areas Enhancing protection against ransomware and cyber threats 51% Increasing automation and simplification of backup operations 42% Replacing or modernizing legacy backup systems 39% Improving recovery speed and reliability 29% Extending backup coverage across systems 28% Improving testing and validation of recovery processes 26% Strengthening compliance and audit readiness 20% Improving visibility or monitoring across sites 20% Training staff on procedures 17% Source: NewtonX, Macrium survey of U.S. & U.K manufacturers; 2026 Manufacturers’ Key Factors in Evaluating Backup & Recovery Options Cost efficiency/Total cost of ownership 49% Integration with existing systems (IT+OT) 43% Ransomware resilience 39% Proven recovery reliability/success rate 36% Scalability and performance 33% East of management across distributed sites 23% Vendor support and service quality 20% Speed of deployment/implementation 17% Compliance and audit readiness 16% Flexibility and customization options 14% Source: NewtonX, Macrium survey of U.S. & U.K manufacturers; 2026 39 SPRING
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