Should You Backup Office 365?

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Are you backing up your Microsoft 365 data?

Whenever I mention to people the need to back up their Microsoft 365 data, they always seem confused. I’ve found that many businesses think that moving their data to the Microsoft cloud means that they no longer need to worry about backup.

Surely that’s one of the reasons to use the cloud – Microsoft will handle backing up without us having to think about it, right?

Well, kind of.

Of course, Microsoft offers lots of protection for your data. It takes responsibility for keeping the applications within 365 working, making sure that your email is still working for example.

It’s the same with Microsoft Teams – it’s all run from the cloud and Microsoft will make sure that all the aspects of it are working.
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The cloud – not in the sky

And of course, when you move your data to the Microsoft Cloud, you are actually moving it to one of the data centres located around the world which are all packed with hardware and software capable of running these applications.

It’s Microsoft’s responsibility to keep the hardware running for you.

Microsoft always stores your data in more than one of their data centres so from a business continuity perspective, they’re keeping you well covered.

Microsoft’s 365 products also contain some features to ensure that if you do delete something, you can get it back. Take a mailbox, for example. Perhaps someone left your organisation and their mailbox was deleted but you find you need some information from an email you know was in that mailbox.

Once the mailbox has been deleted, it can be restored within the first 30 days so that’s straightforward.

But what about after that?

Next up is SharePoint which holds your files and folders. If you delete something from there, it will sit in the recycle bin for 93 days before it’s deleted.

As with most of these things, if you spend more money on a more advanced Microsoft 365 licence, you do get extra features that allow you to control your data…

But in my opinion, I think that it is missing the point.

Back to basics

If you have a laptop with lots of family photographs on them, it’s a good idea to get a backup so you know they are safe in future when you want them. Backing them up and saving them elsewhere protects them from a cyber attack, accidental deletion, theft of the laptop or something malicious.

From my persepective, when it comes to Microsoft 365, the same logic applies.

It makes good business sense to have an independent backup which automatically takes your critical data from 365 and stores it somewhere else, which is independent of Microsoft… just in case you need it in future.

Just like my laptop example, there are many reasons why you might need that backup, including accidental deletion – did you know that one in three users have experienced data loss from the cloud? The most common cause is simply deleting things by accident.

Other reasons you may need a backup include a cyber attack on your network or your Microsoft 365, misconfiguration within Microsoft 365 or someone within your business maliciously deleting something.

The final reason why you should consider a Microsoft 365 backup is that Microsoft themselves recommend it in their service agreement with you, so if you don’t have one in place already, I strongly recommend that you consider it.

 

When it comes to Microsoft 365 backup, we recommend Datto SaaS protection.

From as little as £2 per person/per month – you can get automated backup three time per day of your most important apps, automatic archiving of deleted users, recovery from ransomware in the cloud, compliance with certain regulations and protection of business-critical cloud data.

If you’d like to know more, just get in touch.

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