With millions of subscriptions each month, Microsoft 365 has taken the lead when speaking of cloud services. In April 2021, the number of daily active users reached 145M worldwide.
The majority of SMBs that are migrating to Microsoft 365 are doing so from their on-premises deployments.
Part of its popularity is due to the fact that Microsoft 365 has so many applications that many businesses can work entirely within this suite.
It’s easy to adopt and deploy and plus, Microsoft is the sole responsible for keeping all applications up to date, relieving IT teams from this task.
Microsoft has devoted itself to providing a complete environment where employees can perform their duties not only from the office but from anywhere.
Coworking teams have benefited from cloud-based file storage services like OneDrive for Businesses, which offers 1 TB of space to save, sync, and share files.
Microsoft 365 also incorporates SharePoint Online, a collaborative platform that allows an enterprise to share and manage content, knowledge, and applications.
Microsoft’s backup capabilities
However, there is a critical aspect that most SMBs don’t consider when relying on the Microsoft 365 software package and it is backup for Microsoft OneDrive and M365.
It’s true that O365 counts with basic built-in retention and recovery capabilities, and businesses that don’t work with mission-critical email and documents may consider that these suit their needs.
But the thing is, these native backup tools often fall short for most organizations. Whether to stick with these built-in capabilities or deploy a more robust solution is a corporate decision that must be made before migrating to Microsoft 365.
Beyond training remote workers to share and save data, IT should even be running an independent 3rd party backup, and for serious reasons:
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Top 4 reasons for getting a Microsoft 365 backup solution
1. Risk of downtime and data loss if Microsoft services suffer disruptions or outages
Nobody is 100% exempt from suffering a power outage, not even cloud giants like Microsoft. The disruptions suffered in September and October are proof of that. Many European regions were affected by downtime by these Microsoft service interruptions.
It is stated in the Microsoft services agreement, that in case of outages or disruptions, Microsoft is not responsible for the loss of your data:
So, in case something happens from Microsoft’s side, you won’t be able to reach your data and keep your company’s normal workflow going unless you have a backup. You may even lose your data permanently if the servers are heavily affected by the disruption.
2. Microsoft 365 account deletion implies the deletion of all the data on that account
The deletion of O365 accounts is a common procedure for some companies. This is mostly done as the result of license services ending, or after an employee leaves the company.
However, an account deletion may also occur accidentally or even worse, after deliberate malicious intentions.
At the end of the day, whatever the reason behind the deletion of an Office 365 account, the outcome stays the same: the data will be gone forever.
This possibility is mentioned by Microsoft in their services agreement as follows:
3. Native Microsoft 365 backup solution: the capabilities are scarce
Although Microsoft 365 allows you to recover deleted items, these native recovery tools are quite limited.
In case you accidentally removed an email, the Deleted Items option makes it possible to restore it, but what about long-trashed files?
By default, the Office 365 retention time is 14 days, and 30 days is the maximum time allowed. Any file deleted over that period will be lost.
However, many businesses need to keep registers of long deleted files, for compliance or reporting purposes. That’s why having a Microsoft 365 email backup plan is so important.
4. Microsoft 365 may not protect your data from all external security threats
Cyber threats are everywhere, and no one is 100% safe from them. Ransomware, account hijacking, and data theft are some examples.
Office 365 offers a range of tools to help users with the security of their data, and Microsoft 365 Security & Compliance Center is one of them.
It makes it possible to set up security settings that cover areas like phishing protection, access and threat management, and more.
But here comes the most important aspect and the one most people miss. Microsoft runs on a shared responsibility model, which implies that both the client and developer (Microsoft) are responsible for the management of data security. The shared responsibility model created by Microsoft better illustrates this concept:
All the previously mentioned aspects hit many companies differently but especially affect those that manage sensitive information, like accounting firms.
These are a constant target of cyber-attacks as many hackers go to social engineering methods to gain access to lists of clients and their data.
They look for social security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, and health records to steal all this information and sell it to data theft organizations.
Not to mention ransomware attacks, which are also common among accounting firms. Scammers make use of intricate and sophisticated methods to enter these firms’ internal storage and encrypt their data.
What happens next? The CEO gets a call being asked for an absurd amount of money to get the security key that will unlock the information.
So, how can we help your business stay safe and away from cyberattacks?
As a managed service provider specializing in Mississauga Microsoft 365 consulting services for SMBs, our priority is ensuring the safety of your data. We offer a comprehensive Microsoft 365 backup solution that supports versioning and flexible restore options for quick data recovery.
Additionally, our backup solution is fully automated, protecting your data from accidental or malicious deletion, ransomware attacks, and more. Don’t risk your clients’ information or your company’s credibility due to data loss – connect with us to develop a robust Microsoft 365 backup plan.
