Introduction.

Microsoft 365 (formally known as Office 365) has over 200 million active users worldwide. The subscription-based suite of productivity applications continues to gather momentum at an astounding pace because Small Businesses are benefiting from the many Commercial and Financial advantages of switching to Microsoft 365. You’ll find many of these advantages in our Business case for Office 365 article.

Microsoft 365 Data Backup is YOUR responsibility.

Because Microsoft 365 is a Cloud-based service, many people believe that their Business-Critical data is automatically backed up when it is saved in one of Microsoft 365’s many online applications. Unfortunately this isn’t the case.

We are huge fans of Microsoft 365, but there is no guarantee that your data can be recovered in the unlikely event of an outage, or in the event of your accounts being compromised. Because of this, it is incredibly important to ensure that you have a reliable and secure Office 365 backup solution in place that will allow you to restore your data quickly and efficiently in the event of data loss.

Nothing is 100% full-proof.

Sometimes technology can let us down. In addition, none of us are immune from a Cyber Security attack. You can introduce several preventative security and authentication measures to mitigate the chance of your data being compromised, but nothing is 100% full proof.

Why doesn’t Microsoft backup my 365 data?

When it comes to Microsoft 365, Microsoft operates a Shared Responsibility Model. In short, this means that Microsoft only takes responsibility for the areas of the Cloud platform they have full control over.

• Microsoft is responsible for their global infrastructure model and the uptime of the Microsoft 365 Cloud service. This includes the physical data centre, the physical network and the physical hosts.
• The customer is responsible for their own data that resides on Microsoft 365, including all information and data, accounts, access management and End points (devices).

It is commonplace for SaaS providers to operate a Shared Responsibility model.

Microsoft 365 incorporates data replication.

Data replication provides Geo-redundancy by replicating your data at one or more data centres. Data replication allows Microsoft to failover to another data centre if there is a fault with another active data centre.

Data replication ensures that Microsoft 365 can continue to operate as normal in the rare event of an outage. However, it is important to understand that replication ISN’T a backup solution. Data Replication is only there to ensure continuity of service.

Why should you backup your Microsoft 365 data?

If your Business uses Microsoft 365, then it is essential to incorporate a backup solution into your Disaster Recovery policy. Here’s seven essential reasons why:

1. Backup is YOUR responsibility – Microsoft provides a financially backed 99.9% update guarantee with Microsoft 365. This translates to approximately 8 hours of accepted downtime per year. However, Microsoft does not specialise in data backup and recovery. In short, Microsoft is responsible for service availability and YOU are responsible for backing up your data. Backup your data, or risk losing it!
2. Ensure Business continuity – Many (if not most) Small Businesses are now using the Microsoft 365 platform as their day-to-day productivity application – from writing word documents to storing data in OneDrive and collaborating on projects in SharePoint. This means that most of their Business-Critical data resides on the Microsoft 365 platform. Because of this, it is essential to prioritise implementing a Microsoft 365 backup solution to protect your data and ensure Business Continuity.
3. Backup your emails – Many Businesses have already made the switch from an on-premise Exchange solution to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online. With Microsoft 365 Backup, you can protect your Company emails from human error and Cyber Criminals by ensuring that all of your staff mailboxes, emails, attachments and calendars are backed up and can be restored quickly when required.
4. Protect yourself against human error – As previously stated, Accidents do happen and sometimes Business Critical data can get deleted in error. When this happens, it’s important to ensure that you have a backup solution in place that will allow you to restore this data, or previous versions of the data within seconds.
5. Achieve regulatory compliance – In order to achieve Regulatory Compliance and adhere to best practice requirements, many Businesses are required to demonstrate they have a capable data backup and restore solution in place.
6. Protect yourself against a Cyber-attack – A successful Cyber-attack has the potential to incapacitate your day-to-day Business operations by deleting or encrypting your critical and sensitive data. A Microsoft 365 backup solution will ensure that none of your critical data is lost and accelerate the recovery process after a Cyber Attack.
7. Save time and money – It can take hours (sometimes days) to recreate documents, files and folders that were accidentally deleted or lost, and that’s only IF they can be recreated. A Microsoft 365 Backup solution will help you to save time and money and maintain your productivity by restoring any lost or deleted data within seconds.

How can I backup my Microsoft 365 data?

There are a growing number of third-party SaaS data Backup solutions to choose from. Examples of reputable backup services include Veeam backup for Office 365, Acronis Office 365 Backup, Backupify and Altaro Office 365 Backup.

Introducing Microsoft 365 Backup Solutions from Ohso Technical.

In addition to the above reputable backup services, Ohso Technical, also provides a fully managed Microsoft 365 backup service to our existing clients for an affordable monthly fee. Our Data Backup service incorporates the following features and services:

• A fully managed service – Our engineers will setup, configure and maintain your Microsoft 365 backup service. You can contact us to change your backup schedule and immediately restore your data at any time, or you can manage the backup solution yourself. It’s your choice.
• Backup your emails – Our Backup solution incorporates backup for Microsoft 365 Exchange online. This includes a backup of your emails, contacts, attachments, mailboxes and calendars.
• Backup for OneDrive – All files and folders saved in OneDrive can be backed up and restored, retaining the original access permissions.
• Backup for SharePoint Online – All of your Company SharePoint sites, pages and permission settings can be backed up and restored. If required, you can download individual files directly from backup.