Your company’s data is the powerhouse of all your organization. Data loss, encryption, or unauthorized sharing can jeopardize and even shut down all the processes and lead to massive losses.
This is why you must ensure your information is secure. If you use Office 365 to manage your data and sure that it is already protected as it is, this article is for you.
Why Do You Need Office 365 Backup?
The main reason is, without doubts, limitations to Office 365 Native Tools. The most widespread mistake among the Office 365 users is that native tools can substitute a full-fledged backup service if you configure it right.
But tools like eDiscovery for Office 365 are not backup in its core.
- You can’t restore data across various Office 365 services like Outlook and Contacts.
- You can only roll back OneDrive files to a previous version within the last 30 days.
- This rollback function for OneDrive doesn’t apply to any other Office 365 service. But OneDrive is not the only Office 365 service you use. You can’t roll back the second most important app in the whole ecosystem – Outlook. Therefore you need to know about Office 365 email backup as well.
- You can’t have both the primary data and backup stored together is considered to be a security flaw.
There are tons of scenarios when an organization’s data can be corrupted. Here are just some of them:
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Accidental Deletion
The most common search-for-recovery scenario. If you or another employee have deleted an important file and then emptied the trash, consider this file unrecoverable. The same applies to the recurring event in the calendar.
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Targeted Cyber Attack
Brute-force attacks (password spraying), phishing, network penetration – there are various types of cyberattacks. All performed with one only goal – access to your data. Backup is the method to avoid or decrease cyber attack outcomes.
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Malware
The ransomware virus that encrypts your data can spread through phishing and malvertising. It is important to spot and eliminate the infection early, but it is not always possible. But if your backup is separated from your network, you can restore “clean” files in the blink of an eye.
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Data Migration
Let’s be honest: the data migration process can be pretty stressful and time-consuming for an administrator, especially when it involves high volumes of data.
If you are backing up your Office 365, though, moving data between accounts becomes effortless and quick.
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Data Archival
Yes, eDiscovery archives your data and keeps records of your past operations for analysis, audit, or legal purposes. But what you may not know about eDiscovery is that it is not designed to restore data, especially high amounts of it; rather, it’s purpose is to find files.
Backup, on the other hand, enables you to both quickly find needed files and restore them.
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Unexpected Outages
Even public cloud giants can suffer data losses that sometimes can’t be recovered. A power loss, a natural disaster, an outage, or a cyber attack can destroy your data on the public cloud with no hope for restoration.
It’s hard to imagine now that something can happen with Microsoft Azure’s storages, but it happened before many times, and data of those people were lost forever. Imagine not being able for you and other users to access the information because of a shutdown of Microsoft data centers? If something happens with these centers, it puts all data your company relies on in jeopardy.
What to Pay Attention to When Choosing Office 365 Backup Solution?
You know now why backing up your Office 365 is vital for your business. But how to choose the solution?
Here is a list of main characteristics you should pay attention to when choosing a backup service:
- Should backup Office 365 services. Not all backups are compatible wit Office 365 applications, so you should pay attention to it.
- Customizable Retention. Retention is a period for which your backups are kept. An optimal backup allows you to configure retention to fit your workflow. It should be up to you to choose if storing data for a few months or keeping it around indefinitely. Plus, the retention policy should allow you to control the number of restore points.
- Cloud-to-Cloud Storage. This type of storage is the way to put your eggs in different baskets by diversifying the storage providers. If something happens with Microsoft’s storage and your primary data would be gone, it will on some other storage remain safe and sound. We advise using a 3-2-1 backup method when you hold at least three copies of your files saved on two kinds of media, with at least one offsite storage. Cloud to cloud backup for Office 365 from Spin is the best solution in this case.
Also, cloud-to-cloud backup is much more likely to be a cost-effective choice than on-premises. It is scalable, which means you can buy and manage only the amount of storage you need. It is a time-saver because you don’t need to hire a team of IT experts to set up all processes – you get end-to-end service. And, of course, no overhead costs!
- Migration Abilities. As we mentioned above, migration is a significant part of the IT admin’s job. Backup service should take care of it. It will save your company a ton of money (by not keeping paid Office 365 subscriptions of ex-employees) and a ton of time by not migrating all data manually.
- User-Friendly. Being user-friendly and easily manageable is a must. Given that the Office 365 ecosystem is pretty entangled itself, the backup solution must make it easier to operate.
- Search. Finding a particular file over the whole data landscape, no matter how big it is, shouldn’t be difficult. So the backup service should come packaged with a built-in search. It will save you time on managing restore operations.
- Top-level encryption. Security is your paramount importance, and in order to protect your data from leaks, your backup must be encrypted. It will make it compliant with the main regulations, like GDPR.
Would you like to learn more about backup & recovery in Office 365? Find out about the ways to recover deleted items in Office 365 by visiting our blog!
