With more businesses moving to Microsoft 365, there is something of a debate around how best to backup your data.
While Microsoft does back up 365, there are some limitations. Sure, you are protected if they have failures or outages with their datacentres, hardware or software. However, you won’t be well protected from human error at your end, or hackers or viruses.
If someone in your business accidentally deletes an important file, or you are victim to a virus or a hack, you are likely to have a problem on your hand that Microsoft won’t be so helpful with. The weakness with Microsoft 365 is in the recovery of your valuable data – don’t be so sure that you are able to recover and restore your data quickly or easily.
Also, relying solely on one form of backup is a bit like only having one safety net. Having a multi-layer approach to backups will offer greater protection and peace of mind.
Even Microsoft agrees:
“We strive to keep the Services up and running; however, all online services suffer occasional disruptions and outages, and Microsoft is not liable for any disruption or loss you may suffer as a result. In the event of an outage you may not be able to retrieve Your Content or Data that you’ve stored. We recommend that you regularly backup Your Content and Data that you store on the Services or stores using Third-Party Apps and Services.”
So here are a few things you should consider if you want your data to be safe, secure and accessible when you need it:
- Daily backups are good, but it’s better to be backing up several times each day. That way, you are likely to lose only a couple of hours of work, instead of a whole day.
- Consider what retention period you want – do you want to be able to retrieve data from a month ago, a year ago, or longer?
- While 365 does offer mail filtering, it would be wise to adopt a multi-layer approach to protect your business from incoming viruses and hackers. Third party providers such as SMX are experts in the field of filtering mail, and can offer far more sophisticated protection.
As IT experts with a solid history of working with Microsoft 365, and we strongly believe that a third party backup service will provide you with greater protection and help keep your business operating smoothly.
Want to learn more about effective backup options? Talk to us.
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