Microsoft 365 Backup – Why Do It and What Are My Options?

Microsoft 365 is one of today’s most widely used SaaS (Software-as -a-Service) applications. However, Microsoft 365 backup is a topic that often misunderstood. Many businesses mistakenly believe that because Microsoft 365 is a cloud-based product that there’s no need for any type of backups. They mistakenly think that Microsoft will handle all of that and there is no need to do anything to protect cloud data – the cloud provider will take care of everything.

However, that definitely isn’t the case. While Microsoft is responsible for the service and availability of the Microsoft 365 applications, Microsoft’s responsibility ends there. The task of protecting your Microsoft 365 data falls squarely on the customer.

Microsoft 365 built-in data protection

Microsoft 365 offers a basic level of data protection. The duration for which Microsoft 365 protects data depends on several factors including:

• the specific service
• configuration settings
• and any retention policies.

The Microsoft 365 recycle bin

The recycle bin is the primary data protection tool for Microsoft 365. It allows you to undelete a given item for a set period of time. The recycle bin contains emails, documents and files, as well as Microsoft Teams chat messages, calendars, and contacts.

The default retention period is 30 days. The maximum retention time for the Microsoft 365 recycle bin is 93 days. You can only restore one item at a time and items are permanently deleted following the retention period.

SharePoint and OneDrive also offer site versioning that enables you to restore items for up to 93 days.

Why back up Microsoft 365?

For businesses, there are a number of important gaps in the default Microsoft 365 data protection capabilities and backing up Microsoft 365 data is a crucial step. It ensures that your critical business data is secured and accessible if you need it for data recovery or business compliance.

A recent study by ESG showed that 53% of IT professionals acknowledged their organizations had experienced data loss or corruption in their SaaS applications. Fewer than 25% of organizations were able to recover 100% of their Microsoft 365 data following a data loss incident.

Some of the reasons that you need to a data backup of your Microsoft 365 data include:

• Data protection — While Microsoft provides a robust infrastructure for Microsoft 365 applications, without an additional backup solution, you are not completely protected from user error, malware, other malicious activities, and data corruption, which can lead to the permanent loss of important emails, files and other data.
• Protection from user error — Human error is the most common cause of data loss. Whether it’s accidental deletion, overwriting files, or misconfigurations, these can all result in the loss of important data. Regular backups provide a way to recover lost data due to user error.
• Defense against ransomware — Ransomware attacks can encrypt or delete your files, including those stored in the Microsoft Azure cloud. Backups enable you to restore your data to a point before data was corrupted by the ransomware attack.
• Compliance and auditing — Many industries have specific regulatory requirements regarding data retention and protection. Microsoft Office 365 backups can help ensure that you can comply with these regulations.
• Archiving — Some data in Microsoft 365, such as emails, may need to be retained for long periods for compliance or other business reasons. Backups enable you to archive data beyond Microsoft’s default and maximum data retention policies.

What Microsoft 365 data do you need to back up?

Microsoft 365 provides a wide range of functionality including email, word processing, spreadsheets, analytics, data sharing and collaboration. This array of activities produce a wide range of data that needs to be protected.

Some of the primary Microsoft 365 data points that need protection include:

• Exchange mailboxes, emails, folders, and attachments
• Calendars and contacts
• SharePoint sites and documents
• OneDrive files and folders
• Microsoft Teams chats, files, and channels

Popular Microsoft 365 backup products

The default settings within Microsoft 365 only protect data for 30 days by default. And the maximum data retention period for some data is 93 days. There are various third-party backup solutions specifically designed for Microsoft 365 that provide better levels of protection.

Most backup solutions allow you to schedule automated backups. You can typically specify the frequency (e.g., hourly, daily, weekly); and long or indefinite periods of retention period for backed up data. Plus, they allow multiple item restore and granular recovery options.

Some of today’s most popular Microsoft 365 backup solutions include:

Microsoft 365 Backup

Microsoft 365 Backup – Microsoft itself has an offering the Microsoft 365 backup marketplace. Microsoft 365 Backup offers immutable backup protection on Azure, management using the Admin Center but the current version does not back Microsoft Teams data. Microsoft Backup is priced based in storage at $0.15/GB /month.

Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365

Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 – Well known for its virtual machine (VM) backup solutions, Veeam’s Backup for Microsoft 365 can be deployed on your own backup infrastructure and connected to any storage of your choice (on-premises or cloud.) It can back up the entire range of Microsoft 365 data. You can create automated backup jobs and it offers an advanced backup search capability. The Backup Service implementation is priced at $3.50 per user/month. The Backup Software version is priced at $1.80 per user/month.

AvePoint Cloud Backup for Microsoft 365

AvePoint Cloud Backup for Microsoft 365 – AvePoint is another well-known traditional backup vendor that offers a Microsoft 365 backup product. It backs up the entire range of Microsoft 365 data including Viva Engage, Planner, Project Online and Power Platform. Data is stored in unlimited 256-bit encrypted storage or in your storage of choice with the Bring Your Own Storage option. You need to request pricing data.

CloudAlly Backup for Microsoft 365

CloudAlly Backup for Microsoft 365 – Providing point-in-time non destructive restores from Amazon S3, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform storage, CloudAlly Backup for Microsoft 365 offers unlimited data retention and immutable storage back up of all your M365 data. Pricing for under 100 users is set at $30/yr per user. For over 100 mailboxes you need to request a quote. Pricing for government, education, and not for profit organizations is $21.00 USD per user, per year.

Spanning Backup for Microsoft 365

Spanning Backup for Microsoft 365 – A Kaseya company, Spanning Backup for Microsoft 365 provides an automated backup for the full range of Microsoft 365 data. It provides immutable backups to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and an advanced data search. There is a free trial and you can request a quote for pricing.

Alcion Microsoft 365 Backup & Restore

Alcion Microsoft 365 Backup & Restore —  A Veeam-funded company, Alcion offers a Microsoft 365 backup solution that leverages AI to protect data. It provides a proactive response to third-party threats and it has the ability to detect ransomware and malware. Alcion can scheduling backups during peak user activity and initiate proactive backups upon detection of external threats. It backs up Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams data to AWS. An Essentials version is priced at $1.99 /user/month. A Security version is priced at $2.40 /user/month and you can contact sales for a quote about the Enterprise version.

Rubrik Microsoft 365 Protection

Rubrik Microsoft 365 Protection – Rubrik Microsoft 365 Protection can back up Exchange Online, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams. Rubrik automatically discovers and protects new users, sites, and mailboxes. It delivers advanced search tools and Rubrik utilizes Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) for provisioning and deprovisioning operations. It provides air-gapped storage using Microsoft Azure blob storage. You can request a quote for Rubrik Microsoft 365 Protection.

Druva inSync

Druva inSync – Druva inSync is an SaaS/endpoint solution focused backup and recovery solution for data stored in SaaS applications, including Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Slack, and Salesforce. It is built on AWS. For Microsoft 365 Druva Insync protects SharePoint, OneDrive, Exchange Online, Teams and Planner. It features a rapid deployment ability with air-gapped data protection. For Microsoft 365 pricing starts at $4 per user/month. An Elite version costs $7 per user/month.

Dell APEX Backup Services for SaaS Applications

Dell APEX Backup Services for SaaS Applications – Another general-purpose SaaS backup tool, Dell APEX Backup Services for SaaS Applications protects Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Salesforce data. It can backup all Microsoft 365 data and stores it in an isolated, immutable AWS cloud storage location on AWS and provides point-in-time data recovery. For pricing you need to get a quote from a Dell APEX advisor.

Datto SaaS Protection

Datto SaaS Protection – Another Kaseya company, Datto SaaS Protection offers protection for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. Designed specifically for MSPs (Managed Service Providers), Datto SaaS Protection scans Microsoft 365 for cyber threats and backs up 3x daily. For Microsoft 365 it protects Exchange, Tasks, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams data. Protected data is stored Datto’s private cloud which has storage centers in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, and Singapore. You can contact Datto sales to get pricing.

Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Backup

Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Backup – Another vendor primarily known for their enterprise and endpoint backup solutions, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Backup is also designed primarily for MSPs. A more general broad reaching solution than the others mentioned here, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Backup protects all popular workloads like Mac, Windows, Linux, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Hyper-V, VMware, and more. It provides an AI-based anti-malware analysis focused on zero-day threats.

For Microsoft 365 it protects Exchange Online, Teams, OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Online It can backup to Acronis-hosted storage, public clouds like Microsoft Azure, or MSP local storage. Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud uses either a per/GB or per/workload pricing model. They provide a pricing calculator to help you determine the best pricing model.

Testing your disaster recovery plan

It’s important to note that periodically testing the recoverability of your Microsoft 365 data is crucial to ensure that your backups are reliable and can be restored when needed. This involves simulating data loss scenarios and performing recovery tests to verify that you can successfully restore backed-up data.

Summary

In this article you learned about some of the reasons about why you need to backup Microsoft 365 data. You also read about what Microsoft 365 data needs to be backup as well as getting a guide to some of the most popular Microsoft 365 backup solutions.