Many businesses depend on Microsoft 365 every day for emails, documents, and data management. It’s a robust tool, and with everything stored in the cloud, it’s tempting to assume your data is secure.
But that confidence can be misplaced. A cyberattack, a technical glitch, or even a simple error could wipe out critical information in seconds without a standard backup plan.
Recognizing this, Microsoft launched a backup service for Microsoft 365 last year and has partnered with select backup providers including Veeam. Research firm Gartner warns that a dedicated SaaS backup solution remains critical for platforms like M365. In fact, Gartner predicts that by 2028, 75% of enterprises will view backing up SaaS applications as a top priority.
Despite this warning, some system admins still drag their feet on the need to back up their M365 data with a dedicated software -as-a-service (SaaS) backup solution.
In this article, we will come to understand why relying solely on the native capabilities built into Microsoft 365 is risky for the recovery of critical enterprise data.
The Risks of Assuming Microsoft Has You Covered
Microsoft’s Shared Responsibility Model makes it clear they manage platform uptime and infrastructure, but your data’s protection is up to you. Your IT team has to secure critical business information, whether it’s in Microsoft 365 or a data center. Counting solely on Microsoft’s built-in tools could leave you exposed.
Take the M365 recycle bin, for example. Many use it to recover accidental deletions, but it only lasts up to 93 days. If data loss goes unnoticed past that, it’s gone without a backup.
Also, M365’s native backup stays within Microsoft’s ecosystem. This means if their system fails or an admin account is compromised, your backup could be at risk since it’s not isolated outside their cloud. There is also the case that data stored within the Microsoft 365 backup service doesn’t match the 3-2-1 backup rule of three copies, two media types, and one offsite copy.
Compliance is another issue when you have all your M365 data backed up on Microsoft’s backup service. Many industries, like healthcare or finance, require 3-7 year data retention for audits.
While Microsoft offers customizable retention policies, organizations may need to invest in additional solutions or higher-tier subscriptions to back up M365 data beyond standard limits.
How Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Backup Simplifies Data Protection
SaaS backups offer a modern, scalable way to protect your data without the headaches of traditional backups. Here’s how it simplifies things:
No Complex Infrastructure Needed: With SaaS backup, you skip buying, setting up, or maintaining servers and storage. The provider handles it all, like outsourcing the tough stuff. No hardware worries or tech hassles.
Automatic Updates and Centralized Control: SaaS backup keeps everything current with automatic updates, sparing you manual patches or upgrades. You manage backups from a central dashboard which prevents you from having to use multiple tools.
Long-Term Retention: Microsoft 365 prioritizes active use, not permanent storage, and its retention policies depend on your subscription tier. However, a dedicated SaaS backup solution offers more flexibility. Take Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365 — it allows retention for up to 7 years and more, ensuring data control beyond M365’s standard capabilities.
Protection Across All M365 Apps: From Exchange Online emails to SharePoint Online documents, OneDrive for Business files, and Microsoft Teams chats, a SaaS backup solution backs up everything in one go, so you don’t have to piece together different solutions for each app. It’s like a safety net that catches all your M365 data.
Why Choose Veeam for Microsoft 365 Backup?
Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365 is a trusted Microsoft 365 backup solution designed to protect your key M365 applications like Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Teams. It simplifies your backup strategy with enhanced security, backup infrastructure, and unlimited storage in an all-in-one cloud service.
The Veeam SaaS backup platform stands out for its flexibility, scalability, unlimited storage and retention. Unlike several other SaaS backups in the market that start cheap but get pricey as you scale, Veeam provides predictable pricing upfront, and no cost increases for additional storage. Users also have access to a built-in self-service option where they can restore data from their dashboard.
Customers can customize their data retention the way they want, with the option to even set the retention to “forever”. In addition to that, even long after a customer leaves the service, they get to keep accessing their data with a free license.
Veeam’s granular recovery options also make it easy to quickly fix issues. Admins can look up things on a file basis or an item basis. For comparison, Microsoft 365 native backup allows only granular restoration for Exchange Online data.
Veeam takes it a step further with its integration into Microsoft 365 Backup Storage. This new Microsoft service brings high restore speeds for large data volumes, and as a trusted Microsoft partner, Veeam leverages this capability to empower customers with fast ransomware recovery like never before. Organizations can rely on this partnership to uphold business continuity and resilience, even in the most demanding scenarios.
Conclusion
While Microsoft 365 offers some recovery tools, leaning on them alone assumes a level of coverage that just isn’t there. Without a solid backup strategy, your business might just be rolling the dice on data loss, compliance headaches, and recovery gaps that could cost dearly.
That said, businesses need reliable Microsoft 365 Backup to mitigate data loss risks in the M365 environment. Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365 and its integration with Microsoft 365 Backup Storage delivers on that. You can start today by requesting a demo.