12-27-21 | Blog Post

Why Microsoft 365 Backup is Essential for Your Remote Workers

Blog Posts

Business is changing, and organizations across the globe are spreading out with more and more employees transitioning into remote, work from home positions. Apart from introducing new software for better communication for teams and management, this new work model may not have much of an effect on the existing software that companies use to aid in productivity – but it has a significant impact on the security of their data. Organizations that utilize the powerful tools of Microsoft 365 have a critical need for Microsoft 365 backup solutions to ensure that their data is protected at all costs.

The trouble is, a lot of businesses don’t think that they need a third party to manage their Microsoft 365 backup. There is a misconception that Microsoft offers protection against data that is stolen or deleted, either accidentally or by someone with ill intent – but this is not the case, and a 2019 survey found that 60% of participants (small and medium-sized businesses) had had their data either lost or stolen in the previous 12 months. A whopping 39% of them didn’t have any sort of incident response plan to deal with breaches or attacks on their data at all. The bottom line is that without backup, your organization’s data is at risk for multiple reasons, and an incident could cost your business more than just money.

Critical Reasons to Backup Microsoft 365

Ensuring that your Microsoft 365 backup is in the right hands is essential to the security of your data, and determines whether your business can continue with normal operation while your teams are at home or abroad. Businesses that don’t take their Microsoft 365 backup seriously become prone to a number of potentially damaging scenarios.

1. Internal Security Threats

There’s a reason why security guards often monitor the exit of disgruntled ex-employees, but what about disgruntled employees who are still employed and flying under the radar? Internal security threats are a problem faced by numerous organizations and can be catastrophic when an insider with malicious intent gets a hold of important or sensitive data. Security companies like Otava Microsoft 365 backup protection that prevents the loss of this data and can ensure that there is zero downtime in the process. With full encryption, disaster recovery, and cloud protection services, your Microsoft 365 backup data can remain safe and available to the right people at all times.

2. Accidental Deletion

Deleting users and other information accidentally can result in significant downtime for employees as well as critical data loss. It’s important to remember that when this happens, cloud storage solutions such as OneDrive aren’t enough – deleting files from cloud storage removes them from all synced devices and networks, meaning that once they’re gone, they’re gone for good. Though some might say that accidental deletion of Microsoft 365 users may be less common as Microsoft requires confirmation before deleting, but it can and does still happen within many organizations.

Varonis published a 2019 Global Data Risk Report in which they state that the average organization only protects 78% of their folders, meaning that 22% can be accessed by anyone in the company. This leaves a lot of room for error, especially for larger organizations with copious amounts of data. But with proper Microsoft 365 backup you can revert changes quickly to retrieve lost data or reinstate user accounts that were removed by mistake. Emails, OneDrive data, etc. can all be accessed the moment they are deleted giving you and your administration team peace of mind.

3. External Security Threats

Even with proper employee training, phishing attempts are bound to be successful in some cases, and this opens a door for hackers to infiltrate and disrupt data within your organization. Hackers can use these attempts to capture employee login credentials for VPNs, email accounts, and more, and then install malicious programs such as ransomware to squeeze funds from your business. When you implement a secure Microsoft 365 backup system you’ll have uninfected copies of your data that you can access and recover with zero downtime.

4. Legal and Compliance Requirements

As a business, you want to know that your data will be there when you need it, and especially when you need it to show proof of compliance or for other legal inquiries. Without a backup, and if a breach occurs, you’ll be left without the resources that you need to deal with legal matters promptly. This can have a catastrophic effect on your business as costs soar and legal action prevails. Taking the initiative to have a Microsoft 365 backup system in place ensures that you won’t have files missing when you need to pull information quickly.

5. Managing Hybrid Email Deployments and Migrations

Backups are essential for any migration process and serve as a safety net should any data be lost during the transition. In the case of staged migration where new Outlook profiles need to be created for each user, the absence of a Microsoft 365 backup could destroy the entire process. Even with Exchange Hybrid migration where the coexistence between on-premises mailboxes and newly migrated cloud mailboxes is much more robust, backups are important to maintain in the event that something goes awry. A solid Microsoft 365 backup removes the potential for high-level problems within your business during hybrid email deployment and migration processes and ensures that you’ll always have a protected copy of your data.

6. Retention Policy Gaps and Confusion

Microsoft doesn’t offer backup services outside of SharePoint, meaning that all data – mailbox data included – can be lost without the ability to recover it. This can result in significant downtime for employees and management teams as they scramble to make sense of what is left over after an incident. Utilizing third-party solutions such as the Microsoft 365 backup from Otava enables organizations to roll back to an earlier time before the incident occurred with all data protected and available. This means zero downtime and zero data loss.

Microsoft 365 Backup From Otava

Our backup solution is powered by Veeam and eliminates your risk of losing access to your Microsoft 365 data. This includes protection for Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business so that you can focus on more important issues besides security threats and retention policy gaps. The OTAVA Microsoft 365 backup solution provides your organization with full coverage, meaning that regardless of what might happen – whether accidental, external, or an inside job – your data is always available and always secure with industry-leading protection.

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