Businesses have increasingly turned to cloud services. Cloud services can make things more convenient by shifting back-end maintenance to the vendor. Plus, moving more critical systems to software-as-a-service (SaaS) can reduce costs compared to purchasing on-premises hardware.

One of the biggest players in this space is Microsoft®. More and more businesses are using the cloud-based Microsoft 365™ (formerly Office 365®). Microsoft 365 encompasses a full suite of tools, giving you a bundle for email, data storage, and productivity tools, to name just a few.

However, when it comes to the retention and recoverability of Microsoft 365 data, you’ll want a backup.

The risk is real. Research shows that more than 30 percent of businesses have lost data stored in SaaS applications.¹

32% of businesses lost data stored in SaaS applications¹

76% of IT leaders predict remote and hybrid working will make Microsoft 365 data loss more likely²

$4.24 million USD is the average cost of a data breach³

Why should you back up Microsoft 365 data? Why isn’t Microsoft 365 enough on its own?

Accidental deletion

It happens. A user sits down and accidentally deletes a folder with critical documents in it. It could occur for any number of reasons—the person doesn’t realize the contents within a folder are shared with others or they may have nested folders within others. Perhaps they decide to delete old emails, not realizing one day they’ll need critical information from months or even years ago.

In addition, in the Business Standard edition, the recycle bin deletes once every 14 days by default, although the administrator can set it to 30 days. If someone deletes information and it isn’t caught quickly, they may be unable to retrieve the information. Having a supplemental backup in place can help you prevent these issues and save your customers from huge problems down the line.

Retention gaps

Microsoft retains email data as long as the user is active. But let’s face it—many people won’t want to continue paying for a subscription after an employee leaves or is let go. This could lead to the company losing important information or intellectual property stored within email.

Of course, you can always share mailboxes before an employee leaves. However, this can get complicated as it relies on communication that an employee is leaving and is prone to error. Why take a chance? Cove Data Protection retains Microsoft 365 Exchange data for seven years so you don’t have to worry about missing data when an employee walks out the door. Insider threats We all want to assume people have the best of intentions. And most employees are on the level. However, sometimes even good employees can turn bad. For instance, someone may get mad at their employer for a bad review and decide to delete critical data in retaliation. If they do it and quietly wait out the 14- or 30-day retention period (assuming the company uses the Business Standard edition), that data will be gone for good. Sabotage may be rare but it’s a risk for which you should account. Having a secondary backup in place on behalf of your clients can help prevent this risk from becoming a reality.

Insider threats

We all want to assume people have the best of intentions. And most employees are on the level. However, sometimes even good employees can turn bad. For instance, someone may get mad at their employer for a bad review and decide to delete critical data in retaliation. If they do it and quietly wait out the 14- or 30-day retention period (assuming the company uses the Business Standard edition), that data will be gone for good. Sabotage may be rare but it’s a risk for which you should account. Having a secondary backup in place on behalf of your clients can help prevent this risk from becoming a reality.

External threats

Of course, malicious insiders aren’t the only threat—outsider threats are common as well. Weak passwords in particular could lead to real challenges. For example, your end users may reuse passwords across accounts. If they use a username and password combo that has been breached before, then criminals may be able to find a match and break into an employee’s Microsoft 365 account and steal or delete data. Another possibility involves spreading keylogging malware on someone’s computer, then figuring out which keystrokes were usernames and passwords. Either way, passwords can be a weak link that lets people break into Microsoft 365 accounts. Cloud-based apps like Microsoft 365 are high-value targets for cybercriminals. Finding ways to take over user accounts or victimize users can be a lucrative goal for cybercriminals. Whether phishing attacks aimed to push malware or account takeovers via stolen or hacked customer credentials, cybercriminals increasingly target users of cloud services. For that reason, having a strong backup is crucial for protecting their data.

Legal and compliance reasons

As you’re probably aware, many compliance regulations set rules around the amount of time you have to retain data. For example, companies in the healthcare industry may have specific data retention requirements. Without a backup, you may unintentionally be in violation of these policies and fail to meet important requirements.

Customer experience

Part of your job involves providing an excellent experience for your customers. They come to you to fix all things IT—you want to make sure you can provide that near one-stop shop for them as much as you can. By having your own backup, you have greater control over recovery in the event of a data loss incident. Beyond that, you can offer customers greater peace of mind. Data loss can be catastrophic for businesses whether it’s loss of customer information, financial data, or important intellectual property. By running your own backup, you’re offering customers a greater assurance you’ll stand as their business partner, ready to prevent data loss and its fallout.

Cost savings

There are plenty of reasons why someone may want to go beyond the Business Standard edition of Microsoft 365, including gaining more features and applications. However, many businesses may want to keep costs low and stick with the Business Standard edition. By adding Cove Data Protection, you can offer your customers the benefit of additional data protection and long- term retention for Microsoft 365 data if budget is a concern.

Learn more about how SOURCE POINT Backup Solutions can help by visiting www.sourcepointmsp.com

¹ “The Hidden Dangers of Your Cloud Data,” Jacksonville Business Journals. bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2021/06/01/the-hiddendangers-of-your-cloud-data.html (Accessed August 2021).

² “An Alarming 85% of Organizations Using Microsoft 365 Have Suffered Email Data Breaches Research by Egress Reveals,” Business Wire. businesswire.com/news/home/20210511005132/en/An-Alarming-85-of-Organizations-Using-Microsoft-365-Have-Suffered-EmailData-Breaches-Research-by-Egress-Reveals (Accessed August 2021).

³ “2021 Cost of a Data Breach Report,” IBM and Ponemon Institute. ibm.com/security/data-breach (Accessed August 2021).