Office 365 Backup Best Practices to Safeguard Business Data
Summary: Protect your Office 365 data from cyberattacks and accidental deletion. This post will explore Office 365 backup best practices that organizations and individuals should follow to protect their data. Also, we will highlight Microsoft security policies & the need for a secure backup channel. So, let’s begin the post.
Office 365 is a leading productivity suite for business communication & team collaboration. It offers robust features & security measures but does not provide any backup & recovery option.
The Service Level Agreement for Office 365 mentions that Microsoft is responsible for data availability & protection for its data center infrastructure. The company is not responsible for the recovery of your data.
Microsoft recommends that you should frequently back up your data to the native format. In the coming section, we will cover the Microsoft 365 backup best practices to protect your online data.
List of Office 365 backup Best Practices that we will discuss throughout the post…
Why are Microsoft 365 Backup Best Practices Required?
There are multiple benefits to having a solid Office 365 backup strategy. Some of them are mentioned below:
- Protection Against Data Loss: Data loss in Microsoft 365 is real, and there is no scope for data recovery in case of accidental deletion, human error, or miscellaneous activities. With an M365 backup plan, you can easily overcome challenges.
- Compliance & Legal Requirement: Many companies have to comply with legal and regulatory policies. An Office 365 backup ensures meeting the compliance requirement for the necessary periods.
- External & Internal Security Threats: A business would face multiple internal and external security threats when using M365 services. The external danger includes ransomware attacks; an active backup plan is beneficial to mitigate the challenges.
Businesses should have a robust backup strategy for Office 365 for these reasons. Let’s check out the factors to create a checklist for Microsoft 365 backup best practices.
The Ultimate Checklist for Office 365 Backup Best Practices
Having an Office 365 Backup offers numerous benefits & helps individuals & businesses safeguard their critical data & ensure business continuity. Here is a quick list of the Microsoft 365 backup best practices to ensure your data remains safe and recoverable in every situation.
- Frequently Backup Office 365 Emails
- Optimize Retention Policy Settings
- Follow the 3-2-1 Backup Rule
- Educate End User
- Implement Versioning for Data Protection
- Use Software to Backup & Restore M365 Data
- Automate M365 Backup Practice with Cloud Solutions
Experts for Office 365 backup best practices curate the above checklist. Let’s check them out to add more protection to your data.
This is the expert-curated checklist for M365 backup practices. Let’s check them out to add more protection to your data.
#1) Frequently Backup Office 365 Emails
Microsoft says in its service level agreement: “We recommend that you regularly backup the data you store in the service. We are not responsible for any interruption or loss you may suffer. It is also mentioned that in the event of an outage, you may not be able to retrieve the content you have stored.”
Note: Visit to Read Microsoft Agreement – Point Number 6
Now, you must be aware of the security of your data. Microsoft offers eDiscovery mode, Content Search, and Powershell to back up your mailbox, Teams, SharePoint, and Groups data. However, these methods require technical expertise for a safe and trouble-free backup.
Microsoft recommends using third-party solutions from trusted sources, i.e., DataForensics. To explore the offering, visit O365 Backup Best Practices #6 and protect your data.
#2) Optimize Retention Policy Settings
The retention policy in M365 allows you to define how long your data will be stored on the server before it gets permanently deleted. Retention policies are helpful for companies to retain employee data to meet legal and compliance requirements.
The retention policy can be set for a maximum of 7 years. Businesses can define the duration of time to retain specific data, including emails, documents, and other items. Management of retention policies is done through the Office 365 Security & Compliance Center, depending on your subscription plan.
#3) Follow 3-2-1 Backup Rule
It is the most common Office 365 backup best practices and works with the general rule of thumb that your business should make three replicas of your Mailbox data. The 2 data copies will be stored in different locations, and one will be kept offline.
The 3-2-1 backup rule is effective and ensures that your data is accessible in any situation, but it also has some significant limitations. It is a time-consuming process to create three replicas of your data and requires more storage space. The probability of duplication is higher in this strategy.
#4) Educate End User
An organization’s responsibility is to educate its employees about data security and the outside threats to organizational data. The first step towards the security of your data is to protect it to aware employees of the importance of data backup.
Make them realize that they are the security asset of the organization since they can use Office 365 accounts on any device and operating system. Users are responsible for protecting their mailbox data with frequent data backups.
It doesn’t end here. You must check the activities and ensure all employees are on the same page. The implementation of the action plan is critical and necessary.
#5) Enable Versioning
The versioning in Office 365 is a feature of Sharepoint online, allowing businesses to track changes when the document is updated or edited. It stores all the historical data made to the record over time.
Steps to Enable Versioning in SharePoint
- Sign in to Sharepoint Online.
- Now, open the document library.
- Next, click on the Gear Icon >> Library Settings.
- Now, go to General Settings & Configure Versioning Settings.
- Once done, click Save to Enable Versioning in SharePoint.
Note: Once you enable the versioning in SharePoint. Make sure you have an adequate amount of storage in Office 365 before storing versions.
#6) Use Software to Backup & Restore M365 Data
The above Office 365 backup best practices are not helpful if you want a complete backup of your M365 account adequately. That’s why you need an automated solution that offers incremental backup & quick restore options.
Our recommendation for users is to go with Office 365 Email Backup Tool. This automated program allows you to back up specific & entire mailbox data from Office 365. In addition, the software provides the backup & restoration of Office 365 data with Emails, Contacts, Calendars, and Documents.
The solution offers a date range feature for selective backup with a concurrent feature to speed up the backup process. The compatibility of the application is with all editions of Windows OS. A dedicated support team is available that assists users with proper guidance to save their data securely.
#7) Automate M365 Backup Process with DataForensics
DataForensics Software offers one of the best backup practices for Office 365 emails. It also provides a cloud-based solution, i.e., Email Archiving Solution, that helps businesses automate the backup process.
The prime functionality of the key is to provide you with long-term data retention for the user mailbox. In addition, you can set the archive frequency of data.
The solution works with all standard-based email services, including Office 365, and helps to back up internal, incoming, and external emails. All the user mailbox data is encrypted with military-grade-based standards.
In addition, the solution offers you complete archive management with an easy retrieval option. One can easily retrieve data from the backup solution using advanced data filters. Connect with our support executive via live chat, email support & voice call to explore more about this solution.
Why Traditional Office 365 Backup Best Practices Aren’t Enough?
When organizations look for backup options, most are tempted to choose a traditional approach to backing up their data. However, companies require robust security solutions to meet today’s data security needs. Let’s explore why traditional Microsoft 365 backup best practices aren’t enough.
- Time-Consuming: The manual way to back up Office 365 is technical and time-consuming and requires administrator permission to export data files. In addition, the duration of the backup depends on the volume of the data.
- PST Corruption: Using the traditional Office 365 backup best practices might lead to PST corruption because of large-size files.
- Complicated Procedure: The traditional approach to backup & restore Office 365 is complex and requires technical expertise to complete the process without any failure.
- Network Dependency: Users have to depend upon the Microsoft Network to export data from Office 365 using eDiscovery mode.
Questions? We Have Answers!
Q) What are the Top Office 365 Backup Practices?
- Educate End User
- Follow the 3-2-1 Backup Rule
- Optimize Retention Policy Settings
- Use Software to Backup & Restore M365 Data
Q) How does Office 365 Backup mitigate the risk of data loss?
Having a storage backup channel helps you to mitigate the risk of accidental deletion, server outages & malicious activities.
Q) What are the consequences of neglecting Office 365 Backup?
The following are consequences in the absence of an M365 backup plan:
- Permanent Data Loss
- Extended Downtime
- Higher Recovery Costs
It’s recommend to use O365 backup best practices to avoid data losses & down time.
Q) What is a 3-2-1 Backup Strategy for Office 365?
This backup strategy suggests that you should have 3 copies of data. Where 2 copies need to be stored on a different server, and 1 copy needs to be kept offline.
Concluding Words
The risk of data loss when using any mail platform is available, whether it’s an accidental deletion or an external security threat. This post highlights Office 365 backup best practices to protect your data. However, with the traditional checklist, users need to follow several technical steps to backup and restore their data on M365. We recommend using DataForensics solutions or their newly released email archiving solution, which automates the entire process. Connect with our support team and protect your data against phishing and ransomware attacks.