Backup for Microsoft 365

Microsoft does not back up your data from Exchange Online, SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams, the data is only stored and replicated on different servers in different locations. Several servers can fail before data is actually lost. It is not so likely that this will happen. The customer is responsible for backing up the Microsoft 365 environment.

Data is often deleted by mistake, but there are also cases where employees have deleted all their data after a cancellation. The damage can be enormous. Most companies trust their employees, but the first case occurs relatively frequently. One careless click and the files are gone forever. Another risk is hacker attacks, ransomware encrypts data and viruses can delete data. You can protect yourself against this with third-party software that backs up your data at regular intervals.

There are two approaches to backing up your Microsoft 365 data: Cloud-to-Cloud or Cloud-to-onPremise. As you probably know, Microsoft 365 is a SaaS solution from the cloud. With cloud-to-cloud backup, the data is transferred from the Microsoft public cloud to another public cloud of the backup provider and backed up there. As with M365, cloud-to-cloud backup relieves the burden on your own infrastructure and administrators. Updates to the backup infrastructure are installed for you by the backup solution provider.

In contrast to cloud-to-cloud backup is cloud-to-on-prem backup. Here, companies have to take care of the infrastructure and hosting of the backup software themselves. Both solutions have their raison d'être. Companies must decide for themselves which solution is best for them. We provide further information to help you make this decision.

As a Veeam Silver Partner, we could of course say: Use Veeam. That's the best solution for all companies, but that would simply be wrong. Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 is only available as a cloud-to-on-premise solution. For companies that want to back up their data locally, Veeam is a great solution. But for companies that simply don't have the capacity to run the infrastructure, Veeam is not the right solution. For these companies, cloud-to-cloud backup is interesting. AvePoint Cloud Backup is, in our opinion, a good solution for cloud-to-cloud backup. It is relatively easy to set up, no separate infrastructure is required and backups are performed every 6 hours. Licensing is per user. Now to the advantages and disadvantages of the two solutions

The pros and cons of cloud to cloud and cloud to on-premise

Let's first look at the advantages and disadvantages of cloud to on-premise backup

Now that you know the pros and cons of Cloud to OnPremise, let's move on to Cloud to Cloud Backup

Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 is more interesting for larger companies, even if the costs can be higher. Companies can decide for themselves how the data should be backed up and how long it should be stored. In addition, many IT administrators are already familiar with Veeam's other products, which also increases the acceptance of the new software.

Other backup solutions

Of course, there are also other backup providers that you can use to back up your Microsoft 365 services. However, as an IT service provider, we cannot support everything and have opted for two products that we believe work best.

Companies that own a NAS from Synology or QNAP, for example, can also use it to back up Microsoft 365. These backups are better than no backups at all, but our recommendation is definitely for the two products mentioned above.
Synology 's backup software is free of charge, while QNAP 's is subject to a charge.

These solutions can be interesting for very small companies.