(Questions/Answers)
Just because you use Microsoft Office 365 – a service that automatically handles many different vital tasks according to industry best practices – doesn’t necessarily mean your data is kept under the correct controls for your specific circumstances. That’s why it’s important to double check the way your Microsoft Office 365 backups are set up, and augment them if need be.
Have you put your faith in your Microsoft Office 365 backup without checking that it’s set up right? That doesn’t mean just verifying that backups exist – are they happening as regularly and in the way that best suits your operation? Are you sure you don’t need additional data backup capability?
Answer a question for me…
Are you in complete and total control of your Microsoft Office 365 data? Your first thought it probably, “yes, of course, I do“… but I’d urge you to think twice.
Before going further, let’s clear the air – none of this is necessarily a criticism of Microsoft’s management of Office 365 and its millions of users.
To the contrary, via this service alone, Microsoft does so much for its users. Over the past few years, productivity suites have become more and more popular with businesses of all sizes, in a wide and varied range of industries. It’s the type of solution that has something to offer everyone.
Cloud-based technologies, in general, are changing the way users like you view the capabilities of their technology – especially Microsoft Office 365. As the leading name in cloud business productivity software, Microsoft Office 365 offers a range of services and features designed to help you and your employees do more each day. While you may have heard about Microsoft Word, Excel Skype, etc. – you may not know that Microsoft Office 365 also offers some data backup capabilities as well.
As a cloud-based platform, all of the data you access in Office 365 is backed up to a secure off-site location. This occurs simply by the nature of a cloud solution like Office 365. That being said, Microsoft’s first priority when it comes to management is most certainly the Office 365 infrastructure as well as maintenance of uptime on the user end.
While almost anyone using a computer for work would understand the nature of why backing up your data is important (don’t forget that hard copies are often still filed in triplicate as a contingency), it’s likely you don’t know of each and every application that an effective data backup can have.
At the rate that technology evolves (and how quickly your business’s standard operations and concerned policies are required to keep up with it), it’s no surprise that some businesses find it difficult to keep up with.
When policy development falls behind the pace of adopted technologies, it can often lead to gaps, which can affect data retention. The fact is that Microsoft Office 365 only has limited backup and retention policies, equipped to handle situational data loss – not comprehensive.
Data loss is often the result of poor digital security; without the right defenses, cybercriminals can easily infect an IT system with ransomware or other types of malware and compromise company data.
You may have heard that the right antimalware solution will minimize the chance of data loss, but what about internal threats? It’s not fun to think about, but internal security threats (i.e. malicious employees) can cause just as much damage as external cybercriminals.
A majority of cybersecurity services offered today include the best in vital technologies, from firewalls to anti-malware to data encryption and more. However, as important as this technology is, on its own, it simply isn’t enough. The key to truly comprehensive cybersecurity (and therefore, data protection and data backup) is simple, yet often overlooked: the user. “Set it and forget it” firewalls, antivirus software, and yes, backups, fail to account for how important the user is. Even the most effective data integrity measures can be negated by simple human error, which is why conventional solutions are simply not enough to make sure your data is protected.
Much of data protection is dependent on the user, and as such it’s vital that you properly educate your employees in safe conduct. The more your workforce knows about the security measures you have in place, the more confidently they can use the technology is a secure manner. Human error can be detrimental to data integrity. Without a viable backup, all it takes is one accidental click to delete a file, or one spilled coffee to fry a local hard drive.
When it comes to modern compliance requirements, redundant data backups are critical. You’ll want to make sure you know what’s required of your industry’s compliance regulations, and make sure you have backup methods in place to meet those. The default backup capabilities offered by Microsoft Office 365 may not suffice for the most stringent regulations.
When migrating to Microsoft Office 365, it’s likely that you’ll need a timeframe in which to transition, especially when it comes to bridging the gap between on-premises Exchange Servers and Office 365 Exchange Online. A vital part of this transition is to make sure that you have a backup solution capable of facilitating hybrid email deployments and can see Exchange data (no matter where it’s located, on or off-site) as the same.
The key is in finding the right backup solution to augment Microsoft Office 365’s capabilities. Our recommendation?
Armada Office 365 Backup features include:
Bottom line? With Armada Office 365 Backup shoring up your Office 365 backup capabilities, you can enjoy the convenience of the cloud delivered by Microsoft, without leaving your data at risk.
Like this article? Check out Warning: Foreign Hackers Compromised Citrix Systems , Inside The Anatomy Of The Human Firewall or How Do You Measure Your Company’s Cybersecurity Effectiveness? to learn more.
