So, you’ve moved to the Cloud. Working remotely has never been easier, with collaboration and productivity at an all time high. If your organisation is using Office 365 or Microsoft 365, like millions of businesses across the world, we know you’re feeling the benefits. Increased productivity, reduced costs, access to company data anywhere in the world and greater flexibility for staff. What’s not to like?
But when an organisation move to the Cloud, they don’t always think about backups. If data is in the Cloud, it is backed up, but Microsoft can only guarantee 90% of your data for 30 days. And data loss can happen – we’ll be looking at the top 5 causes of data loss in the Cloud – and why you need to back up your Microsoft 365.
Reasons for a Microsoft 365 Backup Solution
1. Human Error
Here’s a scenario. You’re working on an important document, making a considerable number of additions and deletions. Then, for whatever reason, you realise you need to start over. As you’re closing the document to reopen it, you accidentally hit save instead of cancel. When you reopen the document, you see the changes you’ve just made and realise you need to start over.
If you’re using the AutoSave feature in Microsoft 365 applications, then you can roll back to a previous version. But if it’s turned off, then there’s no way of restoring a previous version. With a Cloud backup solution, you can recover your original file in minutes.
2. Cybercrime
Cybercrime is on the rise. With most of the UK workforce working from home, there’s been an increase in phishing scams related to the COVID-19 pandemic. If there’s not been an attack on your organisation, or an attempted attack, it’s only a matter of time. What happens if someone in your organisation clicks on a malicious link or in an email? Chances are files are encrypted and there’s a ransom demand.
Without suitable backups in place, there’s no guarantee of file recovery. And even if files can be recovered, it could take a considerable amount of time. If your files are backed up to the Cloud, they can be recovered as if the cyber attack never took place.
3. When Employees Leave
Employees leave companies all the time. In many cases, when they leave their Microsoft 365 account is deactivated. But some time later, you discover that you need to retrieve an important email or document from their account. Under normal circumstances, files from a deactivated account are held for 30 days before deletion. If you’re beyond that 30 day period, they can’t be accessed.
You could encourage staff to save files to a personal folder in a shared area like SharePoint. Files would be untouched, but this wouldn’t help with access to emails. That’s where a Cloud backup solution comes into its own – you can recover all files in minutes, and even search backups at a granular level.
4. Employees Gone Rogue
You trust your staff with company data, and in most cases, your trust is well placed. An employee could maliciously delete a selection of files, and you may not realise until after they’ve left the company. There could be any reason for them doing this – but you want to be sure that if anything like this happens in your organisation, it won’t do serious damage.
If any files are deleted, maliciously or not, they can be easily recovered with a Microsoft 365 backup. As if the deletion never happened.
5. App Issues
Apps can be incredibly useful. Apps can, however, start to misbehave and be unpredictable. One of the most common causes of data loss in the Cloud is third-party software overwriting data. It can happen to any business, at any time. Like the other causes of data loss, there’s no guarantee the data can be recovered under normal circumstances.
Cloud backups can recover any data that has been overwritten. This is particularly useful for mishaps out of your control.
Backup Microsoft 365
You shouldn’t have to worry about data loss. Accidents can happen at any time, so its good to know that there’s always a way to access important data quickly and easily. If you’re concerned about data loss in your organisation, get in touch with ACUTEC today.
