Protecting your Microsoft 365 Data with Datto SaaS Protection
Q&A with Welcomm Expert
By Kirsten Evans
Now that your staff are working remotely by harnessing the power of Microsoft 365, it’s crucial that your business is taking every step necessary to ensure your documents and files are protected, secure, and most importantly, backed up.
Solutions Sales Consultant and resident Microsoft Wizard Kirsten Evans answers some of the most common questions she hears from customers surrounding protection for Microsoft 365.
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Do I need to back up my 365 data? Don’t Microsoft do that?
This is probably the question I get asked more than any other when discussing Microsoft 365, and the answer is an emphatic YES!
If you delve into Microsoft service descriptions, you will find a section on ‘ensuring data availability’. Availability is the key word here. Microsoft have invested in several layers of redundancy, preventative maintenance schedules and monitoring alert systems – The likes of which even most enterprise IT teams could only dream of having the budget for. This is one of the reasons it is such a great product for SME’s, which we continue to recommend to our customers.
Sounds great, right? But there’s one key section to be aware of here:
“We strongly advise you to make regular back-up copies of Your Content.
Microsoft can’t be held responsible for Your Content or the material others upload, store or share using our Services.”
Essentially, what this means for you, is that while Microsoft will move heaven and earth to make sure their platform is available and your data is accessible, if that data is lost for any reason (a malware attack or accidental deletion etc.) they are in no way responsible to help you get it back. You’re on your own.
30 Day Data Retention
‘When you remove a license, all that user’s data is held for 30 days. You can access the data, or restore the account if the user comes back. After 30 days, all the user’s data (except for documents stored on SharePoint Online) is permanently deleted from Microsoft 365 and can’t be recovered’
EU GDPR
‘Any personal data (including that of your employees) should be processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures’
Information Commissioner’s Office
‘Personal data must remain accessible and usable, ie, if personal data is accidentally lost, altered or destroyed, you should be able to recover it and therefore prevent any damage or distress to the individuals concerned.’
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It looks like I need a backup solution then – what should I choose?
Our recommendation for businesses of all sizes looking to backup their Microsoft 365 data is Datto SaaS protection. More than a simple backup software, Datto SaaS protection is a true disaster recovery solution – delivered, managed and supported by your friendly neighbourhood Managed Service Provider (that’s us by the way)!
We recommend it as part of all our support agreements. The fact that it is designed for MSPs means we can simply tailor the solution to our individual customers requirements and schedules, while still managing everything centrally. This means that we can say with confidence that your M365 data is secure. No ‘ifs’ ‘buts’ or ‘maybe’s’
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What makes Datto different?
To maintain a secure and compliant business environment, Datto SaaS Protection doesn’t just backup your data, it enables you to save money and effort by preserving inactive Microsoft 365 users for as long as you need them. By reducing time spent on backups, your team can focus on strategic initiatives that drive growth for your business.
Implementing an effective business continuity strategy, including data backup, can help alleviate pressure and aid with data compliance. SaaS Protection backs up data in line with GDPR and Service Organisation Control (SOC 1/ SSAE 16 and SOC 2) reporting standards. It enables you to specify how long records should be maintained.
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Why Welcomm?
Customer Centric Attitude and Action
Our staff are dedicated and continuously measured on how well they look after our customers
Proactive Account Management
We use intelligent insights into our customer accounts to make recommendations designed to maximise spend and minimise bill shocks
Flexible and Scalable Solutions
Due to our size, we are able to adapt to different customers, industries and requirements quickly. Our diverse portfolio of bespoke solutions can be tailored to business needs
Specialist Support Teams
Staff receive regular, specialist training to follow bespoke Service Level Agreements agreed with our customers
Agility
Welcomm act directly upon feedback to better support our customers
Accountability
There’s always someone available to help our customers and stringent network escalation processes in place
