Tricks and tools to prevent data loss in Office 365- Valutrics

Many companies have gaps in their DR plans; an inability to restore data from a specific point of time can lead to risks. While Microsoft offers service-level agreements of 99.9%, Office 365 has limited capabilities around backups — even though some suggest that on-hold features and retention or preservation policies can prevent data loss in Office 365. These options, however, are limited and do not offer easy ways to recover or restore data.

There are several tools on the market – based both in the cloud and on premises — for Office 365 data protection and DR, including SkyKick, Datto, Spanning and AvePoint. These tools offer automated backup of emails, calendars, OneDrive and, in some cases, SharePoint site collections — without the need for any on-premises infrastructure.

Many of the third-party tools can help IT address some of their backup needs around the Office 365 workloads — email, SharePoint and OneDrive. Admins can be confident that some of their digital assets are protected and that their DR plans are complete. But, in reality, as more users expand into other Office 365 services — such as Planner, Office Groups, PowerApps and Flow — Microsoft or other third-party tools need to play catch-up to protect data stored in those services. Currently, those services don’t offer any backup methods.

When evaluating Office 365, plan for Office 365 backups and implement them immediately after going live. Skipping that step would lead to serious risks and an incomplete DR plan. Those organizations that make the switch without the use of backup services put themselves at risk for data loss in Office 365.