Microsoft 365: Who's Responsible for Your Data?

Microsoft 365: A Service, Not a Backup

#

Microsoft 365 is now the go-to platform for modern businesses: Outlook for email, OneDrive for storage, SharePoint and Teams for collaboration—it covers everything.

But here’s a common misconception: Microsoft automatically backs up your data.

In reality, you are responsible for your own data.

What Microsoft Guarantees (and What It Doesn’t)

#

Microsoft provides high service availability (99.9% SLA) and infrastructure resilience.
However, when it comes to data loss due to deletion, ransomware, corruption, or the need for long-term recovery, the limitations are clear:

• Email trash retention is only 30 days
• SharePoint and OneDrive have limited versioning (up to 93 days)
• No granular restore guarantees (e.g. a specific email or file version)

In short: this is not a real backup—it’s short-term retention at best.

Why You Need a Third-Party Backup

#

A dedicated Microsoft 365 backup solution gives you:

• 🔁 Automatic backup of Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams…
• ♻️ Long-term data retention (6 months, 1 year, or more)
• 🔍 Granular restore of a single file, message, or full site
• 📄 Compliance-ready reports (GDPR, ISO, audits…)

How to Back Up Microsoft 365 Properly

#

Professional tools exist to meet this need, for businesses of all sizes:

• Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365
• Acronis Cyber Protect
• SkyKick, AvePoint, and others

These tools integrate quickly, with minimal user disruption, and ensure fast recovery when needed.

Data Protection Is Business Protection

#

A proper backup strategy is not optional—it’s insurance.

Accidental deletion, malicious intent, or even a simple sync error should never put your company’s data at risk.

Need Help?

#

You can outsource the setup, monitoring, and maintenance of your backup system to a trusted IT provider.
This gives you peace of mind and allows you to focus on your core business.

For more information or an audit of your environment, feel free to reach out.