Microsoft Office 365 is the go-to productivity application for both personal and business use. From documents to spreadsheets, slides to e-mails—you name it. Office 365 has got you covered. Monthly and yearly subscription to the software also entitles you to a whole package of other productivity software such as calendar, to-do, and cloud storage, among others.
Office 365 also features team productivity applications that are perfect for small and big organizations or businesses alike. The package also works seamlessly with Windows, allowing you to automatically upload or download files from your computer to your OneDrive account, and vice versa.
This is especially ideal if you do not have enough disk space on your computer, or if you want to access your files anytime from any device. If you have never tried Office 365 or any cloud-based business software solutions, do not worry. You only need one account to access all these apps and all the perks they offer.
How is the application helping people?
With remote work being the norm for most companies worldwide due to the coronavirus pandemic, the demand for Office 365 use is inching higher by the day. In fact, Microsoft Teams, a propriety video conference platform of Microsoft, has recorded a whopping 12 million new users in a week when most businesses shifted from office-based to home-based work. Microsoft expects this trend to keep rising as people ease into post-pandemic conditions.
Since Office 365 is packaged with cloud-based storage, and Microsoft has strict privacy and data policies, you might think your Office 365 data is one hundred percent safe and foolproof. However, since only one account is needed to access all your Office 365 apps, this leaves you vulnerable to online security breaches, data breaches, and other malicious attacks. One slight mishap and all your sensitive information across all Office 365 platforms can be at risk.
Ransomware has also become rampant, even causing some businesses to close. Depending on the industry you are in, the size of the organization, and the amount of data held to ransom, you can end up paying thousands, if not millions of dollars to get your data back. Moreover, your data is not just vulnerable to external threats. It is just as vulnerable to internal threats, maybe even more so.
You might even think that since Microsoft has automatic updates, your data is automatically backed up too. However, this might not be the case. It should be noted as well that all cloud-based business solutions have retention policies on deleted data. For Office 365, you have 30 days to recover your email before it is permanently lost. It is as simple as looking for the deleted file in the Deleted folders of Outlook and restoring it. However, once 30 days have elapsed, you will not see any file you have erased as it will be gone forever.
Hence, backing up your Office 365 data using a third-party cloud-storage provider is necessary to keep your files safe, in the event that you get locked out of your Office 365 account, accidentally delete files, or if Office 365 experiences downtime and disruption. Having a backup of your Office 365 is pretty much the same as your actual Office 365 account. You still get access to your account anytime and anywhere on any compatible device.
Other backup services for Office 365
Many third-party providers offer O365 e-mail backup service, which will allow you to access files that are no longer stored in Microsoft data centers. They also provide you with additional storage space to safe keep all versions of your files, including those created by former employees who are no longer under your employment.
Microsoft also deletes all data from deleted users in your business suite after 30 days. Having a separate backup of all your data is also necessary to keep you compliant with certain data and privacy rules and regulations. In some countries, businesses are required to retain data for at least five years.
As many businesses capture and retain a huge amount of data on a daily basis, you cannot afford to have your data lost or compromised. While Microsoft offers a wide range of productivity applications for cloud-based business solutions, the company’s backup tools might not be sufficient to prevent data loss.
The amount you pay for a data protection service subscription is nothing compared to the amount of work wasted and foregone profits in the unlikely event that your business or organization experiences technical disruption and loss of data. You can evade all these unnecessary expenses and losses by simply having your data backed up. Thus, using Office 365 hand in hand with third-party cloud-based solutions will help ensure business continuity and productivity.
