How MSPs can benefit from an Office 365 backup tool?

Read time 6 minutes

Small and medium-sized businesses enlist Professional Managed Service Providers to efficiently address their IT infrastructure and end-user system requirements with cost-effective solutions. These providers act on behalf of organizations, ensuring uninterrupted daily operations.

Managed Service Providers overseeing organizational IT resources must recognize the swift shift toward cloud platforms. Microsoft 365, offering services like Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Skype for Business, is increasingly favored by businesses for their daily needs. Managing multiple Office 365 accounts for diverse businesses becomes a challenging task for MSPs.

When the cloud data increases in size or gets old, organizations think of taking backup Office 365 to keep the mailbox data in a secure place. In that case, as their MSP, you will have to find a reliable mechanism to back up the client’s data. In such a situation, there are various challenges for a Managed Service Provider regarding cloud technology, and some of them are here –

1- Skill shortage

MSPs typically serve smaller to medium-sized organizations with constrained budgets for hiring skilled technicians or subscribing to services. However, Microsoft 365, with its complex technicalities, demands expertise in cloud computing. The scarcity of skilled cloud technicians necessitates MSPs to offer cost-effective cloud solutions to clients.

During the migration of on-site IT resources to the cloud, numerous challenges may arise, potentially leading to data corruption. Therefore, MSPs must be well-prepared to address worst-case scenarios during the data migration to the cloud.

When employing a cloud to cloud backup platform, each business’s needs vary, depending on factors such as size, industry, clientele, and budget. Many businesses require diverse services like email management and content management. In such cases, organizations seek an MSP capable of fulfilling all their service requirements, fostering client loyalty and preventing them from switching to multiple service providers for different needs.

Every organization is unique, even within the same industry, necessitating flexibility from MSPs. They should tailor multiple plans to meet each client’s specific needs. Whether clients want to migrate data to the cloud, manage it, or require other services, MSPs must create customized solutions, maintain data, offer suitable services, and provide data restoration when needed.

Every MSP must possess a comprehensive toolkit capable of addressing diverse business requirements at any stage. It’s crucial to employ professional tools when resolving issues to effectively meet the client’s needs. These tools can come from trusted sources or experienced developers.

If you’re responsible for managing an organization’s Office 365 platform with a constant influx of email messages, contacts, notes, attachments, and reports, caution is essential when backing up such data. While manual methods exist, they lack data security guarantees and carry the risk of accidental deletion or corruption.

To save yourself from such difficulties, you can use the Kernel Export Office 365 to PST Tool which is designed to take backup of Microsoft 365 mailboxes and save it in the PST format. This PST file is readily usable in the Outlook application. Here is the complete procedure for taking a backup with the KernelApps backup tool –

1. Install the software and launch it. Click on the Add button to add the Office 365 mailbox.
2. Input the Office 365 credentials and click Add.
   
3. After adding the mailbox, click Set Filter and Migrate button to move ahead.
4. Select among Mailbox, Archive Mailbox, and Public folder which you want to take a backup.
5. In the Filter Selection window, choose the filtering options as required:
   • Select the folders to migrate.
   • Provide a date range to filter items.
   • Select the item types that are to be migrated.
   • Exclude Deleted item folder from migration if needed.
   • Exclude empty folders from the migration if needed.
   • Provide a folder name (to save the data with hierarchy inside a mailbox folder).
   • Select an upper time limit for migration (the migration will be rejected if it exceeds this time limit).
   • Check the box to skip the already exported data.

   Finally click I am OK, Start Migration.
   

6. Select PST as the saving option and click OK.
   
7. Browse and select the destination for the PST file.
   
8. The tool will provide a successful message once the migration is complete. Click OK.
   
9. You can save the migration report by clicking the Save report to CSV option.
   

Conclusion

For MSPs managing multiple businesses, efficiently exporting Office 365 mailboxes to PST using a suitable Office 365 tool is crucial to safeguard essential data. This tool simplifies the process, shielding users from complexities and delivering essential information. It’s a valuable asset for MSPs overseeing their clients’ Office 365 assets, enabling secure data backup in a protected location.