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Recently, one of our clients suffered from a dangerous ransomware attack. All of their tenants got locked, and there was no way to access them. Luckily, our team of MSPs had a backup of a few of their tenants, with which we helped them recover those tenants then and there. However, they lost important data from the remaining tenants. Ever since then, our team has made it compulsory to take regular backups of all the data at a safe location.
If you are a Managed Service Provider, then you must be aware how important it is to set up Office 365 backup for MSP clients to keep the workflow going. Knowing the benefits of Office 365 MSP management not only protects the data of the client, but it also builds trust with the clients. Get to know the best benefits of Office 365 backup for MSPs, why native Microsoft features aren’t enough, and how to integrate Office 365 backup with other MSP services.
Why Native Microsoft 365 Features Are Not Enough?
Many MSPs incorrectly assume that native Microsoft 365 features like retention and Point-in-Time recovery work as backups. This is not true, and we’ve explained this below:
- Short-term data retention: Retention policies of Office 365 allows short-term data retention and deleted items are usually permanently deleted after the 30-90 days window.
- No protection against human error: While there’s a chance of recovery in case of accidental deletion, chances of data recovery become negligible in case of permanent deletion and data encryption due to malicious threats.
- Issues with retention policies: Misconfigured retention policies may not comply with regulatory requirements and even cause data loss.
Benefits of Office 365 Backup Solutions for MSPs (Managed Service Providers)
Office 365 backup solutions for Managed Service Providers protect essential data from cyberthreats and make sure that productivity and business continuity is unhindered. These solutions also provide important revenue streams for organizations while complying with the standards and regulations. Other benefits for opting backup solutions include:
- Better data security: Reliable backup solutions also offer strong encryption options to protect against data breaches.
- Uninterrupted productivity: Having backup solutions in place, MSPs can recover client’s data instantly in case of a ransomware attack or a phishing attempt. This reduces downtime and allows users to resume work quickly.
- Complying with industry standards: Many industries like healthcare and defense have strict laws for data retention and protection. With proper backup solutions, MSPs can make sure that their clients comply with the industry standards like HIPAA, GDPR, etc.
- Scalability: Advanced backup solutions are flexible and scalable to meet the growing demands of the clients without requiring any significant investments.
Integrating Office 365 Backup with Existing MSP Services
Managed Service Providers often struggle with Office 365 backup because they think it’s an entirely different product. For better workflow and productivity, it’s wise to integrate backup with your regular MSP services like cloud services, 24/7 monitoring, cybersecurity, etc. MSPs can present it as an essential security component at the time of onboarding process. Choosing the right Office 365 Backup solution is essential so that it can work perfectly with the existing MSP services. Some criteria and parameters that you should consider are:
- It should work smoothly with other Microsoft 365 components like OneDrive, Teams, Exchange, etc.
- It should have granular restore options.
- The backup solution must have eDiscovery capability.
- It should comply with industry standards like HIPAA and GDPR.
Some Challenges for Managed Service Provider
1. Skill Shortage
Generally, the MSPs provide their service to smaller or medium-sized organizations that require only limited financial resources to hire skillful technicians or subscribe to services. On the other hand, Microsoft 365 is a vast platform involving many technicalities. And there is a significant shortage of technicians skilled in cloud computing platforms. So, MSPs have to provide affordable cloud services to their clients.
2. Migration of Data to the Cloud
While migrating the onsite IT resources to the cloud, many challenges can affect the process and corrupt the data. So, the MSP must be prepared to deal with the worst situations while migrating data to the cloud.
3. Managing Multiple Services
While using the cloud to cloud backup platform, every business has different requirements based on size, industry, clientele, and finances. Also, they may require multiple services like emailing, content management, etc. That’s when organizations require an MSP which fits all their needs of providing numerous services. And the clients stick with them and avoid going to another service provider for a different service.
4. Understanding the Client’s Needs
Each firm is different from others, even if they work in the same domain, so the MSP must be flexible with their services to create multiple plans for each client and fulfill their needs. If they want to put their data on the cloud and manage it, then the MSP needs to create a migration plan, maintain their data, provide appropriate service, and restore it when required.
How an Advanced Backup Solution Can Help with Office 365 MSP Management
Every MSP should have adequate tools to take required action at any stage according to the business requirement. While solving an issue, the MSP should take care of using professional tools to fulfill the need of the client’s business. These tools may be freely available from reliable sources or experienced developers.
If you are managing Office 365 platform, and there is a constant flow of email messages, contacts, notes, attachments, and reports, you need to take precautions throughout. Although there are some manual methods you can use to take a backup, they do not guarantee the security of data, and a single misstep can either delete or corrupt the data.
To save yourself from such difficulties, use a professional Office 365 Backup tool. Kernel Office 365 Backup and Restore tool is designed to take backup of Microsoft 365 mailbox data like emails, contacts, calendars, notes, etc. and save them in the PST format. Manage large sized mailboxes easily with the incremental backup feature by skipping already migrated data. Take a backup of all Microsoft 365, On-Premises Exchange, and Hosted Exchange mailbox items without disrupting the folder hierarchy of the mailboxes.
Final Thoughts
Office 365 backup for MSPs is important because Microsoft operates on a Shared responsibility mode, meaning you need to protect your data against data loss. Choosing the right backup solution allows MSPs to perform automated backups, granular restoration, multi-tenant backup, and ransomware protection, while generating high revenue. If you are an MSP working for multiple businesses, you can export Office 365 to PST using an appropriate Office 365 backup tool to save all the essential data.
People Also Ask
A. No it doesn’t. As per the Shared responsibility model, it is user’s responsibility to backup their data to a safe location. Although Microsoft offers short term retention plans, there’s no solution for long-term backup plans.
A. MSP clients can face significant data loss and disrupted productivity if they don’t have a backup of their Office 365 data. In scenarios like accidental deletion, retention gaps, cyberattacks, or network crash, it’s impossible to access the stored data and backup is always helpful.
A. Certain parameters that you should consider include, compatibility with Microsoft 365 services, granular recovery, compliance with regulatory standards, OneDrive support, etc. Kernel Office 365 Backup and Restore is the best backup tool for MSP Office 365 that meets these parameters.
