Efficient Ways on How to Perform Microsoft Backup for Office 365 Data

Office 365 is one of the most popular cloud-based services used by millions. However, the necessity of Office 365 creates a need to protect data from the suite. And there are few more effective ways to do that than through backups.

A Microsoft backup is generally considered effective business continuity practice. Moreover, backups ensure businesses never lose their data, so long as they follow the proper data backup practices.

So that begs the question, how do you effectively perform Microsoft backups for Office 365 data? That’s precisely what this guide will focus on. So if you’re interested in that, make sure to continue reading.

The Most Effective Ways to Perform Office 365 Data Backup

Performing data backups prevents data loss and ensures businesses get access to their data at all times. The need to protect data has never been greater than today.

For businesses operating on the Microsoft cloud, this can be done in several ways. Today’s best practice solutions use a combination of native features and third-party tools.

Here are the most effective ways to prevent data loss and ensure businesses have more ways to recover lost data.

The 3–2–1 Method

The 3–2–1 method or rule is well-known in the industry. This method or rule states that businesses must have at least three copies of their data. Furthermore, the rule states that copies should be kept on your server, on an external drive, and off-site.

By doing this, businesses protect themselves by having multiple recovery points. Considering the subject of this guide is Microsoft Office 365, we can use the cloud as one data backup location. For example, we can use OneDrive.

Businesses can use their servers and a designated hard drive for the two remaining data backup locations. The 3–2–1 method is highly effective as it enhances data security, offers multiple recovery options, and ensures data protection.

Use Third-Party Solutions

A third-party solution refers to a piece of software from a backup provider, also called a backup solution.

Third-party backup solutions specialize in data backups and recovery. These are cloud-based solutions that offer cloud storage space for your backups.

These solutions work similarly to one another. However, they differ in how they back up data, the amount of backup storage space, and how they restore data.

However, these solutions all store backups on their own cloud servers, ensuring uptime and access at all times. Third-party backup and data storage solutions will protect your data, present multiple ways to recover data, and can even schedule regular backups.

Use Microsoft Office Native Data Backup Tools

Microsoft Office doesn’t necessarily provide a specialized tool or app for performing data backups. What it does is it offers multiple ways to backup data through a series of native apps and services. One such app is OneDrive.

OneDrive backups are convenient, as they are cloud-based. Whenever you back up data through OneDrive, the backups will remain in the cloud until you decide to move or delete them.

OneDrive isn’t a specialized backup solution but rather a contingency tool. One native app that can back up email data is Outlook. Whenever you back up Outlook data, the files are saved with a .pst extension.

You can use Outlook to back up email data and recover data from .pst files.

Using Outlook to back up email data is considered a “bet backup practice.” Other best backup practices for backing up data using native Office 365 tools include SharePoint Online and Exchange Online.

Remember that these tools aren’t specialized backup solutions. What these tools, apps, and native services offer is the possibility to export your data and recover the backed-up data in case of an emergency.

Why Are Native Apps Not Enough When Performing Microsoft Office Backups?

A lot can be said regarding Microsoft Office and its ability to perform data backups. Simply said, backups aren’t Microsoft’s primary or even secondary responsibility. What Microsoft is responsible for is the ensure uptime across the suite.

So while you can use OneDrive to store previous versions of your backups, it shouldn’t be used as an off-site cloud storage option. Additionally, Outlook can export an entire mailbox, but that’s just about it. There’s no way to export production data from other apps.

This creates a gap in the suite that can only be solved through external means. That’s precisely why you should consider using a third-party backup service.

These services or solutions specialize in data backup and recovery. In addition, they are cloud-based, meaning they can act as OneDrive backup replacements.

Moreover, third-party tools ensure businesses have more ways to back up data and more ways to recover data in case of an emergency.

Conclusion

It’s essential to protect your Office 365 data. Few ways get the job better than putting in place a backup strategy that will ensure data is backed up regularly and in multiple places.

But to do that, you need to automate the process. As luck would have it, the best way to perform Microsoft data backup for Office 365 data is through third-party tools and solutions.