Microsoft 365 Backup
An Independent Copy of Your Microsoft 365 Data
Microsoft keeps Microsoft 365 running, but protecting your data from deletion and attack is largely your responsibility. We back up your email, files and Teams data to a separate service, so you can get it back when something goes wrong.
What is Microsoft 365 Backup?
Microsoft 365 is built to keep the service available: if part of Microsoft's infrastructure has a problem, your email keeps working. Protecting your own data from accidental deletion, ransomware or a compromised account is a different job, and much of that responsibility sits with you as the customer.
Microsoft 365 does include recycle bins, version history and retention settings. They are useful, but they aren't designed to be a complete, independent backup. Deleted items expire, retention has to be set up deliberately, and everything still sits inside the same Microsoft 365 tenant (your organisation's account) as the data it protects.
Microsoft 365 Backup copies your mailboxes, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams data to a separate, third-party backup service. If something is lost, we restore it, from a single email to a whole mailbox or site.
Key benefits
- A copy of your Microsoft 365 data held outside your tenant
- Email, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams data covered in one service
- Restore a single item, a folder, or a whole mailbox or site
- Backups kept for the retention period you choose
- Restores handled by the team that manages your Microsoft 365
How does it work?
A third-party backup service connects to your Microsoft 365 tenant using permissions you approve, then copies your data to separate storage on a regular schedule. Backups run automatically, and we check the results.
Agree scope and retention
We confirm which users, shared mailboxes, SharePoint sites and Teams to protect, and how long backups should be kept.
Connect and take the first backup
We connect the backup service to your tenant with the permissions it needs and run the first full backup. How long this takes depends on how much data you have.
Monitor and keep scope up to date
Backups then run automatically. We follow up failed or incomplete backups and add new users and sites as your organisation changes.
Restore when needed
Raise a restore request through your normal support route. We restore the item to where it came from, or to a separate location so nothing current is overwritten.
- Your Microsoft 365 tenantExchange Online, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams
- Automatic backupsRegular, scheduled copies
- Separate backup storageHeld outside your Microsoft 365 tenant
- Restores on requestFrom a single email to a whole site
What is covered
- Exchange Online mailboxes, including email, calendars and contacts
- Shared mailboxes, where included in scope
- OneDrive files and folders
- SharePoint sites and document libraries
- Files shared in Teams; coverage of chats and channel conversations depends on the backup service and is confirmed during set-up
- Backup storage held separately from your Microsoft 365 tenant
- A retention period agreed with you
- Restores of individual emails, files or folders, as well as whole mailboxes and sites
- Restores to the original location or to an alternative location
- Access to the backup service limited to authorised administrators, with multifactor authentication
- Monitoring of backup results, with failures followed up
When a restore helps
A deletion noticed too late
Someone clears out an old email folder, and months later a client query needs one of those messages. If it falls within your backup retention, it can be restored.
A leaver's mailbox
When someone leaves, their mailbox and OneDrive can be kept in the backup for the agreed period, so their work remains recoverable after the licence is removed.
Ransomware on a synced laptop
Files encrypted on a laptop can sync up to OneDrive or SharePoint. A backup taken before the encryption gives you a clean copy to restore.
A compromised account
An attacker with access to an account can delete email or files. Because the backup is held outside your tenant, deletions made inside the tenant don't remove it.
Problems solved
Recycle bins aren't a backup
Deleted items are only kept for a limited time. Once that time has passed, Microsoft 365's own tools may not be able to bring them back.
Leavers' data disappears
Removing a licence can eventually lead to a mailbox and OneDrive being deleted. A backup keeps a copy for the retention you agree.
Ransomware reaches the cloud
Encrypted files sync to OneDrive and SharePoint just like normal changes. An independent backup gives you a point to restore from.
Bulk mistakes by admins or attackers
An accidental bulk deletion or a compromised admin account can affect many users at once. A copy outside the tenant limits the damage.
What's included
Included as standard
- Backup of Exchange Online, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams data for users in scope
- Set-up and connection of the third-party backup service to your tenant
- A retention period agreed with you
- Monitoring of backups, with failures followed up by our team
- Adding and removing users and sites as part of normal changes
- Restores of items, folders, mailboxes and sites on request
Optional or scoped
Available on request and confirmed in your proposal; not part of the standard service.
- Longer retention periods
- Keeping former staff members' data in the backup for longer
- Exports of backup data for legal or compliance requests, where the backup service supports it
- A separate review of your Microsoft 365 security settings through a Microsoft 365 Security Assessment
What's not included
- Microsoft 365 licences, which are billed separately
- Data stored outside Microsoft 365, such as on servers, laptops or other cloud services, which is covered by Backup & Disaster Recovery
- Microsoft 365 services and data types that the backup service doesn't support
- Data deleted or lost before the first backup was taken
We can only restore what has been backed up and is still within your agreed retention. Data lost before the first backup, or older than your retention period, can't be recovered from the backup.
Restoring large mailboxes or sites can take time, depending on the amount of data and the limits Microsoft 365 places on how quickly data can be written back. We don't promise restore times.
Who it's suitable for
- Businesses that keep most of their email and files in Microsoft 365
- Organisations with regular staff turnover that need leavers' data kept
- Businesses that may need to retrieve old email or documents for clients, disputes or regulators
- Teams that have moved from a file server to SharePoint and OneDrive
- Organisations reviewing how they would recover from ransomware
Pricing
This service is tailored to your business, so we confirm the price after a short conversation about your requirements. There is no charge for the conversation.
Use the quote builder to add Microsoft 365 Backup to an indicative quote, or book a free security review and we'll recommend what fits.
Price
On Application
Included in the Advanced IT & Security plan (£35 per device per month).
What affects the price
- Number of users
- Shared and former-staff mailboxes to include
- Number and size of SharePoint sites and Teams
- Amount of data
- How long backups need to be kept
- Which Microsoft 365 services are in scope
All prices exclude VAT.
Add to Your QuoteFrequently asked questions
Doesn't Microsoft already back up our data?
Microsoft protects the service and keeps copies to recover from its own failures. Recycle bins, version history and retention policies help with some deletions, but they work inside your tenant and for limited periods. An independent backup gives you a separate copy, kept for the time you choose.
Where is the backup data stored?
With the third-party backup service, separately from your Microsoft 365 tenant. We confirm the storage location with you before set-up, so you can check it meets your data protection requirements.
How far back can we restore?
As far back as your agreed retention period allows, starting from the date of the first backup. We help you choose a retention period that fits your business, your contracts and any regulatory requirements.
Who can ask for a restore?
Authorised contacts at your business raise restore requests through your normal support route. We check each request before restoring, so data isn't restored to the wrong person or place.
We already have Backup & Disaster Recovery. Do we still need this?
Usually, yes. Backup & Disaster Recovery covers servers, devices and data held on your own systems. Microsoft 365 data needs its own backup that connects to the Microsoft cloud.
Is this part of the Microsoft 365 management charge?
No. Microsoft 365 management covers administration and security configuration of your tenant. Backup is a separate third-party service, priced per user on application.
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