Cost Savings in Education with Synology M365 Backups

How to Save Money on Education with On-Premises Synology Instead of Per-User M365 Backup Fees

Educational institutions depend on Microsoft 365 for email, collaboration, online learning, and document management. As schools grow, so do the number of student, faculty, alumni, and administrative accounts that require protection. While many schools initially choose cloud-based Microsoft 365 backup services, recurring per-user subscription fees often become one of the largest ongoing IT expenses.

To reduce costs while maintaining complete control of their data, many educational institutions are replacing subscription-based backup services with Synology Active Backup for Microsoft 365. Schools such as Western Reserve Academy in the United States and Het Streek in the Netherlands demonstrate how a one-time infrastructure investment can provide long-term savings, simplified management, and enterprise-grade data protection.

The Challenge of Per-User Backup Licensing

Most SaaS Microsoft 365 backup providers charge based on the number of protected users.

Educational institutions typically need to protect:

• Students

• Teachers

• Administrative staff

• Alumni accounts

• Shared mailboxes

• Service accounts

As enrollment grows, backup costs increase every year regardless of whether the backup platform changes.

For schools with thousands of users, annual licensing expenses can quickly consume a significant portion of the IT budget.

Why Schools Are Moving to Synology

Unlike many cloud backup providers, Synology Active Backup for Microsoft 365 does not require per-user backup licenses.

Instead, organizations invest in:

• Synology NAS hardware

• Storage capacity

• Backup infrastructure

Once deployed, schools can protect large Microsoft 365 environments without paying recurring backup license fees for every user.

This creates a far more predictable long-term cost model.

Western Reserve Academy: Lower Costs, Greater Control

Western Reserve Academy needed to protect thousands of Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace accounts while preserving long-term access to alumni data.

The school wanted to reduce the high recurring costs associated with cloud backup subscriptions while improving data ownership.

After implementing Synology, the institution gained:

• Centralized Microsoft 365 backups

• Google Workspace backup protection

• Long-term alumni data retention

• Local ownership of backup data

• Simplified backup administration

• Lower long-term operating costs

The school also discovered an additional benefit by using available Synology storage to extend surveillance video retention without purchasing another storage platform.

Het Streek: Scaling Without Growing Licensing Costs

Het Streek faced a similar challenge as its digital learning environment expanded.

By adopting Synology, the school achieved:

• License-free Microsoft 365 backup scaling

• Simplified backup administration

• Greater storage flexibility

• Lower operational costs

• Improved recovery capabilities

Rather than paying more every year as users increased, the institution expanded storage capacity only when needed.

Understanding the Return on Investment

One of the biggest financial advantages of Synology is replacing recurring subscription costs with infrastructure ownership.

Example Scenario

Although hardware requires an initial investment, many schools recover those costs within several years while continuing to reduce operational expenses over the life of the system.

Actual savings vary depending on the size of the Microsoft 365 environment, retention requirements, and existing infrastructure.

License-Free Scaling

One of Synology’s greatest advantages for education is its ability to scale without increasing software licensing costs.

As schools add:

• New students

• Additional teachers

• Administrative staff

• Shared mailboxes

• Alumni archives

they simply expand storage when required instead of purchasing additional backup licenses.

This provides significantly better budget predictability.

Supporting the 3-2-1 Backup Strategy

Educational institutions must protect against accidental deletion, ransomware, hardware failure, and long-term retention requirements.

Synology helps schools implement the widely recommended 3-2-1 backup strategy:

• Three copies of important data

• Two different storage media

• One offsite backup copy

Schools often combine:

• Microsoft 365 backups

• Local Synology storage

• Hyper Backup

• Offsite replication

• Snapshot Replication

This layered approach improves both resilience and disaster recovery readiness.

Reducing Backup Administration Complexity

Managing thousands of student accounts can become time-consuming.

Synology centralizes administration by providing:

• One backup management console

• Unified monitoring

• Flexible retention policies

• Granular recovery

• Self-service recovery options

• Centralized reporting

This reduces administrative workload while improving visibility.

Long-Term Storage Ownership

Many educational institutions retain student records and alumni information for years after graduation.

Owning the backup infrastructure allows schools to:

• Retain data longer

• Control storage costs

• Define retention policies

• Avoid vendor lock-in

• Expand capacity gradually

Long-term ownership often delivers greater value than ongoing subscription models.

Why Synology Is a Strong Fit for Education

Synology provides educational institutions with centralized Microsoft 365 backup, scalable storage, Snapshot Replication, Hyper Backup, disaster recovery, and unified management without recurring per-user backup licensing. This allows schools to strengthen data protection while maintaining predictable IT budgets and supporting future growth.

About Epis Technology

Epis Technology helps educational institutions modernize Microsoft 365 backup environments through Synology consulting, backup architecture design, capacity planning, disaster recovery strategy, storage optimization, cybersecurity consulting, and ongoing Synology support.

By combining extensive Synology expertise with practical education IT experience, Epis Technology helps schools reduce long-term backup costs, improve operational efficiency, and build scalable data protection platforms that support students, faculty, and future growth.