Why You Must Back Up Microsoft 365 Data

Understanding the Shared Responsibility Model

While Microsoft 365 offers robust service-availability and infrastructure redundancy, it does not guarantee full protection of your organization’s data or configuration settings. Microsoft remains responsible for uptime and server infrastructure; your organization remains responsible for the protection, recovery, and retention of your own content.
As an official Microsoft documentation page states: “Microsoft 365 Backup offers backup and recovery of OneDrive, SharePoint, and Exchange Online data … however, it does not provide a way to back up audit logs of those services.”

1. Accidental Deletion, Overwrites & Retention Gaps

Users delete files, mailboxes get purged, Teams channels get removed, and retention policies expire. These events often make data irrecoverable via native Microsoft recycle bins or retention alone.
Third-party research reveals retention policies ≠ full backup: for example, a document notes that “retention is designed to ensure deleted data can be recovered for a short time, but does not restore lost configurations, permissions, or policy settings.”
Without a separate backup, your business may face prolonged downtime, lost historical data, or compliance gaps.

2. Insider Threats and External Cyber Attacks

Ransomware, privileged-insider misuse, and malicious deletions can strike both data and management configurations. Cloud-based environments are not immune.
Posts in the IT-community highlight this reality:

“You 100% should perform backups of your M365 data. Microsoft provides a recycle bin… But, it’s super easy to destroy emails or data in Teams/OneDrive…”
If an attacker deletes a user account or mailbox, the default Microsoft retention may not restore older versions, or may take days. A robust backup solution ensures you can recover clean versions and avoid paying a ransom or suffering business disruption.

3. Complex Configuration & Tenant-State Recovery

Most organizations focus on data—but what about configurations, policies, roles, and settings? These are critical for business continuity.
A recent article explains:

“Many critical configurations are NOT backed up natively … the only ‘native’ solution is an open-source module for PowerShell.”
Losing tenant-state (security policies, Teams settings, SharePoint permissions etc.) can lead to hours or days of re-engineering and may expose your organization to elevated compliance risk.

4. Service Outages and Third-Party Deletions

Native Microsoft protections focus on infrastructure, not accidental removal of deletion by a user or admin.
One vendor summary explains:

“Microsoft backs up your Office 365 data every 12 hours and keeps it for 14 days… but this form of basic backup will not help you if you need to restore a single file… Nor will the RTO likely be acceptable in the event of a successful attack.”
Your organization cannot rely solely on native retention for rapid recovery after a large-scale corruption or deletion event.

5. Compliance, Legal & Archival Requirements

Many industries require longer retention periods, immutable storage, and auditable recoverability. Relying on native retention within Microsoft 365 may render you non-compliant.
Backup solutions enable you to:

• Retain data for required durations outside of user lifecycle

• Maintain off-platform copies for forensics or audits

• Provide documented recovery proof

Without these, you expose your business to potential regulatory fines and lost trust.

6. Efficient Recovery and Minimal Business Impact

When a disruption occurs, speed matters. Traditional retention methods or manual restores slow recovery and increase risk.
Microsoft’s published “Overview of Microsoft 365 Backup” emphasises fast restores for large volumes of data.
But many organizations lack the tools or processes to achieve large-scale, fast restores—another reason to implement dedicated backup platforms.

Designing a Complete Microsoft 365 Backup Strategy

To protect Microsoft 365 effectively, we recommend the following layered strategy:

• Data Backup: Export and archive Exchange Online mailboxes, SharePoint Online sites, OneDrive for Business accounts, Teams chats and files.

• Configuration Backup: Capture user roles, policies, permission sets, Teams group structure, SharePoint site templates.

• Immutable Storage: Use write-once, tamper-proof repositories for long-term archival and ransomware resilience.

• Encryption & Access Controls: Ensure backup data is encrypted in transit and at rest; restrict access to recovery operations.

• Regular Recovery Drills: Test and document restore workflows — from single-file to full-tenant recovery.

• Off-site / Isolated Copies: Maintain copies outside your production Microsoft 365 tenant for worst-case events.

How Epis Technology Enhances Microsoft 365 Protection

As a trusted partner of Synology, Epis Technology leverages deep expertise in data resilience to design, deploy and manage backup infrastructures that integrate Microsoft 365 workloads with Synology NAS, Synology C2 cloud, and enterprise-grade hybrid backup frameworks. Their services enable organizations to:

• Architect Microsoft 365 backup solutions with immutable storage and encryption layers

• Simplify day-to-day operations through managed services and proactive monitoring

• Align backup strategy with compliance and business continuity requirements
  By partnering with Epis Technology, businesses gain a comprehensive, turnkey backup solution for Microsoft 365 data and configurations — reducing risk, speeding recovery, and ensuring constant operational readiness.