Welcome to the final segment of our three-part blog series where we evaluate how Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 aligns with Gartner’s recommendations for Microsoft 365 data protection and Microsoft’s Shared Responsibility Model.

In case you missed our first two segments:

Gartner’s Considerations for Microsoft 365: Gartner highlighted five major risks that organizations need to consider when using Microsoft 365, including human error, malware/virus/ransomware, hacking (internal/external), programmatic errors or flaws and disgruntled users.

Microsoft’s Shared Responsibility Model: Microsoft’s Shared Responsibility Model outlines that, while Microsoft manages the physical infrastructure and the underlying application layer, customers are still responsible for securing user access, devices and the data they place on cloud servers.

In this post, we will be taking a closer look at how Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 aligns to both Gartner and Microsoft’s recommendations.

Veeam-Driven Study

As previously mentioned, Veeam gathers and publishes research not just from analyst firms like Gartner, but from independent research bureaus as well. This allows us to remain in front of the data protection challenges that the IT industry faces. One of the most recent publications, the Cloud Protection Trends Report 2023, showed that organizations are increasingly concerned about cybersecurity attacks and compliance requirements for their cloud-hosted data. Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 is designed to address these evolving concerns and offers an essential layer of protection against potential threats.

Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365

Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 is Veeam’s solution for protecting Microsoft 365 data. By leveraging Microsoft-native APIs, Veeam creates backups with data separation for business-critical applications like Microsoft Teams, Exchange, OneDrive for Business and SharePoint. From these backups, Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 offers a diverse range of restore options from single file exports to full site restores that provide over 50 different ways to restore data.

Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 directly addresses and aligns with Gartner’s vulnerability list by providing comprehensive protection for Microsoft 365 data. This bridges gaps with native retention and undelete features within Microsoft 365. If we revisit each of Gartner’s considerations with a Veeam lens, we get the following:

1. Human error: Veeam offers easy-to-use and intuitive backup and recovery solutions that help prevent accidental data loss. With Veeam’s granular recovery, organizations can quickly and easily restore specific items, which reduces the impact of human error.
2. Malware/virus/ransomware: Veeam creates an isolated backup copy of your data which protects it from malware and ransomware attacks that may target production data. With the addition of object-lock backup copies can be made immutable preventing alteration in cases of an attack.
3. Hacking (internal/external): Veeam ensures that your backup data remains secure and separate from production data, which safeguards it from external and internal threats.
4. Programmatic errors or flaws: Veeam offers both a console and a self-service portal with an intuitive interface. In case of accidental Microsoft 365 data misconfiguration, Veeam provides an easy access method of recovery all from a single directory.
5. Disgruntled users: With Veeam’s data separation capabilities and immutability, disgruntled employees will find it more challenging to cause widespread data loss since Veeam makes sure your backup data remains separate and protected.

Veeam’s approach aligns with Gartner’s recommendations, offering a robust solution to tackle the risks associated with Microsoft 365 data.  Maybe that is one more reason why Gartner named Veeam a Leader in its Magic Quadrant for the seventh year in a row?

Microsoft Backup

Microsoft recently announced further advocacy for the protection and separation of backup data from your production Microsoft 365 data. In their announcement, Microsoft highlighted some of the top concerns surrounding long-term data archiving, the necessity of diverse restore methods and more sophisticated data protection scenarios. Veeam was specifically cited in the announcement as a named partner in Microsoft’s new backup API suite, which will further performance to Veeam’s diverse protection and recovery portfolio very soon.

Check out the press release that describes this expanded partnership between Veeam and Microsoft.

Conclusion

While Microsoft 365 provides certain native retention and undelete features, it’s important to assess these against known considerations and risks like those described by Gartner. By implementing Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365, organizations can bolster their data protection strategy and meet or exceed the Microsoft Shared Responsibility Model. Veeam offers comprehensive protection against data loss incidents, whether they be caused by human error, malicious attacks or programmatic flaws. It is always fun when research findings and practical insights point to the same best practices. In this case, this includes the importance of third-party backup for Microsoft 365. Try out a 30-day free trial or our free community edition for up to 10 users here.