The Microsoft 365 backup market is poised to double in the coming years – a good thing, given that in one survey, Microsoft Office documents ranked first by number of attempts by cyber criminals to exploit vulnerabilities (80%).¹ As data owners become increasingly aware of the critical need for dedicated backup solutions for Microsoft 365, the demand for more efficient and cost-effective data protection continues to grow.
Deciding exactly how your data is protected becomes one of the most important decisions you can make for your organisation, especially when relying on Microsoft 365 for daily operations. By now, you have heard of Microsoft’s Shared Responsibility Model – that although Microsoft 365 offers an array of robust applications and services, a backup solution is not natively built into those services. As such, it can be difficult to find the time, money and talent to ensure your Microsoft 365 data is safe and your business is kept running.
Many organisations currently utilise software-only backup solutions. Once the software is purchased, everything is entirely self-managed by the end-user, from setting up the infrastructure on which the software will run to connecting the storage of their choice. This enables organisations to maintain full control and tailor every element of their backup to ensure that’s it’s optimised to their liking. However, the ongoing management required (and the on-hand expertise demanded) has made software-only solutions less attractive to some companies. Just as you don’t need to own a mechanic’s shop to keep your car running, you don’t need to build an entire backup infrastructure to protect your data.
This realisation has driven a notable shift in the growing preference for as a service models. In fact, in our own Veeam Data Protection Trends Report for 2024, 88% of enterprises were either very likely or almost certain to use a backup as a service (BaaS) or disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) for at least some of their production servers. Within the same survey and shown in the following diagram, we asked: “Which of the following is your organisation’s primary method of business continuity and disaster recovery today and in two years’ time?” The results spoke for themselves.
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