5 reasons why you need a backup service, even if you’re using Office 365

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Enterprises around the world continue to move key applications to the cloud. But the speed and scope of migration presenting new challenges regarding data protection, service delivery, and compliance.

While most organizations have developed robust on-premises backup solutions, the failure to protect cloud data and ensure the availability of key services is widespread and incredibly alarming.

Contrary to popular belief, Office 365 and other software as a service (SaaS) models provide no real internal backup solutions.

While Microsoft has sound internal security and is capable of managing Office 365 infrastructure, third-party services are needed to ensure comprehensive data protection and compliance. Let’s take a look at 5 key reasons why you need a dedicated backup service when you’re using Office 365.

  1. Protection against internal accidents and threats

Regardless of how careful you are with your data, accidents can and do happen. Whether it’s the accidental deletion of a user, the incorrect merging of fields, or the failure of a key service, accidental deletion can be replicated across an entire network and lead to serious problems.

Simple accidents have been responsible for serious damage over the last few years, with an outage on Amazon Web Services costing up to $150 million dollars in 2017.

A backup service can restore data and services quickly and with minimum disruption, either to the on-premise Exchange or the Office 365 cloud network. In addition, dedicated backup services can protect you against internal security threats and manage the risk of malicious data loss or destruction.

  1. Protection against external security threats

Along with internal security threats, many businesses have experienced a rise in malware, viruses, data theft and other security threats from the outside.

Kaspersky blocked almost 800 million attacks from online resources across the globe in the first quarter of 2018 alone.

While Microsoft 365 and other cloud suites do have some security controls, they’re not robust or reliable enough to handle every case scenario. Having access to a high-grade, third-party backup service is the best way to reduce your exposure and manage the risks associated with data loss and destruction.

  1. Retention and recovery management

Cloud-based services are popular for many reasons, with Office 365 and other solutions featuring better integration between applications, more efficient data exchange and delivery, and the ability to utilize transparent services regardless of location.

Many of these benefits come at a cost, however, with enterprises losing control over data retention and recovery.

While Office 365 does have its own retention policies, they are ever-changing and difficult to manage. In fact, confusing and inaccessible data retention is one of the reasons why so many businesses refuse to move to the cloud.

You can have the best of both worlds with backup solutions that provide you with complete control over data retention and recovery management.

  1. Legal and compliance obligations

In addition to running a business and ensuring access to key data and services, organizations have a responsibility to meet certain legal and compliance obligations.

A cloud backup service allows you to retrieve important data instantly and with minimal disruption to critical business systems.

Whether it’s retrieving user data for law enforcement, accessing your mailbox during a legal action, or meeting regulatory compliance standards, dedicated cloud backup makes it easier to meet your responsibilities.

  1. Managing the migration process

With more businesses moving to the cloud all the time, the migration process is often presented as a seamless and natural transition.

While the benefits of SaaS are valid and well-known, managing hybrid email deployments and other critical services during migration can be more challenging than Microsoft would have you believe.

Whether you want a dedicated cloud solution or a mix of Office 365 and on-premises services, backup solutions like Veeam (our recommended solution) allow you to protect and manage your data during and after the transition in a way that makes the source location irrelevant.

The post 5 reasons why you need a backup service, even if you’re using Office 365 appeared first on ISG Technologies.

Source: my isg

The SMB Quick Guide for Upgrading Office Technology

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“Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have—and underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up.”

— James Belasco & Ralph Stayer, Flight of the Buffalo

If you run a small business, you already know two things about change. One, it’s inevitable. And two, it’s hard.

One would think that the inevitable nature of change would eventually make it easier to stomach, but that just doesn’t seem to be the case. In fact, a couple of years ago McKinsey & Company reported that (at that time) an overwhelming “70% of change programs fail to achieve their goals, largely due to employee resistance and lack of management support.” (We suspect the number isn’t much lower today.)

But when you consider why change is so hard, that makes sense.

The Science of Change

As a recent article in Forbes pointed out, the default human response to change is fear. In a more primitive time, change often meant danger. Our ancestors survived because they feared change.

While that’s fascinating in its own right, it’s also frustrating. If you’re a business owner and you’re ready to upgrade your office technology, you have to also be ready to deal with how your staff will handle change. It’s not as simple as just saying, “We’re using these applications now.” Frankly, that never works.

No, if you want to lead your company through a change in office technology, you need to be prepared.

The Office Technology Revolution

But why change anything? If the tools you’re using now are working, why not just keep using them? Because the way we do business is changing.

It’s hardly a secret that cloud adoption is steadily growing. Gartner predicts that we’re just a few years away from the day when the vast majority of businesses will rely on cloud services of some kind.

If your office technology is still primarily onsite, it’s time to consider a shift. Cloud solutions offer multiple advantages over local hardware and software, including improved flexibility, scalable growth, remote access and (in many cases) cost savings.

Changing Office Technology

Of course, that leads us back to the problem we started with. If it’s in your best interest to consider upgrading your current office technology to cloud-based solutions—and it is—then how do you go about doing that successfully?

At ISG, we’ve gone to great pains to make it as easy as possible to shift your office technology to the cloud. Not only do we take care of all the technological legwork, but we’ll even help your employees acclimate, too.

All of this is possible with our Modern Office Foundation bundle. Here’s how it works.

Top-tier Tools

Our Modern Office bundle comes with the very best office technology tools available. At the top of that list is Microsoft Office 365.

Office 365 is the premier productivity suite because it’s a powerful, robust tool that includes everything your business needs to stay on top of your projects. There’s cloud-based email, standard applications like Word, Excel and PowerPoint, as well as top communication and collaboration solutions like Teams, Sharepoint and OneNote.

And you’ll get it all with the Modern Office Foundation bundle.

Seamless Transition

No matter how good the tools, if transitioning from your current solutions to new office technology is rough, your employees aren’t likely to see the value. That’s why working with a skilled partner like ISG Technology is so important.

We’ll take care of your implementation, allowing for a hassle-free adoption period. Trust us—you’ll be glad you didn’t tackle this on your own.

Employee Training & Support

A lot of our competitors offer some kind of migration service. That’s not terribly unique. But what really sets us apart is our employee education and support.

We offer monthly Innovation Training sessions to ensure your staff gets the most possible value out of your office technology tools. In addition to that, our help desk support is second to none. It doesn’t matter if one of your employees is dealing with something as simple as a lost password or something more complex, we’ll be there.

And because our approach is both proactive (through training) and reactive (through support), you’ll always be covered.

The Right Kind of Change

Office technology is changing. While it can be tough to keep up, ISG’s Modern Office Foundation bundle makes it a lot easier.

If you’d like more information about our Modern Office Foundation bundle, feel free to contact us today. We’ll be happy to show you how we can help upgrade your office technology without any hangups.