Do Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 Back Up Your Data?

Many businesses move their email and files to Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 and assume backup is taken care of. It is an easy mistake to make. The data is in the cloud and the service rarely goes down, so it must be safe.

The truth is a little different.

What your provider looks after

Google and Microsoft keep the service running. They look after their data centres, their servers and the apps your team uses every day. That part is their job, and they do it well.

What is still your job

Protecting the data inside the service is your responsibility. The built-in tools, like trash folders and deleted item recovery, only keep things for a limited time. They are made to undo small mistakes, not to recover from a disaster.

Here are some common ways business data gets lost:

• Accidental deletion. Someone deletes a folder or a mailbox, and no one notices until it is too late to get it back.
• Ransomware. An attack encrypts files in a shared or synced drive, and the damaged files replace the good ones.
• Staff leaving. An account is removed when an employee leaves, and their emails and files go with it.

In each case, the built-in tools may not be able to bring your data back.

What a separate backup gives you

A separate backup keeps an independent copy of your data, outside the account it came from. If something goes wrong, you restore from that copy.

When you compare backup tools, check that you can:

• Restore a single email or file, not just a whole account.
• Go back to a backup taken before the problem started.
• Choose where your backup data is stored.
• Stop backups from being deleted without an admin's approval.

Where to start

List the data your business cannot afford to lose. Then ask one simple question: if it was deleted today, how would we get it back?

If you do not have a clear answer, it is time to look at backup. Eye On Vault backs up Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 and keeps an independent, secure copy of your data that you can restore from.