Microsoft 365 – Have you read the fine print?

Microsoft 365 – Have you read the fine print?

Running Microsoft 365 and its variety of apps for your business or even for your personal use has got several obvious benefits, but have you read the fine print?

Range of apps

The clearest benefit of running Microsoft 365 are the apps included with the subscription package, such as Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint to name a few. These applications are widely used with as much as 90% of businesses worldwide using them in one way or another. The whole software package allows for businesses, as well as individuals, to produce and edit high quality documents to performing statistical and algebraic calculations with analytical functions.

Ease for collaboration

Collaborators working on the same file can share and edit documents as well as view changes made in real time. This is beneficial to productivity and efficiency as it eliminates the need for collaborators to physically communicate back and forth when working on the same piece of data. Shared calendars and shared chats can also be used and can help keep all individuals involved in the loop no matter where they are be them at home or in the office.

Mobility

Using Microsoft 365 users can access their companies’ data on the go via laptops, mobiles and tablets. This is perfect for mobility especially currently as it does not require employees to have to be chained to their desk to be productive. They can instead be based at home. This allows for flexible working practices as employees can access data regardless of their location, given they have a compatible device and an internet connection.

Although Microsoft implements various security features such as Data Loss Prevention and Advanced Threat Analytics it does not protect data loss from ransomware, accidental deletion and other malware for instance. These issues are only made apparent within the Microsoft Service Agreement.

Security

Within the Microsoft Services Agreement its states that they (Microsoft) recommend its subscribers/users to regularly backup their content and data stored using their services. This is primarily down to the generalisation that all cyber services can infrequently be faced with various disturbances and interruptions which can result in the loss of content and data stored using such services. To which they later state within their Services Agreement that they are unable to guarantee that their services will be uninterrupted, secure or that data and content stored within their services will not be lost during such occurrences. Therefore, emphasising the importance of a third-party Microsoft 365 backup. Although Microsoft provide the required infrastructure and service, they leave the responsibility down to its users regarding protecting their data stored within the cloud.

Importance of a Third-party Backup Service

There is a misconception that a singular cloud server, such as OneDrive, is also a backup solution however this is not the case as using OneDrive as a form of backup can still result in data loss. As mentioned within Microsoft’s Services Agreement it states numerous times that the use of a third-party backup application and/or service is recommended to avoid events where data may be lost and that doing so is the responsibility of the user/subscriber.

Sa1 Solutions are able to prove their competency in regard to Microsoft 365 as they are an accredited Silver Partner of Microsoft and currently support 100s of Microsoft 365 subscribers across the UK. Not only can they migrate your data over to Microsoft 365, so you can reap the benefits the software has to offer, but also offer a means of backup to ensure your data is safe and secure and online security is a top priority. Boasting a team of MCP qualified and expertly skilled software engineers SA1 Solutions can give you peace of mind that your emails and data stored on Microsoft 365 are protected and secure.

If you’re still unsure, please don’t hesitate to contact SA1 Solutions to speak with an engineer who can go through the various benefits or visit our webpage and find out how you can boost your efficiency and security with SA1 Solutions.