What M365 and SaaS Backup Is
Written by MSP Outpost.
In Short
M365 and SaaS backup copies a client's cloud data, such as mail, OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams and the Google Workspace equivalents, into storage you control. The platform keeps the service running, but it is not a backup: deleted items expire, a bad sync overwrites good files, and a compromised account can remove data. This is separate from server and endpoint backup, which protects machines, not cloud accounts.
What It Does
- Mail backup. Mailboxes, calendars and contacts copied on a schedule, so a deleted or corrupted message can come back.
- Files and sites. OneDrive, SharePoint and shared drives captured with their version history and permissions.
- Teams and chats. Channel messages, files and team membership backed up, though what can be restored varies a lot by product.
- Other SaaS. Some products also cover CRM, ticketing and similar apps, usually as extra connectors.
- Restore options. Single items, whole mailboxes or sites, restored in place, to another user or exported to a file.
- Monitoring. One console showing each client's tenants, job results and storage, with alerts into the PSA.
When You Need One
Clients assume the platform backs itself up, so say plainly that it does not. Start with mail and files for every client on one multi-tenant product, and keep the setup the same each time.
Checking tenants one at a time stops scaling. Look for automatic enrolment of new users, alerts into the PSA, and a restore test you run on a schedule, not only when a client asks.
Retention, restore speed and evidence for audits start to matter to larger clients. Expect to manage storage cost across many tenants and to offer longer retention as a priced option.
How It Is Priced
Most products are priced per protected user each month, sometimes with a separate rate for shared mailboxes, sites or other apps. Storage may be included, capped or billed on top. Watch for minimum user counts, annual terms, charges for retention beyond the default, and whether archived or departed users still count while their data is kept.
Switching
Old backups usually cannot be moved into a new product, so you often run both until the old retention is no longer needed. Before you sign, find out how long data stays restorable after you cancel, whether you can export it in a usable format, and what a departed user's data costs to keep.
Questions to Ask a Vendor
- Is it priced per user, and do shared mailboxes, sites and departed users count?
- Which parts of Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive can actually be restored, and which are skipped?
- Can a compromised admin account delete or shorten the retention on existing backups?
- How often does it back up, and how do I know a job quietly failed?
- Where is the data held, and can I choose the region or use my own storage?
- If I cancel, how long can I still restore, and how do I get my data out?