The News: At its Inspire 2023 conference, Microsoft announced Microsoft 365 Backup and Microsoft 365 Archive, two new services that are expected to be in public preview in 4Q 2023. Both services will be delivered as a part of Microsoft Syntex, a cloud-based content management solution augmented with AI and automation. Additionally, Microsoft announced API-based integration support for technology partners, with AvePoint, Barracuda, Commvault, Rubrik, Veeam, and Veritas as launch partners. Additional detail is available in Microsoft’s blog post on the announcement.
Microsoft and Partners will Strengthen Microsoft 365 Data Protection
Analyst Take: There has long been a misconception that data stored in the public cloud is automatically protected by the cloud provider, but the industry is steadily waking up to a shared responsibility model, which prescribes that, while the cloud provider is responsibility for the availability of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) application itself, protection of cloud-hosted data remains with the customer, just as has long been standard operating procedure in the on-premises world. In fact, in recent research from The Futurum Group (formerly Evaluator Group), more than 80% of respondents indicated that they are protecting at least one public cloud-hosted workload, and more than half of respondents noted protecting Microsoft 365 specifically.
According to Microsoft, customers are adding more than 2 billion documents and emails to Microsoft 365 daily. This data is important to protect against the ever-imminent ransomware threat, as well as malicious insiders, accidental deletion, and natural disasters. The Futurum Group sees customers desiring to protect Microsoft 365 in the same way they are consuming it (as-a-service), as well as other specific requirements including the ability to process and protect unstructured content at scale. Because traditional data protection tools were not designed to meet these requirements, since roughly 2016 designated services and solutions for Microsoft 365 protection have been built and brought to market. For its part, Microsoft is looking to capture its corner of this market, while also providing the ability to fold Microsoft 365 into customers’ broader technology implementations for data protection and management.
The Microsoft 365 Backup service will offer backup and restoration of Microsoft 365 data; specifically for OneDrive accounts, SharePoint sites, and Exchange mailboxes. Items can be recovered granularly, or at scale with parallel operations. Administrators can select specific restore point date ranges, and content can be searched and filtered based on metadata.
The Microsoft 365 Archive service will provide a cold data storage tier for SharePoint content that is inactive or aging but still needs to be retained, such as for compliance purposes. Administrators will have table-stakes functionalities including search and eDiscovery, as well as the ability to set access policies, to reactive archived content, and to use PowerShell scrips to the lifecycle management capabilities of SharePoint to automate mass archiving functions. Per Microsoft, file-level archiving will be added in 2024.
The API support has not yet been released to Microsoft partners, but what is already clear is that it will allow for faster data transfer than would otherwise be possible. This portends customer value in the form of faster initial, large backups, the ability to meet small backup windows, and possibly even benefits when it comes to data migration. This is, of course, in addition to the enterprise-grade protection capabilities, such as data isolation, that these vendors bring to the space, as well as the value that will be inherent in integrating the Microsoft 365 Backup and Archive capabilities into their more comprehensive data management and protection apps.
While Microsoft’s announcement further validates the need for Microsoft 365 protection, The Futurum Group anticipates that established data protection vendors will remain the key means through which customers will look to protect their Microsoft 365 applications, as IT Operations will not be abandoning existing data protection implementations, but rather looking to weave Microsoft 365 protection into broader data protection and management frameworks.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
Other insights from The Futurum Group:
Microsoft Announces General Availability of Sales Copilot
Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP is Being Revved up by Microsoft Copilot
How to Migrate Data Protection to the Cloud and Not Regret It
Author Information
Krista Case brings over 15 years of experience providing research and advisory services and creating thought leadership content. Her vantage point spans technology and vendor portfolio developments; customer buying behavior trends; and vendor ecosystems, go-to-market positioning, and business models. Her work has appeared in major publications including eWeek, TechTarget and The Register.
