Why returning to work could give you more headaches

Like many businesses in the UK, you are probably starting to prepare for returning to work.

Irrespective of whether that means going back to your business premises, or working remotely, the chances are that at least some of your team will be returning from furlough.

Why does that matter?

Because they are unlikely to have looked at their emails, or attempted to logon and access files or anything business related for several months.

Of course, that is exactly what furlough should have been, but the problem is, we are seeing an increase in the number of people who have discovered they can no longer access their essential files, and emails.

Whilst Microsoft 365 has built in backups, that is only valid for 30 days. So, yes you can retrieve any emails you have accidentally deleted, or anything you think is missing, but only if it was within the last 30 days.

Likewise, Sharepoint and Office suite files are only available for a 30 day period.

We have mentioned before that it is a common misconception that anything in the cloud is automatically backed up, or always safe. Regrettably, that’s just not the case.

So, what alternative is available?

We recommend third party apps that are specifically designed for cloud backups. They are ideally suited to protect against accidental file or email deletion, as well as loss of data from malware and ransom attacks.

And, there has been a marked increase in phishing emails with attempts to get passwords from criminals pretending to be HMRC and Microsoft being very common, so the risk of a malware attack is heightened.

Whilst we would need to know more about your specific set up before we can recommend the best product for you, the app we recommend most often is SkyKick Cloud Backup.

If you are looking at cloud backup solutions make sure you choose a product that gives you the ability to retrieve individual files and folders, as full mailbox recovery can be very time consuming.

It goes without saying that whatever solution you choose should be appropriately secure, so you know your data is safe – SkyKick is 256-bit encrypted.

We would also recommend going for something that is priced on a consumption basis – that is to say, per user per month – so you never pay for more than you need.

If you would like to learn more about cloud backup, or supporting your business with returning to work, please contact us on 01784 437 123.