With 75% of enterprises looking to prioritize SaaS backups, organizations need to be aware of costs associated with commercially available backup options when implementing Microsoft 365 data protection solutions.
Microsoft 365’s productivity apps now have over 400 million active users and are widely used by companies all around the world. As SaaS services dominate our daily lives, safeguarding SaaS data is now more important than ever before.
How backup vendors’ licensing works
Backup vendors often entice companies by claiming to support the four main Microsoft 365 services. In reality, these backup solutions come with pricing plans and limited features that users may not spot if you don’t take a closer look.
Here are some points to keep in mind when searching for a data protection solution:
1. Microsoft Teams one-on-one chat support
Even though many vendors claim to support Microsoft Teams’ backup, most only support backing up Channel conversations. Microsoft Teams include Channel, Group Chats, as well as Private Chats. Safeguard all your Microsoft Teams communications by backing up both Private Chats and Group Chats.
2. Additional charges for backing up Microsoft Teams data
Some vendors do not support native backups for Teams data. Instead, they rely Microsoft’s API tools to secure your data. The use of API tools will add to your costs as companies are typically charged per message, meaning that organizations with a high volume of messages will have to pay additional charges.
3. Including storage fees as part of the implementation cost
Most vendors calculate license fees per Microsoft 365 account. However, these fees usually exclude storage costs. Some Backup as a Service (BaaS) vendors might claim that storage fees are included. However, each account might have a storage quota. If you exceed the limit, you’ll be charged extra.
4. Charging per Microsoft 365 account
Most vendors calculate costs based on the number of licensed Microsoft 365 accounts per company. This means that any inactive accounts or accounts with low usage will also be counted toward expenses.
Experience transparent licensing with ActiveProtect
Synology offers hardware or license packs for businesses looking to secure their data. This way, companies can take advantage of a comprehensive Microsoft 365 data protection solution without worrying about hidden costs or additional fees associated with licensing.
Synology ActiveProtect is an all-in-one backup appliance that comes with a dedicated operating system to secure your Microsoft 365 data. As an integrated backup appliance, ActiveProtect allows organizations to choose a device on the basis of their source data volume.
ActiveProtect’s licensing is based on the number of backup servers included in a cluster. If organizations plan to expand their backup infrastructure in the future, they can purchase additional backup servers and ActiveProtect licenses based on the number of backup servers needed in their cluster. Users don’t have to purchase multiple licenses to access specific features or updated versions.
| Other backup vendors | Synology ActiveProtect Appliance | |
|---|---|---|
| Supports Microsoft 365 backup |
Yes | Yes |
| Native support for Microsoft Teams one-on-one chat |
Additional fees are required to access Microsoft’s API tools to perform backups | Native support is provided for one-on-one chat without any additional expenses |
| Additional storage costs | Yes, as companies have to set up a backup repository | No, as ActiveProtect is an purpose-built backup appliance which comes with pre-configured hardware which is optimized for performance |
| Licensing | Per-account licensing which includes all licensed Microsoft 365 users | ActiveProtect comes with zero hidden costs. Additional fees are only required when companies are looking to expand their backup infrastructure. |
With Synology ActiveProtect’s transparent and straightforward pricing model, businesses can protect their Microsoft 365 data without worrying about steep upfront costs. As an example, Synology ActiveProtect can help companies save up to 10 times* the implementation costs compared to other backup vendors.
Start securing your Microsoft 365 data with Synology ActiveProtect today.
*The figures are based on backing up 3000 Microsoft 365 accounts with Synology ActiveProtect.