Microsoft 365 protection
Microsoft 365 backup and recovery for South African MSPs and businesses
Automated cloud-to-cloud backup for Exchange Online, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams — with granular recovery, local data residency and unified MSP management.
The retention gap
Why Microsoft 365 retention is not the same as backup
Microsoft\'s shared-responsibility model makes infrastructure resilience Microsoft\'s job and data protection the customer\'s responsibility. Native retention policies help with compliance, but operational recoverability — restoring a mailbox to a known-good state after ransomware, accidental mass-deletion or a departing employee — requires backup.
Deleted-item retention window
Microsoft's default retention is limited. After the window closes, data is permanently removed.
Ransomware and malicious deletion
Native tools recover from accidental deletion, not from encrypted or deliberately destroyed data across mailboxes.
Point-in-time granularity
Restoring a mailbox or site to an exact moment — not just the latest version — requires backup beyond native retention.
Regulatory and compliance holds
Litigation hold and retention policies address compliance, not operational recoverability to a known-good state.
Offboarded-user data
When a licence is removed, associated data may be deleted. Backup preserves access beyond the licence lifecycle.
Workload coverage
What gets protected
Exchange Online
Email, calendars, contacts and tasks with point-in-time recovery and granular restore to individual items.
OneDrive for Business
Files and folders with versioning, cross-user recovery and retention beyond native recycle-bin windows.
SharePoint Online
Sites, libraries and lists with structure-preserving backup and selective restore.
Microsoft Teams
Channel conversations, files, tabs and membership data backed up alongside SharePoint and OneDrive.
MSP operations
Unified management through one platform
Microsoft 365 backup is managed through the same Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud console MSPs already use for server, workstation and endpoint workloads. One platform, one agent, one bill.
- Multi-tenant dashboard for all customer Microsoft 365 tenants
- Automated backup schedules with configurable retention
- Granular search and restore across mailboxes, files and sites
- Backup health monitoring and alerting
- Rand-denominated billing through Soteria Cloud
- Local data residency in Teraco Johannesburg and Cape Town
Data residency matters
For organisations subject to POPIA, sector regulation or internal governance requirements, knowing where backup data is stored — and who controls it — is essential.
Soteria Cloud\'s local infrastructure in Teraco-hosted facilities in Johannesburg and Cape Town provides South African data residency for Microsoft 365 backup, removing the uncertainty of offshore-only storage.
Learn about our South African infrastructureFrequently asked questions
Does Microsoft back up my Microsoft 365 data?
Microsoft provides infrastructure-level resilience and limited retention, but states in its shared-responsibility model that data protection is the customer's responsibility. Third-party or service-provider backup closes that gap.
Where is backup data stored?
Through Soteria Cloud, Microsoft 365 backup data can be stored on local South African infrastructure in Teraco-hosted data centres in Johannesburg and Cape Town, supporting data-residency and sovereignty requirements.
Can individual emails or files be restored?
Yes. Granular recovery allows restoring individual emails, files, folders, calendar items and contacts without affecting the rest of the mailbox or site.
How does this integrate with MSP operations?
MSPs manage Microsoft 365 backup through the same multi-tenant Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud console used for other workloads — one platform, one agent, unified reporting and billing.
Ready to protect your Microsoft 365 data?
Speak to Soteria Cloud about Microsoft 365 backup for your business or MSP practice.