Backup and Recovery · Managed
Service group: CybersecurityBackups that are monitored, protected and proven by restore tests
We design backup coverage around what your business needs back first and how much data it can afford to lose, keep at least one copy out of an attacker's reach, monitor every job and test restores on a schedule.
At a glance
- Service
- Design, monitoring and testing of backups and recovery plans for servers, endpoints and cloud data
- Best suited to
- Organizations of roughly 5 to 200 employees with file servers, line-of-business applications or critical Microsoft 365 data
- Core inclusions
- Backup design, job monitoring, failure remediation, immutable or offline copies, scheduled restore tests and a documented recovery runbook
- Not included by default
- Backup storage and software licences, replacement hardware, full disaster recovery site builds and data recovery from failed drives
- Recovery objectives
- Recovery time and recovery point objectives agreed with you and recorded per system; they are targets, not promises
- Pricing basis
- Per protected device or server per month plus storage, proposed and confirmed in a written quotation
- How to start
- Begin with a Backup and Recovery Assessment or add Backup Monitoring to existing backups
What backup and disaster recovery means
Backup is making copies of data. Disaster recovery is the plan and capability to get the business working again after something serious: ransomware, a failed server, a deleted SharePoint library, a fire or a lost laptop. A good service treats both together, starting from the question of what must come back first and how fast.
We record a recovery time objective and a recovery point objective for each important system. Those decisions drive backup frequency, retention, where copies are stored, and whether a system needs fast local restore, cloud failover or simply a nightly copy.
Modern attackers look for backups and try to delete or encrypt them. We follow the 3-2-1 principle, at least three copies on two kinds of storage with one off-site, and add an immutable or offline copy that ordinary administrator credentials cannot erase.
Backup problems we find
Untested backups
Jobs report success but no one has restored a file, a mailbox or a whole server to prove it works.
Backups reachable by attackers
The backup server is joined to the same domain and uses the same admin credentials as everything else.
Gaps in coverage
Microsoft 365 data, laptops, a new database or a cloud application were never added to the backup plan.
No recovery order
When something fails, nobody knows which system to restore first or how long it will take.
What the service includes
Coverage design
A map of systems and data with agreed recovery objectives, retention and backup method for each.
Protected copies
Off-site copies with immutability or air-gap, separate backup credentials with MFA, and encryption at rest and in transit.
Job monitoring
Daily review of backup job results during business days, with failures investigated and re-run.
Restore testing
Scheduled file, mailbox and full-system restore tests with results recorded for you and your insurer.
Recovery runbook
A written recovery order, contacts, credentials location and step-by-step restore procedures.
Microsoft 365 backup
Third-party or Microsoft 365 Backup coverage for Exchange Online, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams data.
Scope
Protected systems and recovery objectives are listed in your proposal.
Typically included
- Backup configuration for servers, virtual machines and devices listed in scope
- Microsoft 365 data backup where included in your plan
- At least one immutable or offline backup copy
- Daily job monitoring and failure remediation on business days
- Quarterly restore tests with written results
- Recovery runbook maintenance and annual review
- Assistance with restores during agreed hours
Requires separate scope or quotation
- Backup software and cloud storage licences unless bundled
- Replacement servers or hardware after a failure
- Building or operating a secondary data centre
- Physical data recovery from damaged drives
- After-hours restores unless written into your plan
Technologies
- Image-based server and virtual machine backup platforms
- Cloud backup with immutable storage, including Canadian data residency options where available
- Microsoft 365 Backup and third-party Microsoft 365 backup services
- Local backup appliances for fast restore
- Endpoint backup for laptops holding local data
- Hyper-V, VMware and Windows Server environments
Who needs this
Organizations with on-premises servers
Businesses running file, database or accounting servers where an outage stops work.
Data-heavy firms
Engineering, architecture and manufacturing teams with large project files that are slow to rebuild.
Microsoft 365-only businesses
Cloud-first teams that assume Microsoft keeps every version forever and need protection beyond default retention.
Benefits
- Proof that backups restore, not just that they ran
- A backup copy that survives a ransomware attack on your network
- A known recovery order and realistic timeframes
- Evidence for insurers and clients about recovery capability
- Fewer gaps as new systems are added
How we set it up
Assess
We list systems and data, review existing backups and agree recovery objectives with leadership.
Design
We propose methods, storage locations, retention and immutability for each system.
Implement
Backups are deployed or reconfigured, credentials separated and the first full copies completed.
Test
Initial restore tests confirm that objectives can be met, and the runbook is written.
Operate
Daily monitoring, quarterly tests and annual reviews continue under your scope.
Ways to buy
Prices are proposed and confirmed in a written quotation.
Backup and Recovery Assessment
A fixed-fee review of coverage, protection and recovery readiness.
Backup Monitoring
Per-device monthly monitoring of existing backup jobs.
Fully managed backup and recovery
Design, storage, monitoring, testing and runbook as one per-system service.
Frequently asked questions
Doesn't Microsoft back up our Microsoft 365 data?
Microsoft keeps the service running and offers retention features, but recovering from mass deletion, ransomware in OneDrive or a departed user's data beyond retention needs a separate backup. We help you decide what is appropriate.
How often do you test restores?
Typically quarterly for key systems, with results recorded. Critical systems can be tested more often by agreement.
Where is our backup data stored?
We confirm storage locations in your proposal. Canadian data residency is available on many platforms and can be required in your scope.
How quickly can we recover?
That depends on the system, data volume and method. We agree recovery objectives per system and test against them, but they are targets that depend on the circumstances of each incident.
Related services
Products and packages
Industries we support
Service areas
Further reading
Find out whether your backups would actually restore
Start with a backup assessment or talk to us about recovery objectives for your key systems.