Selecting a backup solution for a cloud-based SaaS application such as Microsoft 365 requires enterprises to take a different approach to backups. Cloud-based SaaS backup applications offer the best option for protecting Microsoft 365. However, multiple Microsoft 365 solutions exist that enterprises must sort through to find the best one for them.
Adding to the difficulty in choosing a solution, Microsoft 365 plays a business-critical role in enterprises. Any solution that an enterprise selects must deliver similar enterprise-level features and availability.
Three Features Common Across All Enterprise Microsoft 365 SaaS Backup Solutions
Websites of Microsoft 365 SaaS backup solution products can make it sound like only that solution offers all the features that an enterprise needs to protect Microsoft 365. Common sense should tell us that assertion does not hold true. However, it does help to know some of the features common to all Microsoft 365 SaaS backup solutions.
In DCIG’s recent evaluation of 20+ Microsoft 365 SaaS backup solutions, it identified three features worth highlighting. These include:
- Data encryption. Enterprises should view encryption as an imperative. This comes into play since a solution may store backups in one or more cloud storage locations, including in other cloud data centers. All evaluated solutions encrypt data both at-rest and in-flight using AES 256-bit encryption.
- Granular restores. Enterprises frequently need to restore individual items such as documents, email messages, files, folders, and mailboxes. Each solution supports granular restores of these individual items.
- Universally protect Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams. All evaluated Microsoft 365 SaaS backup solutions now protect these four core Microsoft 365 components. This did not hold true even as recently as a few years ago. However, each solution protects each component differently so enterprises still must verify how well a solution protects each of these components.
These three features and others represent table stake features that every Microsoft 365 SaaS backup solution should offer. However, enterprises need solutions with a more robust feature set to meet their specific requirements.
Three Features that Every Enterprise Microsoft 365 Backup Solution Should Possess
The critical role that Microsoft 365 plays in daily enterprise operations demands that any enterprise Microsoft 365 backup solution should possess the following three features.
First, it should offer features that detect ransomware in Microsoft 365 backups.
Microsoft 365 permits individuals from inside and outside the enterprise to send, receive, and share information.
However, this free flow of information makes it a target for hackers as a mechanism to introduce ransomware into enterprises. In fact, one recent 2025 study found email responsible for over 90 percent of cyberattacks.[i]
This makes it imperative that a Microsoft 365 backup solution to scan for and detect the presence of ransomware in Microsoft 365 backups. By taking on this expanded cybersecurity role, it minimizes and ideally neutralizes any impact ransomware may have on an enterprise.
Second, it must offer options to comply with country-specific data sovereignty laws.
Many enterprises operate globally with offices in countries around the world. Due to the sensitive nature of data often stored in Microsoft 365, this makes Microsoft 365 backups subject to country-specific data sovereignty laws.
To satisfy these regulations, the backup solution should offer at least two options. First, it must first comply with country-specific laws that govern data collection and generation. Second, it must offer the flexibility to store backups in accordance with these country-specific laws.
Third, robust restore capabilities.
Business-critical applications – and users of them – have little tolerance for downtime. Admittedly, certain aspects of Microsoft 365 remain outside of the control of the backup solution – such as Microsoft 365’s availability.
However, a backup solution should accommodate fast, easy restores of Microsoft 365 backups. Features it should offer include:
- Identifying backups suitable for restore that are free from ransomware.
- Searching available backups for the backup with the correct information to restore.
- Securely give end-users access to the backup solution to reduce administrator time managing restores while accelerating restore times.
Afi’s AI Makes a Difference in Microsoft 365 Data Protection
In DCIG’s evaluation of over 20 Microsoft 365 SaaS backup solutions, Afi stood out. Specifically, Afi makes artificial intelligence, or AI, a differentiator in delivering Microsoft 365 SaaS data protection.
DCIG observed that those solutions that incorporate and tightly integrate AI into their solutions have begun to separate themselves. Afi represents one such stand-out solution in this area. Afi does so in at least three ways:
First, Afi uses AI to detect ransomware. While other solutions also do this, it uses AI to counter ransomware attacks. Should it detect ransomware, it preemptively takes a Microsoft 365 backup to preserve the latest versions of data.
Second, in scanning backups for ransomware, Afi labels backups as clean. In this way, users have confidence when selecting a backup for restore.
Last, but not least, Afi uses AI to manage and schedule backups. It may schedule backup jobs to occur in parallel or automatically reschedule or reconfigure them if they fail.
Microsoft 365 Backup Powered by AI has Arrived
Most enterprises recognize the responsibility for protecting data residing in Microsoft 365 lays with them. However, due to Microsoft 365’s business-critical nature and the amount of sensitive data it contains, they need more than a robust Microsoft 365 SaaS backup solution to protect and manage it. They need one powered by AI.
Afi represents one of the best AI-powered solutions on the market today to help enterprises meet today’s backup requirements. It does more simply backup Microsoft 365. It intelligently protects the data while ensuring fast, secure restores.
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Note: Afi is a client of DCIG.
[i] https://www.getastra.com/blog/security-audit/malware-statistics/ Referenced 9/10/2025.