How Often Should You Back Up Your Business Data?
Backup frequency depends on how much data loss your business can survive. Here's a simple framework to determine the right backup schedule for every type of business data.
Backup frequency is determined by your RPO — Recovery Point Objective. RPO is the maximum amount of data loss your business can tolerate. If your RPO is 24 hours, a daily backup is sufficient. If you can't afford to lose more than one hour of work, you need hourly or continuous backups.
Backup Frequency by Data Type
- Email (M365/Google): continuous — use a dedicated M365 or Google Workspace backup tool
- Active databases and ERP/CRM systems: hourly or continuous depending on transaction volume
- File servers and shared drives: minimum once daily, ideally hourly snapshots
- Individual workstations: daily if employees store local files; eliminate local storage where possible
- Server system state and configuration: daily
- Website and web application data: daily with pre-change backups before any updates
Don't Forget Microsoft 365
This is one of the most common backup misconceptions: Microsoft does not fully back up your M365 data. Microsoft protects their infrastructure, but your data — emails, Teams messages, SharePoint files — has limited native retention. You need a third-party M365 backup solution from vendors like Veeam, Datto, or AvePoint to protect this data properly.
Automating Your Backup Schedule
Manual backups are unreliable — they get skipped on busy days, holidays, or when the person responsible is out of office. All business backups should be fully automated with monitoring and alerts if a backup job fails. Your IT provider should verify backup success and alert on failures.