Safeguarding Architectural Data: A Microsoft 365 Backup Success Story
Jul 22, 2025
Our client is a London-based architecture and urban design studio known for its innovative and sustainable design approach. The practice operates across commercial, residential, healthcare and heritage sectors, seamlessly combining environmental performance with thoughtful urban planning and refined aesthetics.
Their design methodology brings together advanced digital modelling, in-house craftsmanship and collaborative processes to deliver functional, considered spaces.
Industry: Architecture and Urban Design
Organisation Size: 50+ employees
Service Areas: Microsoft 365 Tenant Backups, Data Security and Storage
Due to the nature of the architecture sector, businesses are required to retain data related to each project for several years. With the increasing number of ransomware attacks targeting business-critical data, it became clear that there was a need for a long-term backup strategy for Microsoft Exchange, OneDrive and SharePoint.
Our initial assessment showed that while some data was being manually backed up to local servers, there was no central or comprehensive solution in place. The business was relying on Microsoft’s default 90-day retention policy, which posed a major risk in the event of accidental deletion or cyberattack.
The risks were clear: the business faced potential data loss due to limited retention policies, exposure to ransomware threats, and inadequate protection of email and file data across the Microsoft 365 platform.
We carried out a full whitespace analysis across the client’s existing backup setup, reviewing onsite storage, offsite solutions and immutability provisions. This highlighted several key vulnerabilities and confirmed that email data was not being properly backed up.
To address this, we:
- Implemented a Microsoft 365 backup solution covering Exchange, OneDrive and SharePoint
- Deployed a secure cloud environment to manage and store all backup data
- Configured daily automated backups with central monitoring
- Ensured the solution would scale in line with the client’s future Microsoft 365 usage
- Provided long-term data retention and recovery for compliance and operational needs
Given the architectural sector’s requirement to retain historical project data and the growing threat of cybercrime, implementing a Microsoft 365 backup solution was both a preventative and strategic move.
The business now benefits from a fully managed, cloud-based backup environment. Backups are run daily and monitored centrally, ensuring critical project data is protected and can be recovered quickly if needed.
At Lyon Managed Services, we understand the value of data and the importance of protecting it. We help clients in architecture, design and related sectors ensure their systems are resilient, secure and future-ready.