EPC Group · Microsoft Services · 2026
Enterprise backup + ransomware recovery + DR architecture for Microsoft 365 + Azure — native MS 365 Backup combined with Veeam + Rubrik + AvePoint integration, Azure Site Recovery, immutable storage, regulated-industry retention (HIPAA + NYDFS + FedRAMP + CMMC). Tier-1 RPO 15-min / RTO 1-hour. Tested DR drills + incident response during business hours (Central).
Published June 25, 2026 · Updated continuously
Last updated by Errin O'Connor, Founder & Chief AI Architect, EPC Group
EPC Group designs and operates enterprise Microsoft 365 + Azure backup and disaster recovery architectures combining Microsoft 365 Backup native service (GA Nov 2024) with Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365, Rubrik Microsoft 365 Protection, AvePoint Cloud Backup, or Druva inSync for air-gapped + cross-tenant + long-retention copies; Azure Backup Vault + Azure Site Recovery for Azure VM + Azure SQL + Azure Files + Azure Blob workloads; immutable storage + WORM policy + backup-admin separation of duties for ransomware-recovery defense; compliance-native architectures for HIPAA + NYDFS Part 500 + FedRAMP + CMMC 2.0 + GDPR + Illinois BIPA + state medical records retention. High-touch, senior-architect-led delivery with named accountable architect across Discovery → Implementation → ongoing Cloud Orchestrator retainer. Standard production targets RPO 1-hour + RTO 4-hour; tier-1 critical systems RPO 15-min + RTO 1-hour. Ransomware incident response via Microsoft Cloud Orchestrator Practice retainer during business hours (Central), with emergency requests acknowledged the same business day.
EPC Group designs M365 + Azure backup + DR combining native MS 365 Backup with Veeam/Rubrik/AvePoint air-gapped copies + Azure Backup Vault + Azure Site Recovery + immutable storage + compliance-native architecture. RPO 1-hour / RTO 4-hour standard. Tier-1 RPO 15-min / RTO 1-hour. Ransomware-resilient with tested DR drills + business-hours IR via Cloud Orchestrator retainer.
Enterprise Microsoft 365 + Azure backup + DR is not a single product purchase — it is an integrated architecture across native + 3rd-party tooling, ransomware defense, compliance retention, and regulated-industry RPO/RTO design. EPC Group designs against all four pillars from day one.
EPC Group designs hybrid backup architectures combining Microsoft 365 Backup (Microsoft's GA-Nov-2024 native service for Exchange Online + SharePoint Online + OneDrive + Teams chat) with Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365, Rubrik Microsoft 365 Protection, AvePoint Cloud Backup, or Druva inSync — selecting the right combination per client retention + RPO/RTO + compliance + cost profile. Native MS 365 Backup is fastest for in-tenant point-in-time recovery; 3rd-party tools are required for cross-tenant + air-gapped + on-prem backup copies + long-term ransomware-isolated retention.
Microsoft stack
Microsoft 365 Backup native + Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 / Rubrik / AvePoint / Druva integration
Azure Backup Vault for Azure VMs + Azure SQL + Azure Files + Azure Blob immutability + cross-region geo-redundant storage; Azure Site Recovery for VM replication + failover orchestration; Azure Backup Center for fleet-wide visibility + policy management; soft-delete + immutable vault for ransomware protection. EPC Group designs RPO 1-hour / RTO 4-hour standard for production Azure workloads, with 15-min RPO / 1-hour RTO available for tier-1 financial services + healthcare critical systems.
Microsoft stack
Azure Backup Vault + Azure Site Recovery + Azure Backup Center + immutable vault + cross-region GRS
Per Sophos State of Ransomware 2025 + CrowdStrike 2026 Threat Report: ransomware attackers explicitly target backup repositories first. EPC Group architectures include air-gapped backup copies via Veeam Hardened Repository + Azure immutable storage + WORM (write-once read-many) policy enforcement; backup admin separation of duties via Microsoft Entra ID PIM + Privileged Access Workstation isolation; weekly + monthly + quarterly recovery drills with documented Mean Time To Recovery (MTTR) results; and incident response runbooks integrating Microsoft Defender XDR + Microsoft Sentinel + the backup recovery workflow.
Microsoft stack
Veeam Hardened Repository + Azure immutable storage + Entra PIM + Microsoft Sentinel SOC + tested IR runbooks
Healthcare (HIPAA + HITRUST + 21 CFR Part 11): BAA-aligned PHI backup with documented chain of custody + retention aligned to state-by-state medical records retention statutes. Financial services (NYDFS Part 500 + FINRA Rule 4511 + SEC Rule 17a-4 + Sarbanes-Oxley): WORM-compliant retention with 7-year minimum + supervised access + audit trail. Federal (FedRAMP + NIST 800-53 SP-1/2/3 + CMMC 2.0): Azure Government + Microsoft 365 GCC High backup posture with ITAR + EAR data-residency boundary enforcement. Education + research: FERPA-aligned student records retention + IRB protocol retention.
Microsoft stack
Per-industry retention policy library + audit-trail documentation + compliance attestation templates
EPC Group sets a recovery point and recovery time objective per workload, maps each workload to the service that meets it, and runs a restore test before calling the design done. Sources: Microsoft 365 Backup overview, Microsoft 365 Backup privacy and security, Azure Backup, Azure Site Recovery (Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-11-07).
Microsoft 365 backup consulting ends with a tested restore, not a configured policy. A Microsoft backup strategy partner designs around what the services actually restore:
Sources: Microsoft 365 Backup overview, Microsoft 365 Backup pricing, Microsoft 365 Backup FAQ, Site Recovery test failover (Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-11-07).
Documented enterprise backup + recovery experience across regulated industries. Federal Reserve Bank of New York TARP eDiscovery (reporting to Congressional Oversight Committee). Vivek Kundra federal IT advisory team (first U.S. Chief Information Officer, Obama administration). National Archives + U.S. intelligence community consulting. Healthcare systems including multi-hospital networks with PHI backup + retention scope. Financial services including derivatives + futures + HFT operators with NYDFS Part 500 + SEC Rule 17a-4 + FINRA Rule 4511 compliance. Manufacturing including aerospace + DoD-supplier with CMMC 2.0 + ITAR + EAR-controlled data handling.
Senior-architect-led delivery without junior consultants learning on the engagement. Every EPC Backup + DR engagement is led by one named senior architect responsible end-to-end across Discovery + Implementation + ongoing Cloud Orchestrator retainer. No bench rotation, no offshore handoff, no generic blended team.
Compliance-native architectures, not retrofit. HIPAA + NYDFS Part 500 + FedRAMP + CMMC 2.0 + 21 CFR Part 11 + state medical records statutes are baked into Microsoft Purview Records Management + retention labels + Azure Backup retention policies + 3rd-party backup tool configuration from Phase 1 — not added after audit findings.
Restore real content from a recent recovery point and time it: file- and folder-level restores work only for points in the most recent 14 days, older points restore whole sites or accounts, and Microsoft lists a median of up to 1 to 3 TiB per hour for bulk restores. For Azure workloads, run an Azure Site Recovery test failover in an isolated network; it does not affect replication or production (Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-11-07).
Microsoft 365 Backup for SharePoint, OneDrive and Exchange (its recovery window is set by the backup policy, because retention and deletion policies do not flow through to backups), Azure Backup for backup and restore of Azure workloads, and Azure Site Recovery for replication and failover. EPC Group sets recovery objectives per workload and proves them with a restore test (Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-11-07).
Yes, in most enterprise scenarios. Microsoft 365 Backup (GA Nov 2024) is excellent for in-tenant point-in-time recovery of Exchange Online + SharePoint Online + OneDrive + Teams chat, but it does NOT provide: cross-tenant backup copies (required for M&A, tenant consolidation, or business continuity if primary tenant is compromised); air-gapped or off-Microsoft-cloud backup copies (required for ransomware recovery scenarios where attackers compromise the M365 tenant itself); long-term retention beyond the M365 retention window (some regulated industries require 7+ year retention); granular eDiscovery + legal-hold workflow integration; or backup of M365 SaaS data not yet covered by Microsoft 365 Backup (Teams private channels content, Loop pages, Whiteboard, Power Platform data). EPC Group typically deploys Microsoft 365 Backup as the primary in-tenant recovery layer + Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 (or Rubrik / AvePoint / Druva) as the air-gapped + cross-tenant + long-retention layer.
Standard production targets: RPO (Recovery Point Objective) 1 hour, RTO (Recovery Time Objective) 4 hours. Tier-1 critical systems (trading platforms, hospital EHR systems, mission-critical SaaS production): RPO 15 minutes, RTO 1 hour. Tier-2 important systems: RPO 4 hours, RTO 8 hours. Tier-3 standard systems: RPO 24 hours, RTO 48 hours. The actual targets are negotiated per workload during the Backup + DR Discovery phase based on revenue impact, regulatory requirement, and cost tolerance — there is no one-size-fits-all RPO/RTO for enterprise Microsoft + Azure deployments.
Layered defense + recovery: (1) Air-gapped backup copies via Veeam Hardened Repository on Linux + Azure immutable storage with WORM policy that even tenant admins cannot delete; (2) Backup administrator account separation — backup admins are NOT M365 Global Admins, with Microsoft Entra ID Privileged Identity Management requiring just-in-time elevation + MFA + manager approval; (3) Privileged Access Workstation isolation for backup operations; (4) Weekly random-restore drills + monthly full-recovery drills + quarterly full-DR exercises with documented MTTR; (5) Microsoft Defender XDR + Microsoft Sentinel SOC integration so ransomware detection automatically triggers backup isolation + IR runbook; (6) Documented Incident Response runbook tested every 6 months. The CrowdStrike + Sophos research shows 75-80% of ransomware victims who paid did so because they could not restore from backup — typically because backups were compromised or untested. EPC Group designs against both failure modes.
Compliance-native architecture: per-industry retention policy library (HIPAA + HITECH + state medical records statutes; NYDFS Part 500 + SOX + GLBA + FINRA Rule 4511 + SEC Rule 17a-4; FedRAMP Moderate + High + DoD IL5/IL6 + CMMC 2.0 Level 2/3) baked into Microsoft Purview Records Management + retention labels + Azure Backup retention policies + 3rd-party backup tool configuration. Per-workload data-classification (PII / PHI / CUI / ITAR / EAR / classified) drives retention + access controls + audit trail requirements. EPC Group regulated-industry engagement experience: Federal Reserve Bank of New York TARP eDiscovery (Congressional Oversight Committee), Vivek Kundra federal IT advisory (first U.S. CIO), National Archives + U.S. intelligence community, healthcare systems including multi-hospital networks, derivatives + futures + HFT operators.
High-touch, senior-architect-led delivery without junior consultants learning on the engagement. Typical engagement structure: 3-week Backup + DR Discovery + Risk Assessment (fixed-fee), then 12-24 week Implementation + Migration to target architecture (fixed-fee accelerator, scoped by workload count + regulated-industry scope), then ongoing Microsoft Cloud Orchestrator Practice retainer covering quarterly DR drills + monthly backup health checks + incident response during business hours (Central). The named EPC senior architect is responsible end-to-end across all three phases — no bench rotation, no offshore handoff.
Microsoft 365 Backup is priced per GB stored ($0.15/GB/month list as of Jun 2026, with discounts at scale). For 1 TB of M365 data backed up to MS 365 Backup, that is approximately $150/month per tenant. Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 is licensed per user ($25-$45 per user/year) with unlimited backup storage on customer-provisioned infrastructure (S3 + Azure Blob + on-prem). Rubrik + AvePoint + Druva use per-user pricing in similar range. The economics: for tenants under 500 users, Veeam/Rubrik/AvePoint are usually cheaper than MS 365 Backup. For tenants over 5,000 users with high-storage workloads, MS 365 Backup native often wins on cost. EPC Group runs cost-modeling during Discovery to recommend the right combination per client.
Yes — the full Azure compute + database + storage backup stack is in scope. Azure Backup Vault for Azure VMs + Azure VM Snapshot integration + Azure SQL automated backups + Azure Database for PostgreSQL/MySQL backups + Azure Files snapshot + Azure Blob immutability + cross-region GRS replication + Azure Site Recovery for VM failover + Azure Backup Center for fleet visibility. Also covers Azure Kubernetes Service backup via Azure Backup for AKS + Velero integration. EPC Group designs unified backup + DR for Microsoft 365 + Azure as a single architecture, not separate tooling silos.
Ransomware requests are accepted around the clock through the support form and email under the Microsoft Cloud Orchestrator Practice retainer and are acknowledged the same business day; recovery operations run during business hours (Central) under a named senior architect. EPC Group has documented ransomware recovery experience across healthcare + financial services + manufacturing including the IR runbook + Microsoft Defender XDR + Microsoft Sentinel integration + backup isolation + clean-recovery + post-incident forensics workflow. Non-retainer clients can engage emergency engagement but timeline depends on EPC Group senior architect availability.
Reach EPC Group for a one-hour Backup + DR call with a senior architect. We'll review your current backup posture, identify the highest-risk gaps, and outline the fixed-fee 3-week Discovery scope.
Named engagements come first; anonymized summaries follow under the anonymized-engagement rule — the client is not named and every statement is EPC-reported. Documents behind named engagements are in the Evidence Center.
More engagements: Prairie View A&M University (Texas A&M University System) — Gmail to Exchange Online migration services (2020) · Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech Professional Education) — Microsoft Teams and SharePoint consulting services (2019) · Haskell (The Haskell Company) — Office 365 Phase 0 implementation-strategy initiative (2017) · Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 into One Tenant (2023) · Office 365 Tenant Consolidation: Four into One (2023) · Cross-Tenant Migration After an Acquisition: Life Sciences