With so many organizations leveraging the Microsoft Business Application suite for critical operations, ensuring the integrity and availability of data is more important than ever. However, as data volumes surge and complexity grows, relying solely on Microsoft’s native Dataverse backup capabilities can expose companies—particularly large ones—to risks. Let’s look at a few reasons why these native solutions often fall short and the challenges they pose for large organizations.
An Explosion of Data
The world is experiencing an unprecedented data boom. In 2023, we (humans) generated a staggering 120 zettabytes of data, with projections indicating this will soar to 181 zettabytes by 2025. This explosive growth is driven in part by the rise of low-code and no-code platforms like Microsoft Power Platform, which now boasts 25 million monthly users. These platforms democratize application development, enabling users without formal coding experience to create business-specific applications rapidly, resulting in massive data generation.
Regulatory Pressure and Cybersecurity Threats
As data generation accelerates, so does the frequency of cyberattacks and data breaches. Regulatory bodies are increasingly focused on restoration and recovery, emphasizing the importance of business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) planning. Enterprises must ensure data resiliency to safeguard their operations and comply with stringent regulations, such as GDPR, DORA, NYDFS, and HIPAA.
How Data Loss Occurs in Dynamics CRM and Power Apps
While advantageous, Dynamics CRM and Power Apps' customization and integration flexibility also introduce significant risks. In Dynamics CRM, the main risks stem from users customizing the platform to meet evolving business needs. These customizations can lead to accidental data loss or corruption. In Power Apps, empowered citizen developers might inadvertently overwrite, delete, or mismanage data due to inadequate safeguards. Additionally, inadequate security measures can expose data integrity issues and compliance breaches.
Limitations of Native Dataverse Backup
For large enterprises, the native Dataverse backup and recovery capabilities are often insufficient. Here’s why:
- Lack of Granularity: Native solutions require full environment backups, which are cumbersome and inefficient for specific data issues. Granular recovery capabilities are essential to restore specific records or fields from data loss or corruption without disrupting the entire system.
- Time-Consuming Processes: Full backups are unpredictably time-consuming and often fail to meet the necessary recovery time and recovery point objectives (RTO and RPO), leading to prolonged downtime and operational disruption.
- Scalability Issues: Large enterprises need scalable backup solutions that ensure high availability and minimal downtime. Native features lack the resiliency and redundancy required for large-scale adoption. Storing both primary and backup data on the same platform can lead to potential risks, as any incident affecting the primary data can also impact the backup data.
- Compliance Challenges: Meeting regulatory requirements like GDPR and DORA with native solutions is challenging or impossible, risking non-compliance and associated penalties.
- Inflexibility: Native backup processes' slow and unpredictable nature hampers the ability to innovate and adapt to changing business needs.
Keep Your Dynamics CRM and Power Apps Data Resilient
Given these challenges, organizations must look beyond native solutions to safeguard their data effectively. Our comprehensive guide, "Mastering Operational Resilience for Microsoft Dynamics CRM & Power Apps," offers valuable insights into building a robust data protection strategy. It covers:
- How data loss occurs in Dynamics CRM and Power Apps
- Why native Dataverse backup limits operational agility
- Strategies to protect data, maintain compliance, and build resilience
Don't let the limitations of native backup solutions jeopardize your data integrity. Download the guide to learn how to implement a resilient data protection strategy tailored to the needs of large enterprises.
