Microsoft & CrashPlan Team Up to Tackle Rising M365 Storage Costs & Data Insight Needs

NEW YORK, NY – November 19, 2025

The Storage Squeeze & A New Approach

Organizations are increasingly feeling the financial pinch of Microsoft 365 storage costs. While the productivity suite offers immense value, the ever-growing volume of data – emails, documents, Teams chats, and more – is driving up expenses and prompting businesses to seek more efficient data management solutions. A deepened strategic collaboration between Microsoft and CrashPlan is attempting to address this challenge head-on, offering a combined approach to data resilience, archiving, and, crucially, unlocking insights from previously untapped backup data.

The partnership, highlighted at this week’s Microsoft Ignite conference, goes beyond traditional backup and recovery. CrashPlan, built entirely on Microsoft Azure, is expanding its integration with M365, introducing new archiving capabilities designed to significantly reduce storage footprint and a proof-of-concept for AI-powered search within backup data. “The sheer volume of data is becoming unmanageable for many organizations,” notes one industry analyst. “They need solutions that not only protect their data but also help them control costs and extract value from it.”

Archiving for Efficiency: Cutting Costs Without Compromise

One of the key components of the collaboration is a new Microsoft 365 archiving capability from CrashPlan. This feature addresses the problem of ‘sticky storage’ – data that is no longer actively used but must be retained for compliance or business reasons. Instead of continuously paying for primary storage, organizations can automatically offload inactive data to more cost-effective secondary storage, while still maintaining user access through file stubs.

This approach allows companies to significantly reduce their overall storage costs without compromising accessibility or compliance. CrashPlan is also emphasizing a ‘smarter use of OneDrive’ – leveraging unused OneDrive storage as a low-cost backup option, aligning with Microsoft’s Shared Responsibility Model. “The goal is to help organizations avoid unnecessary storage fees and optimize their M365 spend,” explains a source close to the development. The new archiving functionality, combined with deduplication, compression, and incremental backups, offers a compelling value proposition for businesses grappling with escalating cloud storage bills.

Beyond Backup: AI-Powered Insights from Historical Data

While cost savings are a significant driver, the partnership also focuses on transforming how organizations leverage their backup data. CrashPlan and Microsoft are jointly exploring the use of artificial intelligence to unlock valuable insights from historical data stored in backups. This goes beyond simply restoring files after an incident; it’s about turning backup data into a source of actionable intelligence.

The proof-of-concept leverages AI-powered search capabilities to allow users to quickly and easily find relevant information within backup archives. This could include identifying trends, detecting anomalies, and uncovering hidden patterns that would otherwise remain undiscovered. “The ability to search and analyze backup data opens up a whole new world of possibilities,” notes a cybersecurity professional. “It’s not just about disaster recovery anymore; it’s about proactive threat detection and data-driven decision-making.”

The initiative addresses a growing pain point: the scalability challenges of managing and analyzing petabytes of unstructured data. By integrating AI into their backup solution, CrashPlan is positioning itself as a leader in the emerging field of data resilience and intelligence. “Organizations are realizing that their backup data is a valuable asset,” says a technology consultant. “They want to be able to extract value from it, and AI is the key to unlocking that potential.”

A Deepening Partnership & Competitive Landscape

The expanded collaboration marks a deepening of the existing partnership between CrashPlan and Microsoft. CrashPlan is built on Azure and has strong integrations with M365 services like Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams. The company’s acquisition of Parablu in 2024, a specialist in M365 data protection, further solidified its commitment to the Microsoft ecosystem.

The move places CrashPlan alongside competitors like Veeam, Barracuda, and Rubrik, all vying for market share in the M365 data resilience space. While many providers offer backup and recovery capabilities, CrashPlan differentiates itself with its native Azure integration, new archiving features, and innovative AI-powered search initiative. “The competitive landscape is fierce,” observes an industry analyst. “But CrashPlan is positioning itself as a leader by focusing on both cost savings and data intelligence.”

CrashPlan’s unified platform offers a compelling value proposition, combining ransomware protection, legal hold, and eDiscovery capabilities across Microsoft 365, endpoints, and servers. “Organizations are looking for a comprehensive solution that addresses all their data resilience needs,” says a cybersecurity expert. “And CrashPlan is well-positioned to deliver.”