Stop Paying for Ex-Employee Microsoft 365 Licenses & Retention Fees

When employees leave, their OneDrive data is at risk of being deleted after 93 days unless you keep paying for Microsoft 365 licenses or invest in costly SharePoint retention policies.

For many organizations, retaining ex-employee data is a necessary part of compliance, legal requirements, or internal audits. However, Microsoft’s approach forces businesses to either keep paying for inactive licenses or rely on complex retention policies that drive up SharePoint storage costs. This leads to unnecessary expenses and administrative overhead for IT teams.

Additionally, manually transferring ex-employee data is time-consuming and prone to errors. IT teams must search for files, move them to a manager or legal department, and ensure nothing is lost in the process. If the process is mishandled, critical company information can be permanently deleted.

Chipmunk eliminates this hassle by automating OneDrive archiving and securely storing data in your Azure Blob Storage, ensuring compliance without unnecessary costs.

Chipmunk automates the process, saving time and money while ensuring compliance.

Why Businesses Need Chipmunk

Reduces IT Workload & Simplifies Offboarding

For growing enterprises, managing ex-employee data at scale can be a daunting task. IT teams are often overwhelmed with manual processes, leading to inefficiencies and potential errors. Chipmunk OneDrive Archiving provides a scalable solution that automates the entire offboarding process, from data transfer and archiving to access control and compliance reporting.

Whether you’re handling a few offboardings per month or hundreds, Chipmunk ensures a consistent and efficient process. By automating these tasks, Chipmunk reduces the manual workload, freeing up IT resources to focus on strategic initiatives and supporting your organization’s growth. Imagine a streamlined offboarding process that scales with your business, ensuring data security and compliance without overwhelming your IT team

Secure & Compliant Data Ownership

Maintain complete ownership and control of your archived data with Chipmunk. All files are stored directly in your Azure Blob Storage, guaranteeing compliance with critical regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, and legal retention policies.

Unlike third-party backup providers that may restrict access and impose expensive subscriptions, Chipmunk allows you to leverage the robust security infrastructure of Azure while retaining full control. This approach ensures that your sensitive data remains secure and compliant, without the risk of vendor lock-in or unexpected costs.

Who Can Benefit from Chipmunk?

✅ IT Administrators – Simplify employee offboarding and reduce storage costs.

✅ Finance Teams – Stop unnecessary spending on ex-employee licenses.

✅ Compliance & Legal Teams – Ensure data retention policies are met without breaking the bank.

✅ Business Owners – Gain control over company data while reducing security risks.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Core Product & Value Propositions:

• Q: How is Chipmunk different from Microsoft retention policies?
  • A: Microsoft’s retention policies require either keeping a license active or paying for additional SharePoint storage, which gets expensive. Chipmunk automates the process and stores the data in your Azure account, cutting costs significantly.
• Q: Why not just use a third-party backup provider?
  • A: Most backup providers charge $3–$5 per user per month, which adds up fast. Chipmunk provides a one-time, low-cost archiving solution without recurring per-user fees.
• Q: How easy is it to restore a user’s OneDrive files?
  • A: Restoring data from traditional backups can take hours or days. With Chipmunk, files are archived in your Azure storage and can be instantly retrieved when needed.  
• Q: Is my data secure?
  • A: Yes. Chipmunk never stores your data—all files are archived in your own Azure storage account, giving you full control.
• Q: Will Chipmunk work with other Microsoft 365 services?
  • A: Currently, Chipmunk focuses on OneDrive for Business, but future updates may support Teams and SharePoint document libraries. See Squirrel for SharePoint Online Document Archiving.

General OneDrive Archiving:

• Q: What is OneDrive archiving, and why is it important?
  • A: OneDrive archiving involves preserving OneDrive data for long-term storage, compliance, or legal purposes. It’s crucial for organizations to manage data lifecycle and ensure data retention.
• Q: How does Chipmunk OneDrive Archiving help with data compliance?
  • A: Our solution ensures that your archived data meets regulatory requirements like GDPR, HIPAA, and others, providing audit trails and secure storage.
• Q: Can I search and retrieve archived OneDrive files easily?
  • A: Yes, Chipmunk OneDrive Archiving maintains the searchability of your archived data, allowing for quick retrieval for eDiscovery or other needs.

Microsoft’s Upcoming Changes & Employee Offboarding:

• Q: How will Microsoft’s upcoming changes affect OneDrive data retention?
  • A: Microsoft’s changes in 2025 regarding unlicensed accounts necessitate robust solutions for maintaining data integrity post-employee departure. Chipmunk OneDrive Archiving addresses this.
• Q: What are the best practices for OneDrive employee offboarding archiving?
  • A: Implementing an automated archiving process, like Chipmunk, ensures that all relevant data is preserved and accessible, avoiding data loss during employee turnover.
• Q: How can I ensure OneDrive unlicensed account retention?
  • A: Chipmunk OneDrive Archiving helps you retain data from unlicensed OneDrive accounts, ensuring compliance and preventing data loss.
• Q: Can your software automate OneDrive data transfer after employee termination?
  • A: Yes, Chipmunk automates the transfer and archiving process, streamlining OneDrive data management for HR and IT.
• Q: How do I handle Microsoft 365 inactive user data preservation?
  • A: Our tool provides a centralized solution for preserving inactive user data, ensuring compliance and reducing storage costs.
• Q: What is the best way to enforce a OneDrive offboarding policy?
  • A: Automating the offboarding and archiving process with Chipmunk ensures consistent policy enforcement and data security.
• Q: How can I prevent OneDrive data loss during employee turnover?
  • A: By using Chipmunk OneDrive Archiving, you create automated archives of departing employees’ data, preventing data loss.

Cost, Security, and Practical Solutions:

• Q: How can I manage OneDrive storage costs for inactive users?
  • A: Archiving inactive user data with Chipmunk helps reduce storage costs by moving data to more cost-effective storage solutions.
• Q: Is Chipmunk OneDrive Archiving secure?
  • A: Yes, our solution prioritizes data security, providing secure storage and access controls for your archived files.   
• Q: How does your solution help with eDiscovery for archived OneDrive data?
  • A: Chipmunk allows for efficient searching and retrieval of archived data, simplifying eDiscovery processes.
• Q: Can I create a legal hold for OneDrive data using your software?
  • A: Yes, our software supports legal hold functionalities, ensuring data preservation for legal and compliance purposes.  
• Q: How can I simplify OneDrive data retrieval for legal requests?
  • A: Chipmunk provides advanced search and filtering options, making it easy to retrieve specific data for legal requests. 
• Q: How does Chipmunk help reduce IT workload for OneDrive offboarding?
  • A: Our automated solution reduces the manual effort required for offboarding, freeing up IT resources.
• Q: Is Chipmunk OneDrive Archiving scalable for enterprise use?
  • A: Yes, Chipmunk is designed to scale with your organization’s needs, providing a robust solution for enterprise-level data archiving.