Automated Archiving for Departed Employees
Meet Chipmunk
The smarter, faster way to preserve OneDrive and Exchange data after employee departures
Chipmunk is an automated OneDrive and Exchange Online archiving solution that detects disabled or deactivated Microsoft 365 accounts and securely moves their files and emails into your Azure Blob Storage — cutting costs, reducing licensing overhead, and ensuring compliance without manual intervention.
With Chipmunk, you can preserve critical business data, eliminate reliance on costly Microsoft retention policies, and streamline employee offboarding — all while maintaining full control and ownership of your archived information.
Stop Paying for Ex-Employee Microsoft 365 Licenses & Retention Fees
When employees leave, their OneDrive data and Exchange Online emails are at risk of being deleted after 93 days unless you continue paying for Microsoft 365 licenses or invest in costly SharePoint and Exchange retention policies.
For many organizations, retaining ex-employee data is essential for compliance, legal requirements, or internal audits. However, Microsoft’s approach forces businesses to either maintain active licenses for departed users or rely on complex and expensive retention policies — driving up SharePoint storage and Exchange Online costs, along with unnecessary administrative overhead for IT teams.
Additionally, manually transferring ex-employee files and emails is time-consuming and prone to human error. IT teams must search, extract, and move critical information to managers or legal departments — with the constant risk of accidentally losing important company data.
Chipmunk eliminates this hassle by automating the secure archiving of both OneDrive files and Exchange Online mailboxes into your Azure Blob Storage.
You retain full ownership, reduce licensing and storage expenses, and maintain compliance — without relying on costly Microsoft retention models or manual processes.
Chipmunk automates the entire offboarding data preservation workflow, saving time, reducing costs, and ensuring that your critical business information is always protected.
What is Chipmunk?
Chipmunk is a fully automated Microsoft Exchange Online and OneDrive archiving solution for businesses using Microsoft 365. It detects disabled user accounts, securely moves OneDrive and Exchange Online data to your Azure Blob Storage, and prevents unnecessary Microsoft costs.
Detects Disabled Microsoft 365 Accounts
Automatically identifies deactivated user accounts before data loss occurs
Archives Exchange Online and OneDrive Data Securely
Moves ex-employee files to your Azure storage, avoiding costly Microsoft retention fees.
Eliminates Unnecessary License Costs
No need to pay for inactive Microsoft 365 licenses or high SharePoint storage fees.
Ensures Long-Term Compliance
Retain data for regulatory or legal requirements at a fraction of the cost.
Instant Data Restoration
Retrieve archived OneDrive files instantly when needed.
Fully Automated & Hands-Free
Set it up once and let Chipmunk do the work with zero manual effort.
Why Businesses Need Chipmunk
Avoid Expensive Microsoft Retention Fees & License Costs
Microsoft’s standard approach forces businesses to keep paying for departed employee licenses or use retention policies that increase SharePoint storage costs:
- Microsoft 365 E3 License ($36/user/month) → $216,000/year for 500 departed users
- Microsoft 365 E5 License ($57/user/month) → $342,000/year for 500 departed users
- Retention Policies (SharePoint Storage Fees): $200 per TB/month when exceeding storage limits.
With Chipmunk, you eliminate these unnecessary costs by automatically storing departed employees Exchange Online and OneDrive data in your Azure account.
Reduces IT Workload & Streamlines Offboarding Across OneDrive and Exchange Online
Offboarding shouldn’t be a burden. As your business grows, manually handling ex-employee OneDrive files and Exchange Online mailboxes can overwhelm even the best IT teams.
Chipmunk automates the entire process — seamlessly archiving OneDrive data and Exchange Online emails into your Azure environment, enforcing access controls, and ensuring compliance from day one.
Whether you’re managing a few departures or scaling across thousands, Chipmunk removes the manual pain, protects your data, and empowers your IT team to stay focused on what truly matters: driving your organization forward.
Say goodbye to tedious offboarding — and hello to fast, secure, scalable data archiving.
Prevents Data Loss & Closes Security Gaps Instantly
Manual offboarding is a ticking time bomb.
Without automated control, ex-employee OneDrive accounts and Exchange Online mailboxes are often overlooked — risking data loss, unauthorized access, and regulatory violations.
Chipmunk eliminates these risks by automatically detecting and archiving all OneDrive files and Exchange emails the moment an account is deactivated.
By securing orphaned accounts before they become vulnerabilities, Chipmunk ensures your organization maintains full control over sensitive data, protecting business continuity and meeting compliance obligations — without the usual manual overhead.
With Chipmunk, data loss and offboarding security gaps become a thing of the past.
Secure & Compliant Data Ownership
Maintain complete ownership and control of your archived data with Chipmunk.
All archived OneDrive files and Exchange Online emails are stored directly in your Azure Blob Storage, ensuring full compliance with critical regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, and legal retention policies.
Unlike third-party backup vendors that restrict access, lock you into subscriptions, or take ownership of your data, Chipmunk puts you — and only you — in complete control.
By archiving data directly into your own Azure environment, you eliminate third-party risk, maintain full auditability, and guarantee that your sensitive information stays protected, compliant, and accessible — on your terms, not anyone else’s.
With Chipmunk, your data stays your data — always.
Instant File and Email Access, Simplified
Accessing ex-employee data should be effortless, not a time-consuming ordeal.
Chipmunk provides instant retrieval of archived OneDrive files and Exchange Online emails, empowering HR, Legal, and IT teams to quickly find and access the information they need — exactly when they need it.
No more frustrating searches through old backups or complex manual restoration processes.
Chipmunk simplifies retrieval across both files and emails, offering a user-friendly experience that saves time, reduces stress, and accelerates response times for audits, legal requests, or internal investigations.
Even better, Chipmunk’s AI-powered search allows you to instantly search within a user’s archived OneDrive files or Exchange emails — using keywords, dates, or topics — making it faster than ever to pinpoint the exact data you’re looking for.
With Chipmunk, accessing and finding archived data is as simple as a few clicks — no technical expertise require
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 archiving of OneDrive files and Exchange Online mailboxes, securely storing the data in your own Azure Blob Storage, cutting costs significantly.
Q: How easy is it to restore a user’s files or emails?
A: Restoring data from traditional backups can take hours or even days. With Chipmunk, archived OneDrive files and Exchange emails are stored in your Azure storage and can be instantly retrieved or searched as needed.
Q: Is my data secure?
A: Yes. Chipmunk never stores your data — all files and emails are archived into your own Azure storage account, giving you full security, compliance, and control.
Q: Will Chipmunk work with other Microsoft 365 services?
A: Currently, Chipmunk focuses on OneDrive and Exchange Online. Future updates may expand support to additional Microsoft 365 services.
OneDrive and Exchange Online Archiving
Q: What is user archiving, and why is it important?
A: User archiving involves preserving ex-employee OneDrive files and Exchange Online emails for long-term storage, compliance, or legal needs. It’s critical for managing the data lifecycle, ensuring data retention, and protecting organizational knowledge.
Q: How does Chipmunk help with data compliance?
A: Chipmunk ensures your archived data meets regulatory requirements like GDPR, HIPAA, and legal hold policies, providing audit trails, access controls, and secure Azure-based storage.
Q: Can I search and retrieve archived OneDrive files and Exchange emails easily?
A: Absolutely. Chipmunk maintains the full searchability of your archives and offers AI-powered search tools — allowing you to instantly locate specific files, folders, or emails across both OneDrive and Exchange data.
Microsoft Changes & Employee Offboarding
Q: How will Microsoft’s upcoming changes affect data retention?
A: Microsoft’s changes in 2025 regarding unlicensed accounts make it essential to have a proactive archiving solution. Chipmunk ensures your organization’s data remains protected even after employee accounts are deactivated.
Q: What are best practices for employee offboarding data archiving?
A: Automating the archiving of OneDrive files and Exchange emails ensures consistent preservation of user data, minimizes security risks, and supports compliance audits.
Q: How can I ensure unlicensed account data is retained?
A: Chipmunk automatically detects deactivated or unlicensed accounts, archiving their OneDrive and Exchange data before Microsoft purges the information.
Q: Can Chipmunk automate data transfer after employee termination?
A: Yes. Chipmunk fully automates the detection, transfer, and archiving of both OneDrive and Exchange data, removing the manual workload from your HR and IT teams.
Q: How does Chipmunk handle inactive user data?
A: Chipmunk provides a centralized, automated solution to preserve and secure all inactive OneDrive and Exchange data in your Azure environment, reducing storage costs and security exposure.
Q: What’s the best way to enforce an offboarding archiving policy?
A: Use Chipmunk’s automation to ensure every deactivated account’s OneDrive files and Exchange emails are archived systematically — enforcing retention policies without manual effort.
Q: How can I prevent data loss during employee turnover?
A: Chipmunk’s automated archiving ensures that no data — whether files or emails — is lost when employees leave.
Cost, Security, and Practical Solutions
Q: How can I manage storage costs for inactive users?
A: By moving ex-employee OneDrive and Exchange data to your Azure Blob Storage using Chipmunk, you avoid paying ongoing Microsoft 365 licensing and storage fees.
Q: Is Chipmunk secure?
A: Absolutely. All archived data remains in your Azure environment with your own security policies, encryption, and access controls. Chipmunk simply automates the process — without ever holding your data.
Q: How does Chipmunk help with eDiscovery for archived data?
A: Chipmunk’s AI-driven search makes it fast and easy to locate specific OneDrive files or Exchange emails during legal discovery or internal investigations.
Q: Can I place a legal hold on archived user data?
A: Yes. Archived OneDrive files and Exchange emails remain preserved and accessible, supporting your organization’s legal hold requirements and compliance mandates.
Q: How can I simplify data retrieval for legal or compliance needs?
A: Chipmunk’s search, filter, and export tools streamline the retrieval process — delivering fast results with minimal IT involvement.
Q: How does Chipmunk reduce IT workload for employee offboarding?
A: Chipmunk fully automates the archive workflow for both OneDrive and Exchange, eliminating manual steps and freeing up IT to focus on higher-priority initiatives.
Q: Is Chipmunk scalable for enterprise use?
A: Yes. Whether you’re offboarding a few employees or thousands, Chipmunk is designed to scale effortlessly, providing a secure, efficient solution for enterprise-level data archiving across Microsoft 365.
Want to Know more about Chipmunk?
Stop Paying for Ex-Employee Microsoft Licenses
Chipmunk automates OneDrive archiving, saving your business thousands on retention fees while keeping data secure in your Azure storage
