Thinking About Migrating From G-Suite To Microsoft 365?

Migrating From G-Suite To Microsoft 365

Migrating from one business technology to another isn’t necessarily a simple process. Do you know how to manage the switch effectively?

Over the past few years, productivity suites have become more and more popular with businesses of all sizes, in a wide and varied range of industries. It’s the type of solution that has something to offer everyone. 

Cloud-based technologies, in general, are changing the way users like you view the capabilities of their technology – especially Microsoft 365.

Whether this is your first cloud platform, or you’re currently using an alternative like G-Suite, it’s important to consider your migration carefully. 

Do you know what it involves?

The 5 Step Process To Microsoft 365 Migration

Planning makes all the difference between a successful migration and a disastrous one. 

Follow these steps and take your time to execute an effective migration:

• Plan Ahead: When preparing for your migration to Microsoft Office 365, it’s important to plan efficiently and thoroughly. The best way to achieve this is with an actual meeting with those who are involved in the process. You should talk through a number of key factors both in the migration, such as:
  • Why are we choosing to migrate?

  • What benefits do we expect to gain from migrating?

  • How will our infrastructure change during migration?

  • How will the user experience change after migration?

  • How will we train staff members on using Microsoft Office 365? 

This is an especially vital step because, if you don’t have answers to these questions, then you probably aren’t ready to migrate. 

Knowing how to answer these questions means that you can avoid common pitfalls and hit the ground running with your new IT environment.

Furthermore, you’ll want to make sure your entire staff understands what migration means for their work. What kind of downtime will they encounter, what are the benefits they will have access to once it’s complete, etc.

• Hardware: Migration is a great opportunity to take stock of your hardware. This is the type of consideration you need to make (and do something about) before you migrate, and not after.

• Software: As Microsoft Office 365 provides virtually all the software you could possibly use, there isn’t too much to take stock of in your old environment.
  
  However, if you and your staff currently use mail-enabled applications that you’re fond of, or that are so specific to your business and industry that you’ll need them post-migration anyway, then you need to make sure they are compatible with Exchange Web Services.

• Equip Yourself With A Deployment Tool: The good news is that you won’t have to handle much of the migration process all on your own. Microsoft offers a Deployment Readiness Tool to help users plan out the many aspects of a successful migration – primarily, environment discovery.
  
  This tool can analyze and gather info on your IT system’s Active Directory and domain settings, helping to take stock of your Exchange, SharePoint, End User environment and Skye for Business settings. In addition to the app-based features, the Deployment Readiness Tool will also log your network configurations and settings so that they are carried over in migration as well.
  
  Furthermore, Microsoft also has an Assessment and Planning Toolkit. While it is not designed specifically for Office 365, it is useful for discovery and inventory of cloud services and applications. If you’re migrating from a cloud-based or hybrid environment, the Assessment and Planning Toolkit will likely be a useful aid in determining what you need to keep track of.

• Migrate: Now that all the groundwork has been done, you’re ready to migrate.
  
  Remember, there’s no rushing this process. If you want it to be effective, and if you want your new Microsoft Office 365 environment to work as planned, then be patient and follow the steps carefully. 

Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For Guidance

It’s possible to handle a migration of this scale on your own – but it won’t be easy. As you can see, there’s a lot to consider, and this doesn’t even take into account the time and money you would spend on handling the process independently. 

It’s much wiser to simply enlist the assistance of an IT company like Menark Technologies. We will be able to offer the experience and skills necessary to manage the migration end to end and avoid the common pitfalls.