Ryan and I’ve talked about quite a lot of issues since we took over because the editors of Good Information Collective a number of years in the past. One factor that we didn’t speak as a lot about is why a Microsoft 365 Migration is essential for organizations that depend on information to information selections. You could already discover that many analytics conversations give attention to instruments whereas overlooking how folks truly entry and share info. It is not uncommon for groups to retailer information in a number of locations with no clear construction for collaboration. There are rising expectations for leaders to show uncooked information into perception with out slowing each day work.
You could be operating a data-driven enterprise that produces reviews however nonetheless struggles with visibility throughout groups. It’s this pressure between information quantity and information readability that frames this dialogue. Hold studying to be taught extra.
Why Information-Pushed Companies Have a look at Microsoft 365 Migration
A report from EdgeDelta reveals that the majority companies analyze solely 37% to 40% of their information, though 97.2% of corporations spend money on huge information options. You could acknowledge this sample in your individual group, the place dashboards exist however solutions nonetheless really feel incomplete. There are limits to what analytics can ship when info is scattered.
You could assume that heavy funding naturally results in higher perception, however the numbers recommend in any other case. It’s typically the case that entry and group matter as a lot as assortment.
Neil of the Cognopia Academy reviews that simply 32% of corporations have a knowledge technique right now. You could be working with no formal technique whereas nonetheless anticipating constant reporting throughout departments. It’s tough to keep up confidence in numbers when priorities and possession are unclear. There are actual penalties when information objectives are left undefined.
You may additionally see how collaboration instruments have an effect on how shortly groups reply to questions. It’s simpler to construct shared understanding when information, conversations, and metrics reside in linked programs.
You could take care of model conflicts, duplicated information, or delays attributable to guide sharing. There are dangers tied to that fragmentation, particularly when selections depend on well timed info.
Shelley Bougnague of Cloudficient writes that information migration failure charges drop by 73% with correct planning. You could discover reassurance in realizing that preparation reduces disruption and rework. It’s planning, not velocity, that always determines whether or not a migration helps long-term information use.
You could be interested by progress and future reporting wants reasonably than short-term fixes. It’s this forward-looking view that always leads data-driven companies to reassess their platforms.
Microsoft introduced the top of assist for Trade 2016 and 2019 on October 14, 2025. The implication of this declaration is that these Trade Servers will nonetheless operate, however not obtain any safety updates, hotfixes and cumulative updates shifting ahead. After listening to this information, many organizations are in a quandary. At present, they’ve two choices—change to Microsoft 365 (cloud model of Trade) or improve to Trade Server SE (the on-premise model of Trade).
As a result of Microsoft 365 is a very cloud-based answer, it offers an effective way to maintain servers and important enterprise info safe. It additionally reduces the executive burden on Trade Admins as this cloud-based platform is managed by Microsoft. Nevertheless, migrating from on-premises Trade to Microsoft 365 entails many advanced steps and thorough preparation, which we are going to talk about on this article.
Key Preparation Steps for Profitable Microsoft 365 Migration
Beneath are some key preparatory steps for Microsoft 365 migration:
1. Assess Your Present Trade Surroundings
You may consider your on-premise Trade surroundings by following the steps under:
- Analyze present license assignments one-by-one. Establish consumer mailbox dimension and have necessities. Primarily based on this info, you possibly can provision new licenses (Primary, Customary, Premium for companies and E3, E5, F3 for enterprises) with required mailbox cupboard space and options that the migrated customers are seemingly to make use of. You may as well mix completely different licenses to handle consumer wants. For example, the costly E3 and E5 licenses that supply over 1 TB of storage could be allotted to energy customers and the cheaper F3 license with solely 2GB of storage could be assigned to frontline staff with low mailbox storage necessities.
- Make an inventory of all of the settings of your on-premise Trade surroundings. Write down mail circulate guidelines, compliance insurance policies, and retention. If you end up carried out with migration, apply these settings to the brand new Microsoft 365 surroundings. It will be sure that your work operations can resume with the identical settings. For example, after having utilized mail circulate guidelines to dam sure messages which can be unsafe in on-premise Trade, an Trade admins must create equal mail circulate guidelines in Microsoft 365. It will be sure that unsafe messages nonetheless stay blocked in Microsoft 365.
- Earlier than starting migration, make an inventory of consumer, shared and useful resource mailboxes. After that, analyze this record to gauge which mailboxes should be migrated, merged, archived, or deactivated/deleted.
2. Validate Community Readiness
Earlier than Microsoft 365 migration can start, an Trade admin ought to check the present community bandwidth:
For testing community readiness, you will need to comply with the steps under:
- Be sure that your community is prepared for Microsoft 365 migration by assessing the variety of shoppers that can be on the brand new tenant and which options/companies they are going to be utilizing
- Create a pilot group that’s numerous and carefully resembles the precise consumer base that you’ve. After that, you need to use community connectivity check device to check the connectivity after migrating that pilot group to Microsoft 365. Utilizing these outcomes, you will get a good suggestion concerning the community bandwidth requirement of all the group.
- Configure community components corresponding to firewalls, proxies, and safety gateways appropriately to make sure the passage of site visitors by way of Microsoft 365 endpoints with none delay or restriction
3. Put together Microsoft’s Azure AD for Migration
It is very important synchronize on-premise Energetic Listing (AD) to Azure Energetic Listing (now known as Entra ID) for sustaining constant consumer identities between native and cloud environments. Correct synchronization is significant for averting authentication points. Observe the steps offered in this hyperlink to organize Microsoft’s Azure AD for migration.
4. Plan Communication and Help
Efficient communication and assist planning could make migration to Microsoft 365 easy and fruitful for all the group. Beneath are the steps you possibly can comply with to plan and talk assist:
- Present details about migration timelines to the end-users. Additionally preserve them abreast of anticipated service interruptions, in order that they plan their mail communication accordingly.
- Present complete Microsoft 365 coaching forward of migration to customers who can be migrated to the cloud surroundings. It will assist them use the brand new options effortlessly after migration.
- Create a sturdy assist plan that gives well timed assist to finish customers. The assist can troubleshoot widespread post-migration points, corresponding to login issues, electronic mail configuration, or doc entry, which is able to improve consumer expertise after migration.
Stellar Migrator for Trade migrates mailboxes from on-premise Trade Servers to Microsoft 365 whereas preserving folder construction, and metadata. Utilizing this software program, you possibly can carry out each similar area and cross area migrations with none want for advanced PowerShell scripting. Other than these essential benefits, the device additionally offers the next advantages throughout Microsoft 365 migration:
- Actual-time dashboards for full visibility throughout migration: Native migration strategies present restricted visibility throughout migration, which prevents Microsoft admins from addressing migration points as they occur. However that’s not the case with migration instruments like Stellar Migrator for Trade. It’s geared up with job progress dashboard and mailbox progress dashboard for monitoring migration progress, monitor errors, and confirm completion in real-time.
- Cut back migration time by mapping mailboxes mechanically: The device means that you can mechanically map mailboxes. It does that by evaluating electronic mail addresses between the supply and goal servers. This characteristic of Stellar Migrator for Trade reduces the time spent by Trade admins on migration. If automated matching isn’t potential, the device means that you can manually map the mailboxes to make sure appropriate mapping.
- No downtime and entry to crucial enterprise emails: You may run a migration job on a Stay Trade Server utilizing the Stellar Migrator device with out incurring any downtime. Whereas the migration job is in-progress, the on-premise server could obtain new crucial enterprise emails or new calendar entries. You may switch all these new mailbox objects from the already migrated mailboxes by operating delta migration. It will transfer information between servers by operating an clever scan, figuring out already moved objects and transferring solely the brand new objects.
Conclusion
You could now see {that a} Microsoft 365 Migration is much less about expertise developments and extra about how information is dealt with day after day. It’s the construction round information that always decides whether or not perception is trusted.
You could determine that migration planning is a chance to rethink entry, possession, and collaboration round information. There are long-term advantages for organizations that need their information to tell motion reasonably than sit unused.
A profitable Microsoft 365 migration calls for strategic planning earlier than starting the migration course of. Any misstep or oversight whereas following the native Microsoft course of may cause downtime.
In distinction, Trade Migration device corresponding to Stellar Migrator for Trade open up a easy and shorter migration path. The device migrates mailboxes saved in on-premise Trade Server to Microsoft 365 and does it whereas preserving folder construction and metadata with none want for advanced PowerShell scripting. It permits for automated mailbox mapping, information filtering and delta or incremental migration. These options expedite migration with minimal consumer enter. In consequence, Trade admins scale back migration time and decrease the chance of administrative errors and downtime.
