Moving a business to Microsoft 365 can be a fairly straightforward process. Set up the accounts, move the emails, transfer the files, then everyone gets back to work. This almost sounds a bit too perfect! In practice, there can be a few more awkward bits hiding underneath.
Old email accounts may contain years of messages. Staff could have files saved in places that nobody remembers. Shared folders sometimes have permissions that made sense five years ago, but don’t seem to make much sense now. Then there are those old accounts belonging to people who left months ago. Before anything gets moved, it’s worth taking a proper look at what your business actually uses.
Which users need accounts? What data needs moving? Are there applications that rely on the current email setup? These things can be easy to overlook when everyone is focused on getting the migration finished, but are extremely important to figure out sooner rather than later.
What should be checked before moving?
A little preparation could make the migration much easier. It doesn’t need to become a massive project either. Some checks are fairly simple once you know where to look, for example:
- Review user accounts and remove anything that may no longer be needed
- Check where business files are stored before deciding what should move
- Make sure domain names, passwords and administrator access are documented
Mail services deserve particular attention. If a company has relied on the same mail system for years, there may be forwarding rules, shared mailboxes or old aliases that still matter. A sales team might have an address customers still use, for example. It could be buried somewhere in the old setup. Backups are worth checking too. A migration should not be treated as the backup itself. In our experience, if something goes wrong, having a separate copy of important data could make recovery far less stressful.
Making the move without causing unnecessary disruption
Timing matters more than people sometimes expect. A migration carried out during a busy working day could leave staff dealing with login prompts or missing emails when they could be dealing with customers. A quieter period may be more suitable, depending on the size of the business. Staff also need a bit of warning. New passwords, authentication apps or unfamiliar Microsoft 365 tools may take some getting used to. Someone will probably ask where their emails have gone five minutes after being told exactly where they have gone. That’s normal.
A good migration plan should leave room for those little issues. iTEXS can help businesses plan Microsoft 365 migrations, review existing IT setups plus support users during the changeover. The aim is not to make the process look complicated. It is to spot the things that could cause trouble before they do.
