Contributed Article.  Author: Ron Robbins, Product Manager at Quest Software

 

 

Since Office 365 is a relatively new platform, it stands to reason there are a few things customers face in their migration projects that blindside them. Things come up that they did not expect that really throw a wrench into the project plan. Here are just three that I see most often:
 

Speed – Let’s face it, Microsoft throttles the speed at which you can migrate data into Exchange Online. They do this to make sure that no one tenant uses all the resources at once, to protect the service performance for the other tenants. This tends to slow down migrations, and really puts the scheduled date for completion in question when moving through a large migration project. At times, this is a surprise to customers, as they see their timelines extend. There are several ways to work around this. With a third party tool like Quest’s OnDemand Migration for Email you can run a migration with several hundred concurrent threads. All it takes is multiple accounts to gain access to the target mailboxes, and it will increase the number of mailboxes that can be migrated to simultaneously. This will help mitigate the risk of extended project timelines.

Fidelity – Another surprise in this list is fidelity. Whenever I hear this word mentioned, I always think of stereo equipment. Remember when they used to be called Hi-Fi systems? Well the term used in stereo equipment means that the sound you are getting is excellent, and it sounds like you are listening to an original live recording. It is similar in a migration. With a high fidelity migration, your mailbox should look like the original and contain all items from the source, formatted the same as the original. This includes all folders, calendar items, and contacts. When performing a migration from non-Exchange platforms, this becomes more difficult. People are sometimes surprised that using the IMAP tool provided with Office 365 to do this type of migration does not bring over all of the data. The only way to get around this is to rely, again, on a third-party vendor for migration. The solutions that Quest offers for migration to Office 365 move all data with full fidelity.  
 

Complexity – Let’s face it, you don’t perform an Exchange migration every day – or even every year for that matter. Most IT professionals do this few times in their career. This is why Exchange migrations seem so complex. Migrating to Office 365 is no exception. When something goes wrong, it is a surprise to the IT team members performing the migration because it’s typically a situation they have not seen before. Why not call on the experts from the start? Either a third-party vendor or partner who has conducted migration for years should be relied upon to provide advice, or implement a solution that includes repeatable processes that are successful, field tested, and that have been proven effective over time. The organization you choose should also have a world-class, award- winning support structure that treats each customer as their only customer.
 

Migration to Office 365 does not have to be difficult, and you can plan for the unknown surprises along the way. As long as you have someone in your corner that has done this before, you can have a successful, surprise-free migration from the start. Make sure you choose a vendor with years of experience, who has migrated millions of mailboxes, and provides best-in-class consulting and support. If you do, then your Office 365 migration is sure to be a success.

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