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Summary: Migrating from on-premise SharePoint to Microsoft 365 can be challenging and cost-sensitive. To ensure a smooth transition, consider these four crucial pointers. First, plan content migration carefully, using third-party tools if needed. Second, audit existing data and customize functionalities. Third, think about long-term maintenance and monitoring. Lastly, adapt policies to address storage limits and security compliance in the cloud. Careful consideration of these factors can make your migration to Office 365 successful and cost-effective.

The process of migrating from on-premise SharePoint to Microsoft 365, commonly known as the Migration from on-premise SharePoint to Microsoft 365 has consistently posed significant challenges, particularly when aiming for a cost-effective approach. It is a task that frequently entails IT administrators meticulously navigating extensive checklists, weighing the dos and don’ts, all prior to embarking on the actual migration of users to the Cloud.

Certainly, there are numerous factors to contemplate when aiming to migrate from an on-premises SharePoint server with its accompanying infrastructure to an online hosting platform like Office 365, all while being mindful of budget constraints. In addition to the typical challenges such as inadequate planning, incompatible processes, increased expenses, and limited adaptability, it is crucial to keep an eye on four key elements to assess your enterprise’s readiness for the migration process. These elements often receive less attention but are integral to a successful transition to Office 365, making them vital aspects to consider.

Are you ready for migration? Check these 4 pointers

#1. Ponder Over Content Migration – Know what to migrate and How!

Many companies continue to depend on legacy SharePoint systems, which necessitate extensive customization. Unfortunately, the challenge lies in ensuring the seamless transition of these customizations when migrating to the cloud. To facilitate a successful migration, it is crucial to meticulously plan the transfer of your content, understanding the optimal timing and methodology. For smaller-scale migrations, leveraging Office 365’s Explorer View can be a viable option, enabling you to open SharePoint libraries in Windows Explorer. However, this approach is primarily suited for minor migrations and lacks essential features such as metadata migration and incremental transfers.

Therefore, for the purpose of streamlining and expediting the transition process, there are third-party solutions at your disposal, such as “Kernel Migration for SharePoint.” This tool facilitates the migration process, enabling the transfer of data from on-premises file servers and SharePoint to Office 365 with greater ease. Moreover, these tools offer advantages such as the ability to migrate metadata and permissions, automate file attribute mapping, and create CSV files for efficiently managing bulk content migration.

#2. Auditing the Current Data is Important

In the realm of cloud computing, it is imperative to assess the status of your existing SharePoint content before embarking on the journey of file and document migration. Properly organizing your data prior to migration is the cornerstone of achieving a seamless and error-free transition. It is essential to conduct a thorough content audit, identifying and archiving outdated files and folders that have no relevance in your future cloud-based environment. There is little merit in investing time, resources, and finances in moving unnecessary data from your current infrastructure to the new system. Additionally, evaluating custom functionalities such as templates and workflows within your current SharePoint system is crucial, as it determines their compatibility for integration when transitioning to the cloud.

If you aim to streamline your migration process through automation, consider exploring innovative approaches to revamp your information architecture. Additionally, it’s advisable to perform a comprehensive pre-migration assessment of your system using third-party solutions. One notable tool for conducting in-depth pre-migration analysis is Kernel Migration for SharePoint. Utilizing this SharePoint Migration tool, you can proactively identify and address potential issues that might arise during the migration process, allowing you to resolve them prior to transferring the actual content.

#3. Think about your future – Monitoring and Maintaining Your New Platform

Simply migrating from your current SharePoint Server to Office 365 doesn’t suffice. Consider the scenario where you successfully transfer all your content, only to realize later that maintaining and monitoring customizations has become a burdensome and costly endeavor. Such a situation could spell disaster for your business, wouldn’t you agree?

Hence, it is wise to think carefully about the future of your business before you migrate. So, figure out how you plan to maintain your content.

Decide whether you’ll need a dedicated manager, or you already have a competent team in place to manage things for you!

#4. Mend your Strategies: Cloud demands significant modifications in Policies

Cloud services, while offering numerous advantages, necessitate enterprises to adapt their policies. The presence of various cloud platform providers such as Amazon, IBM, Rackspace, and Google, who are heavily investing in private cloud infrastructure, has resulted in an abundance of available storage space for users.

Frequently, in moments of urgency, IT administrators hasten the transition to online hosted solutions without adequately assessing the storage capacities provided by cloud vendors. The allure of free 5 GB or 10 GB storage often leads enterprises to overlook the inevitable growth in their organization’s data volume. It becomes imperative to proactively consider the financial implications associated with procuring additional storage space at a later stage. Moreover, selecting a cloud vendor for secure corporate data storage demands adherence to rigorous security compliance standards, ensuring the preservation of data integrity and confidentiality in the cloud environment.

Final Words

Presently, there is a widespread rush among individuals and organizations to adopt online hosted solutions, driven by the allure of the “cloud promise.” Nevertheless, it’s crucial to emphasize that transitioning to the cloud should not entail neglecting your existing resources and hastily leaping into this significant transformation. It’s essential to recognize that migrating to cloud storage can present its own set of drawbacks if not executed with precision and diligence. To maximize the benefits of your recently implemented Office 365 Solution, you may wish to explore the assistance of third-party tools like SharePoint Migrator, which can help you steer clear of potential migration challenges down the road. Best of luck with your cloud migration endeavors!

Kernel Migration for SharePoint