Office 365 is Microsoft’s idea of the future of productivity software. It’s a state-of-the-art solution that is fundamentally changing the way that employees develop and collaborate at work. Migrating Email to Office 365 can significantly boost your business productivity. Whether you’re planning to migrate from on-premises MS Office or you’re ready to switch from an entirely different cloud-based solution, here’s a concise list of everything you need to know before migrating to Office 365.
Why Should You Migrate to Office 365?
- Cost: By charging you only for the licenses that you use, Office 365 helps small and medium firms cut costs for their IT environment. Office 365 even comes with functionalities for chatting and collaboration that remove the need for third-party tools.
- Time: Office 365 saves time previously spent on managing a company’s IT infrastructure. By switching to Office 365, IT staff won’t require to install extra servers, patch security issues, or manage software licenses.
- Deployment: You can deploy Office 365 in one of 3 ways — on-premises, in the cloud, or using a hybrid solution — depending on what makes sense for your organization. If you need to keep data locally, you can still take advantage of the cloud with a hybrid deployment.
- Productivity: Office 365’s cloud-based nature means that employees can access data on Virtual Hosted Desktop from anywhere on any device. Having this flexibility will enhance your employees’ morale, productivity, and work-life balance.
- Software Updates: Office 365 automatically downloads and installs the latest MS upgrades, keeping your IT environment up-to-date, and saving you time and money.
4 Key Points to Consider When Migrating to Office 365
Despite the obvious advantages, an Office 365 migration is a major endeavor that should be approached with careful planning. These 4 key points are crucial steps for anyone considering migrating to Office 365.
- Doing Your Research
Office 365 is a favored choice used by countless businesses, and for good reason. However, before making any hasty decisions, learn about the pros and cons of Office 365, the different types of migration processes, and what each kind of migration involves.
- Understanding the Benefits
Before migrating, take the time to write down what you expect from Office 365, and where you want to see improvements so that you can compare your expectations with reality later on.
- Creating a Roadmap
Once you’ve established your expectations, it’s time to make a roadmap outlining the different phases and milestones of the migration. This should include both the technical aspects of the migration and factors such as training and testing, as well as a strategy for support after the migration. Training is of the utmost importance to reap the benefits of O365.
- Selecting the Right Vendor
Entire posts could be written about how to choose the correct vendor or migration partner for Office 365. Make sure that the vendor has extensive experience in performing Office 365 migrations with a successful track record, understands your firm’s unique situation and needs, and is willing to work with you to plan the correct solution.
Conclusion
Migrating to Office 365 is a rewarding endeavor, but one that needs in-depth understanding and serious forethought. If you’re wondering where to start, first take the time to do your research, consult with your in-house IT team and your trusted business contacts, and reach out to Office 365 experts like Apps4Rent who can answer questions and assist in the migration. Apart from that they even provide Cloud Desktop Services with 100% assistance and round-the-clock tech support, which makes them the perfect partners to assign for the service.
