Why should you migrate to Office 365? For a number of reasons:
Microsoft Office 365 provides you with some much-needed features like real-time collaboration and communication, an easy-to-use information sharing platform, access to the most popular client tools on the planet, such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote, along with Exchange Online that gives you a new and improved experience with mainstream email and messaging. All of this along with the ability to have these applications at your fingertips, whether working on your desktop, or on a tablet at home, provides the value any business will benefit from.
However, migrating to Office 365 isn’t easy. It’s best handled by a Technology Service Provider like IVY Networks that employs professionals who are certified in Microsoft products.
When preparing for your migration to Office 365, it’s important to plan efficiently and thoroughly. The first step in your Office 365 Migration Timeline should be to hold a meeting with us and each of your departments to coordinate the moving of files and documents.
We know how to manage POP, IMAP, and locally hosted Exchange mail migrations to Office 365. We can configure your distribution lists, shared mailboxes, and public folders, along with One Drive for Business, SharePoint file sharing and syncing, and input the proper Outlook configurations. All of this is essential for the accurate installation of the Microsoft Office productivity suite.
Be sure to keep lines of communication open as the migration proceeds. To aid in your migration, we’ve provided a sample timeline below.
STEP 1
- We will meet with you to explain the migration and what it means for each department.
- Manage the mandatory migration of CompanyMail (@company.com) accounts. CompanyMail Plus and departmental accounts.
- Send an email notification to your staff approximately two weeks before the scheduled migration. (While continuing to work, some staff may feel the need to self-migrate in their own time. While the official migration steps are non-negotiable, self-migration prior to them may be beneficial.)
Accounts will be migrated in the following order:
- CompanyMail accounts belonging to individuals in Departments A-F
- CompanyMail accounts belonging to individuals in Departments G-L
- CompanyMail accounts belonging to individuals in Departments M–R
- All remaining CompanyMail accounts (belonging to individuals in Departments S-Z)
STEP 2
- Migration of CompanyMail (@company.com) accounts should now be complete.
- Mail Plus and external domain group migrations will continue.
STEP 3 – Mandatory migration of remaining Mail Plus accounts will take place. All Mail Plus accounts should be moved.
STEP 4 – Migration of all Mail Plus accounts should now be complete.
STEP 5 – Mail / Mail Plus / Cal services are to be retired, and the servers used for Mail / Mail Plus / Cal are to be decommissioned.
STEP 6 – Mail / Mail Plus / Cal servers are now retired.
Immediately following your migration to Office 365, we will be sure to re-create your calendar and tasks. We will also review any messages that might not have migrated to the new system. We won’t move any email messages or folders until we have received the notification that your migration is complete.
Additionally, there are several optional (but highly recommended) steps to aid in the smooth migration to Microsoft Office 365. Importing your contacts is important to aid in the fluid transition from your older system. If your business has specific email signatures, remember to add yours to the new system now that you’ve been migrated. Similarly, if you had an automatic reply, you will want to add this as well. If you are like most of us in the business world, and you take your work home with you, remember to update your mobile settings and configure any mobile devices linked to your Microsoft Office 365. Additionally, tasks such as reorganizing your folder structure and creating rules to help organize your email, might not seem important but this will help you get the most out of all the features that Office 365 has to offer.
After the Migration to Office 365, you will feel a sense of accomplishment, but the work isn’t finished. Just as this Office 365 Migration Timeline kept you on schedule, you should bring us in to conduct regular training for your staff.
We can train your users on all of the features in Office 365. The most basic level of training includes Office 365 as a whole. We’ll walk you through signing in, creating and saving projects, sharing and collaborating with staff, and how to set up your mobile apps. Lastly, we’ll introduce you to a few new things that will increase your productivity at work, such as Flash Fill in Excel or morphing your slides in PowerPoint.
With the support of the Microsoft Professionals at IVY Networks, you can easily try out all the new features and maybe even level up on some of the old ones!
If you’d like to learn more about Microsoft Office 365, please call the team at Ivy Networks in Amherst, New Hampshire at (603) 554-8880.