- As Microsoft continues to push Office 365, the transition to Office 365 has likely already been decided, but uncertainty surrounds the starting point and the best path forward.
- The lack of a clear migration process that considers all the relevant risks and opportunities creates significant ambiguity around an Office 365 migration.
- As organizations migrate to Office 365, the change in Office’s licensing structure presents obscurity in spending that could cost the business tens of thousands of unnecessary dollars spent if not approached strategically.
- The fear of overlooking risks regarding the cloud, data, and existing infrastructure threatens to place IT in a position of project paralysis.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- Many businesses are opting for a one-size-fits-all licensing strategy. Without selecting licensing to suit actual user needs, you will oversupply users and overspend on licensing.
- Jumping into an Office 365 migration project without careful thought of the risks of a cloud migration will lead to project halt and interruption. Intentionally plan in order to expose risk to develop project foresight for a smooth migration.
- A migration to Office 365 represents a significant change in the way users interact with Office. Be careful not to forget about the user as you take on the project. Engage the users consistently for a smooth transition.
Impact and Result
- Start by evaluating the business, users, and infrastructure requirements to ensure that all needs are clearly defined and the best fit-for-purpose migration plan can be decided on.
- Assess the underlying risk associated with a migration to the cloud and build mitigation strategies to counter risk or impending issues and identify project interruptions before they happen.
- Build a roadmap through a logical step-by-step process to outline major milestones and develop a communication plan to engage users throughout the migration. Demonstrate IT’s due diligence by relaying the project findings and results back to the business using Info-Tech’s Office 365 migration plan.
Migrate to Office 365 Now Research & Tools
Start here – read the Executive Brief
Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should migrate to Office 365 now, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
- Migrate to Office 365 Now – Phases 1-3
1. Evaluate requirements and licensing
Evaluate the business, user, and infrastructure requirements to ensure that all needs are clearly defined and the best fit-for-purpose migration plan can be decided on.
- Migrate to Office 365 Now – Phase 1: Evaluate Requirements and Licensing
- Office 365 Migration Plan Report
- Office 365 Migration Workbook
2. Mitigate key risks of the cloud
Expose key cloud risks across five major areas and build mitigation strategies to counter risk and gain foresight for migration.
- Migrate to Office 365 Now – Phase 2: Mitigate Key Risks of the Cloud
3. Build the roadmap
Outline major milestones of migration and build the communication plan to transition users smoothly. Complete the Office 365 migration plan report to present to business stakeholders.
- Migrate to Office 365 Now – Phase 3: Build the Roadmap
- End-User Engagement Template
Workshop: Migrate to Office 365 Now
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
1 Evaluate Office 365 License Needs
The Purpose
Review corporate and project goals.
Review and prioritize relevant services and applications to shape the migration path.
Review Office 365 license models.
Profile end users to rightsize licensing.
Estimate dollar impact of new licensing model.
Key Benefits Achieved
Corporate goals for Office 365.
Prioritized migration path of applications.
Decision on user licensing structure.
Projected cost of licensing.
Activities
1.1 Outline corporate and project goals to paint the starting line.
1.2 Review and prioritize services.
1.3 Rightsize licensing.
Outputs
Clear goals and metrics for migration
Prioritized list of applications
Effective licensing structure
2 Assess Value, Readiness, and Risks
The Purpose
Conduct value and readiness assessment of current on-premises services.
Identify and evaluate risks and challenges.
Assess IT’s readiness to own and manage Office 365.
Key Benefits Achieved
Completed value and readiness assessment.
Current targets for service and deployment models.
List of perceived risks according to five major risk areas.
Assessed IT’s readiness to own and manage Office 365.
Established go/caution/stop for elected Office 365 services.
Activities
2.1 Assess value and readiness.
2.2 Identify key risks.
2.3 Identify changes in IT skills and roles.
Outputs
Cloud service appropriateness assessment
Completed risk register
Reorganization of IT roles
3 Mitigate Risks
The Purpose
Review Office 365 risks and discuss mitigation strategies.
Key Benefits Achieved
Completed risks and mitigation strategies report.
Activities
3.1 Build mitigation strategies.
3.2 Identify key service requests.
3.3 Build workflows.
Outputs
Defined roles and responsibilities
Assigned decision rights
List of staffing gaps
4 Build the Roadmap
The Purpose
Build a timeline of major milestones.
Plan and prioritize projects to bridge gaps.
Build a communication plan.
Review Office 365 strategy and roadmap.
Key Benefits Achieved
Milestone roadmap.
Critical path of milestone actions.
Communication plan.
Executive report.
Activities
4.1 Outline major milestones.
4.2 Finalize roadmap.
4.3 Build and refine the communication plan.
Outputs
Roadmap plotted projects, decisions, mitigations, and user engagements
Finalized roadmap across timeline
Communication and training plan