The move to a new email program can address numerous issues for your company including upgrading security and consolidating tools from your technology stack. But the bigger and more complicated your business is, the more elements to take into consideration when making the switch.
With the possibility of a migration to email being discussed There are many questions for leaders regarding whether their information will be safe and how long it will take, and whether they’ll need to take their emails offline.
To reduce the risk the risks, proper preparation is essential.
We’ll go over the importance of email migration and the reasons why it’s important. We’ll then walk you through how to prepare planning and executing the next mail migration in a successful manner.
Table of Contents
What is Email migration ? And what is its significance ?
Migration of email is the process of moving from one email service to another, for example, moving from Gmail or Gmail to Office 365. When you switch providers, your emails as well as contacts, among other information transfer between email providers.
If you have just only a handful of accounts in your company, it’s fairly easy for emails and data to be transferred. If you’re dealing with many or thousands of accounts connected software and terabytes worth of data, things get more complex.
However, despite the issues however, there are a variety of good reasons for businesses to choose to change email providers, for example:
More speed and effectiveness Older email systems are notably slow when compared to modern web-based applications. They can become “clogged” with data, hindering business processes. In addition, some services are targeted at individuals or small-scale businesses. As your business expands it is possible to upgrade to an enterprise email client might be necessary.
Better suited to the needs of the business. Making the switch to a user-friendly, integrated system can offer a more pleasant experience for employees. Many email platforms have integrated with a variety of applications and other tools simplifying your system.
A rise in affordability. There are many ways for companies to reduce costs through email migrations. They can change to a less expensive service, or opt for a service with other tools, like Google Workspace’s document and spreadsheets. Additionally the process of moving your email is often the ideal opportunity to tidy up your information and reduce on accounts that are not used.
Security is heightened. The increasing danger of scams and malware ensures that having the best security is essential for any company. The older systems for email are susceptible to security threats and increase overall business risk. A majority of major email providers today offer multiple layers of security.
Important questions to ask prior to moving your email
The process of planning and carrying out an email migration may seem like a daunting undertaking particularly if you have lots of data that needs to be moved. There are a few considerations to take into consideration that can assist you in planning an easy transition and make the process much more manageable.
Does your current service provider tell you the steps to take? Find out whether your email provider already has a process for transferring that you can follow. If it does, it can aid in planning your move more simple.
Does your new service manage the migration process? The new email client you’ve chosen could manage the process of migration for you. This is something you should look into if you’re planning to switch to a premium-tier plan with a new provider.
Which plan would you prefer? As a matter of fact providers usually offer various plans with various options. Some offer unlimited storage while others offer customized onboarding for your entire company. It’s worthwhile to weigh the pros and cons of the various options for email clients to determine which one meets your needs (and the budget) the most.
What amount of data do you have to transfer? Before you move the entire system to a new software look into the possibility of archiving certain portions of the data elsewhere. For instance, if you don’t require emails that are older than five years, you might consider transferring them to a backup archive drive. So, it won’t take up a lot of space within the new system.
How long will you require to complete the migration of your email? Migrations to email will require some time to plan however, they should be swift once you’re ready to perform the move (though it will be contingent on the scale of the migration).
What happens to email messages that are sent during the transition? All emails sent during the transition period will be available for later reading. Make sure to check with your current and new provider about issues such as Out of Office messages. For instance, if you have employees who are away during the time of the migration They may need to set their message back to using the brand new service.
If you have all the information tucked away, you are able to prepare for and successfully complete an email migration.
If you’re dealing with a complicated email system, you should looking into hiring an email transfer service to help you navigate the process of migration. Their experience and knowledge could help you through the actual process of transition.
How to migrate to Office 365 or Gmail
Let’s examine the key elements of an email migration to demonstrate what must occur. Many people choose to migrate from old or on-premises devices towards Office 365 or Gmail, therefore we’ll take these clients to illustrate.
There are three primary actions to a successful email migration:
1.Making preparations for the move
2.Making a user map and a plan
3.Invoking the migration
Preparing for the migration
A lot of planning needs for an effective email migration. If you don’t, errors will likely occur and cause delays at best and data loss at the worst.
Create a plan for migration to make sure everything goes smoothly. Take into consideration the following:
- DNS records. DNS records. DNS is also known as the Domain Name System, is like the internet’s telephone book. As emails go out through the DNS, the DNS redirects them to the right server. If you don’t change your DNS while moving your email, it is likely that your emails will go to the old server. Major providers will give you instructions regarding how to do this. Contact your new provider If you’re not sure how they’ll help you in this.
- Accounts and the way people make use of the accounts. It is important to know how many user accounts you’ll need to buy, what rights they have, and whether your company is using Single Sign-On (SSO). This will affect the types of licenses you’ll need to purchase as well as the requirements you’ll have to setup on the other hand.
- Migration or. archive. Determine what information you are changing into the brand new service for email. Email data typically includes tasks, calendars, emails and contacts. Certain systems, like IMAP can only transfer emails but not calendars or contacts information.
- Other devices. All staff devices (including PCs, laptops, phones, printers, etc.) must be re-configured in order to use mailboxes that have been updated. For instance, if you’re moving from Office 365 to Office 365, users may want to switch to Outlook that is compatible to Windows, macOS, Android and iOS.
- Spam filters. You should consider which spam and malware filters you’ll use in the future. Office 365 and Gmail accounts come with inbuilt spam and malware protection however, some might need an additional filtering solution, such as Mimecast.
- Staged migrations. Staged migrations, which are moving through batches of data, is typically suggested for older or massive systems. This helps minimize the risks that come with email migrations including data loss.
- Microsoft partners. You can utilize a variety of tools to migrate your email and services to speed up the process of transferring emails. If you’re moving into Office 365, for example, Microsoft has a list of partners who can help minimize downtime and potential risks.
Create a user map and plan
Once you’ve gathered all the data you require to start now is the time to design a map of user licenses and develop a strategy for the transfer. It’s the single most critical and lengthy stage of the migration process.
In essence it’s about getting the transfer (or “cutover”) to be completed as fast as you can to minimize downtime. The more efficient your plan is, the more efficient it is.
Create a spreadsheet that lists every email account in your company. The spreadsheet should list who has the access rights to what accounts, as well as their access rights (i.e. administrators and common users).
Now is the time to connect these accounts to your new platform , and then decide what happens for each one of them. That is, you’ll determine which accounts require licenses and what they’re able to do with this new system. This is an excellent opportunity to eliminate unneeded shared accounts and reduce the total amount of licenses that you’ll need from your new email service provider.
Be especially careful with the shared account (e.g. generic email addresses such as “bizamtech777@gmail.com”) and try to think about all the systems which rely on your email address, for example, your CRM or e-commerce platform. If they’re not all properly accounted for in the process of migration, they could affect the change.
After this map has been created and approved, you can follow a straightforward step-by-step procedure to obtain every license you need to start the process of transferring.
