Choosing a Migration Partner - Softchoice...

Softchoice recommends Office 365.

Choosing a Migration PartnerA user’s guide for what you need to know in order to have a successful deployment.


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Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Chapter 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Start Smart

Chapter 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Make Implementation Smooth and Easy

Chapter 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Test Early, Test Often

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

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Introduction

Office 365 is a fact of business life, today. There aren’t many

companies that don’t use Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. But when

you consider applications like SharePoint, Lync, or Yammer,

there is so much more that can be accomplished in an Office 365

environment.

For most organizations, the key to getting the most out of Office

365 is to engage with a proven, knowledgeable partner with

deep experience in every migration phase, from pre-planning

to end-user training. Choosing the right Office 365 migration

partner is one of the most critical business decisions your

company will make.

In order to help you make the right decision, we’ve assembled

some best practices and key factors to consider during your

search for an ideal partner for your organization.

We’ll also share feedback from a November 2017 Spiceworks

survey of 200 IT professionals from across the U.S. who com-

pleted an online survey on cloud productivity solutions, as well

as provide deeper insights from 10 in-depth interviews.

We hope this guide will aid you in selecting the right partner

for your successful Office 365 migration.

Introduction

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Chapter 1Start Smart

“We need someone to help us

explain, ‘You’re losing money by

staying here. You can gain X amount

by going there. You can gain these

abilities by going there and then

weigh out the pros and cons.”

– IT pro1

Chapter 1: Start Smart


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Organizations can be hesitant about migrating to the cloud

for a multitude of reasons. Productivity, collaboration, and

security all present challenges. But a good migration partner

can mitigate these concerns if they understand every aspect of

your business, and how each will be affected by a complete or

even partial migration.

A strong partner should help you assess where you are today

in order to ensure your company gets where you want to be

tomorrow. Planning your migration requires understanding of

the health of your current systems. Organizations who engage

with partners that skip an initial, in-depth assessment do so at

their own peril, as they can be forced to deal with delays and

failures during the actual migration. Your structure is only as

good as your foundation, and a good migration partner will

want a comprehensive knowledge of the strength and stability

of that foundation.

The right vendor should know your business inside and out

Finding the right partner for your Office 365 migration involves

much more than knowing your technology. It’s about under-

standing your organization from both an IT and a business

perspective, and building trust with your team. What are your

company’s business objectives? How is success determined?

What role does executive management have in making IT deci-

sions? What impact does IT management have on the business

direction? And how do technology and business work together

in your organization?

Questions like these are important, because even while Office

365 has been available for seven years, Spiceworks research

found that nearly half of the companies surveyed have deployed

Office 365 only in the last year, with most planning to deploy or

purchase it within six months.2 Asking tough questions—from your

own organization, as well as from your partner—will smooth the

process, and get you where you need to be, more quickly.


CURRENT USE OF MICROSOFT OFFICE 365

43% 7%

26%

16%

9%

Currently deployed Purchased, but not yet deployed

Plan to purchase within next 12 months

No plans to purchase or deploy

Don’t know

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Understand the importance of users’ roles and profiles

A partner with deep migration experience knows that a key

factor in maximizing your investment in Office 365 is discerning

not only who is using the technology, but exactly how they are

using it.

For example, how many mobile users in your organization want

to use Office 365 on devices other than laptops? The mobile

user is a “role.” The fact that he or she wants to use Office 365

on a tablet or a smartphone gives that user a distinct “profile.”

Failing to support these profiles means risking that these users

will go around the IT department—and outside your secure IT

environment—to get their work done.

A good partner will understand the ramifications of these

choices, as well as the best methods for keeping every user

within the purview of the IT department. Determining how to

resolve these user issues during the planning stage will help

your partner identify the best licensing options for your orga-

nization so your migration process will be more cost effective

from day one.


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Ensure an agile end state

An experienced partner will be able to explain why the best end

states are agile. At the end of your Office 365 migration, whether

full or partial, your company should have a more flexible and

dynamic working strategy that will continue to evolve over time

according to your business needs and your customers’ demands.

Spiceworks survey respondents were split on whether they’re

implementing full or partial Office 365 deployments, and most

organizations that have deployed Office 365 have deployed it

across their entire organization. Those who have purchased or

are planning to purchase Office 365—but haven’t yet deployed

it—are more hesitant about deploying organization-wide.1

A successful migration does not require an all or nothing

approach. For example, it’s common for IT managers to question

whether all of their mailboxes should be kept on premises or

moved to the cloud. The reality may be that your organization is

better off utilizing a middle-ground strategy, keeping sensitive

mailboxes on premises while moving the rest to the cloud to

achieve cost savings. A knowledgeable partner will understand

how this agile state can be optimized to help you comply with

SLAs, address regulatory concerns, and enable a simplified and

more effective disaster recovery plan.


OFFICE 365 DEPLOYMENT STRATEGY

Deployed/plan to deploy to the

entire organization

Deployed/plan to deploy to only specific sub-sets within the organization

Deployed/plan to deploy to specific departments/

functions in the organization

Deployed/plan to deploy to specific users in the organization

61% 11%23% 2%

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Mind the Gap.

It’s critical that your migration partner clearly understands the

risks and hazards inherent during the gap period between the

start of your migration and the designated end state.

Here are some good questions to ask a potential partner about

handling gap issues:

• What solutions do they recommend for making Office 365

most effective throughout the process of migration?

• Uninterrupted service should be part of any migration

plan. How will they ensure you maintain uptime during

the gap state?

• SLA’s don’t go away simply because you’re in a gap state.

How will your partner keep gap-state impact on your SLA’s

to a minimum throughout the migration?


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Chapter 2Make Implementation Smooth and Easy

“By going to a cloud environment,

a lot of that backend work is

alleviated from IT and then we

get to spend more time making

sure our customers are happy.”

– IT pro1

Chapter 2: Make Implementation Smooth and Easy


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According to the Spiceworks survey, the most common Office

applications (Excel, Word, PowerPoint) are used by nearly all

organizations, while fewer are using other Office 365 services.1

Your partner should be familiar with these types of issues, and

know how to navigate your transition to new and more produc-

tive applications with maximum benefits and minimal hassles.

A deep understanding of migration potential and pitfalls is critical

In making the big decision to migrate, every organization has

the same goal: A seemingly simple, relatively painless, and

ultimately successful move to the cloud.

But behind that goal lie deeper questions that a good partner

should ask and be able to help you address: Are you migrating

from Google Docs? Will you be transitioning from older versions

of Office? What applications are you using now? What applica-

tions do you plan to use in the future?


MICROSOFT OFFICE APPLICATIONS/SERVICES CURRENTLY USED BY SURVEY RESPONDENTS

Excel

Word

PowerPoint

Outlook

Access

OneNote

Publisher

Skype for Business

OneDrive for Business

Exchange Online

Sites (SharePoint Online)

Microsoft Teams

Yammer

100%0

94%

93%

91%

84%

68%

61%

47%

40%

31%

29%

28%

16%

10%

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Migration? What migration?

Good training = great users

If your partner is truly proficient at implementing a migration,

most of your employees shouldn’t even be aware that a tran-

sition is taking place. A good partner will help you to designate

an impact circle, identifying every individual user who will be

affected by the migration. These users should be communicated

with regularly to inform them as to the state of the transition,

and what effects it may have on their work, if any. They should

also know who to contact if they do notice any negative impact.

There should also be a coexistence strategy planned and imple-

mented that allows employees to use Office throughout the

migration process. An experienced partner will recommend

testing Office 365 with a pilot group before rolling it out to the

entire organization in order to identify and resolve any issues

as early in the process as possible.

As important as it is to have an agile end state, it’s just as

important to be extremely thorough when it comes to issues

like training and optimization. No migration is a success unless

Office 365 is actually being used by workers, and is achieving

the business objectives agreed upon by you and your partner.

You need a solid, actionable plan for teaching employees about

Office 365’s new features, ensuring that adoption and usage are

meeting designated levels, and ensuring that your organization

is on a solid path to a successful cloud migration.

“The challenges aren’t as much

with the product as they are with

the end-users.”

– IT pro1

“There’s not a lot of information for

some of the lesser-used apps like

Access and Yammer vs. Excel where

I can find a million results. Having

more accessible information avail-

able and understanding how apps

work would be a determining factor

[in deciding whether to deploy].”

– IT pro1


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Chapter 3Test Early, Test Often

Chapter 3: Test Early, Test Often


When it comes to testing, once is

never enough, and any potential

partner who tries to convince

you that one round of testing is

sufficient should be disregarded.

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Each and every component of the agreed upon migration plan

must be validated regularly, consistently, and conclusively. A

good rule of thumb is to start with expectations, but finish only

through verified inspections.

The best migration plan in the world, poorly executed, is still

a failure. Which is why you need a partner who will insist on

testing, taking action, and testing again until all parties are

satisfied with the validated results.

Validation is the only true measure of a successful migration

According to the Spiceworks survey, security and performance

concerns are the top barriers to supporting Office application

and services in the cloud.1

The way to overcome these concerns is to test, validate, and

repeat until every application works exactly as it should, with

improved performance and enhanced security.

There are partners who will test Office 365 during a migration,

and if it seems to be working as planned, they move on. When

it comes to testing, once is never enough, and any potential

partner who tries to convince you that one round of testing is

sufficient should be disregarded.


TOP 10 REASONS FOR NOT SUPPORTING ALL OFFICE APPLICATIONS/SERVICES IN THE CLOUD

Security concerns

Compliance/regulation

Concerns about

reliability

Time required to transition/upgrade

Lack of in-house skills/ expertise to deploy and

manage

Lack of knowl-edge about soultion(s)

OtherPerfomance concerns

Uncertain of benefits/ROI

Budget constraints

100%

0

47%

33% 29% 28% 24% 21% 21%13% 10% 6%

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Proactive support should anticipate your post-migration needs

The post-migration phase is the time to set yourself up for

long-term success. This includes executing a support plan that

clearly states how your changes will be managed going forward.

A partner with deep migration experience will understand the

importance of documentation. More important, they will make

sure your users and IT staff have access to a dedicated support

center which can not only resolve specific incidents, but auto-

matically escalate issues to an external provider when necessary.

“Support is [key]. Being available

during the buying process and after

deployment, and how proactive

they’ll be over time.”

– IT pro1


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Conclusion

Conclusion“We want someone that’s going to

put our company’s best interests

first and understand that it’s a

partnership and understand how

to grow our business.”

– IT pro1


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According to the Spiceworks research, there are a number of

different factors that concern organizations who are considering

a partner to help purchase and implement Office 365—from

security to post-sales support to pricing.

While these factors are all important, there’s no substitute for

establishing and building a trusted relationship with a proven

partner who can be counted on to make your migration a success.

Conclusion

“I want to hear about similar

industries or organization sizes,

how the new features improved

a company, how they deployed it,

the issues that happened, how they

fixed it, and where they are now.”

– IT pro1

TOP FACTORS OF CONSIDERATION FOR PURCHASING OFFICE 365 FROM AN ONLINE RESELLER

Security Knowledge-able reps

Established/trusted

relationship

Offers lowest price

Perpetual licensing model

Pre-sales service and

support

Subscription licensing model

Ease of doing business

Post-sales service and

support

Available technical support

100%

0

79%

66% 65%60% 60% 56% 55%

48% 45% 44%

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Office 365 opens up new opportunities for collaboration and project acceleration.

Why Use Microsoft Project?

Put Together a Modern Project Team

Whether organizations have only recently migrated, or have used

Office 365 for years, opportunities to boost productivity are driv-

ing more and more companies from across industries to leverage

and expand their usage of this proven, powerful technology.

While some decision-makers might have only associated Office

365 with applications like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, increas-

ingly they are appreciating Office 365 as a Microsoft-managed,

cloud-based business platform for email, file sharing, online

meetings, calendaring, and much more.

Microsoft Project tools help businesses to do more, and do it

more easily, intelligently, and cost-effectively than ever before.

Project Online Professional is a powerful resource for keeping

projects, teams, and schedules organized and on track from

pre-planning to project completion. By unlocking the power of

the cloud, Project Online Professional enables users to access

real-time insights that provide potent new data for collabora-

tion and tracking status.

It’s easier than ever to optimize cost structure by managing de-

ployments and updates easily, while also leveraging collabora-

tion capabilities with Microsoft services, and extensibility with

Power BI Pro and third-party apps.

Put the productivity of Office 365 into the hands of your users

with Microsoft Project, and realize the benefits of improved

productivity that spans your entire organization.

Eliminate the brain drain and management hassles that

occur when multiple contractors join and leave a project

Avoid the hassles of surplus licensing by deliberately

planning your implementation of Microsoft Project

Enjoy easy integration with Office 365, and ease of

management for IT

Work where you want with project plans stored in the

cloud and up to five PC copies of Project Professional

per user

Work how you want with new features like agile built-

in and work across bimodal methodologies like Waterfall,

Scrum, and Kanban

Boost everyday collaboration with shared data to coor-

dinate schedules, resources, and integration with Office

365 services like Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business

Deliver projects successfully with powerful scheduling,

smart automation, what-if planning, out-of-the-box

reporting, best-in-class templates, and extensibility

into third-party apps

Boost Productivity Throughout Your Organization—with Microsoft Project

Conclusion

Softchoice can make Microsoft Office 365 a reality for your busi-

ness. Our customers will tell you that we have the resources, deep

expertise, licensing experience, and migration best practices for a

successful deployment.

We invite your team to work with us. We’ll make sure everyone

in your organization has fast, easy, anywhere access to Office

365 applications for messaging, conferencing, collaboration,

and calendars.

Softchoice makes your journey to the cloud as easy as possible

with services like:

• Office 365 Explorer: A guided exploration of Microsoft Cloud

productivity

• Office 365 Accelerator: Accelerate your move to Office 365

with a series of expert-led activities

• Microsoft Project Manager: Keep your projects, resources,

and teams organized and on track

From pre-planning and driving internal adoption to postdeploy-

ment support that lasts long beyond Day 2, Softchoice will make

sure your realizes all the benefits you expect from migrating to

Office 365. Softchoice is the right partner for your migration.

Learn more

Sources1 Spiceworks in-depth interviews with 10 IT pros on implementing cloud productivity solutions2 Spiceworks survey of 200 U.S. IT decision-makers on cloud productivity solutions, on behalf of Softchoice, November 2017


https://m.softchoice.com/web/content/services/Office365/pdf/Office365Explorer.pdf

https://m.softchoice.com/web/content/services/Office365/pdf/Office365Accelerator.pdf

https://products.office.com/en-us/project/project-and-portfolio-management-software?tab=tabs-1

https://www.softchoice.com/Office365

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