Migrate to Office 365 Now
One small step to cloud, one big leap to Office 365. The key is to look before you leap.
- 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.
Member Testimonials
After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this blueprint and what our clients have to say.
9.8/10
Overall Impact
$22,619
Average $ Saved
12
Average Days Saved
Client
Experience
Impact
$ Saved
Days Saved
Matanuska-Susitna Borough
Guided Implementation
10/10
$12,999
10
The best parts of the experience was the in depth accurate knowledge of the infotech consultants
State of Minnesota - Minnesota State Retirement System
Guided Implementation
10/10
$61,749
3
Town Of Marana
Guided Implementation
9/10
$2,519
20
Groton Utilities
Guided Implementation
10/10
$25,829
20
No worst parts - it was all great. The best - getting a member of my team on board with using the resource now that he sees the value firsthand - ... Read More
Effort Trust
Guided Implementation
10/10
$10,000
9
No worst parts. Very much enjoyed the discussion with Jeremy and appreciate his insight and the relevance of the O365 research material.
District of Central Saanich
Guided Implementation
10/10
$25,000
9
Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment
Guided Implementation
7/10
N/A
2
Great conversation that pointed me in the right direction for finding materials available from InfoTech.
H2O Power Holding LP
Guided Implementation
8/10
$2,000
5
probably.the best meeting i had with info tech
Plumbing Distributors
Guided Implementation
10/10
$12,399
5
One of the best things Thomas did was a followup email that highlighted the roadmap of the topics we discussed and highlighted resources for each a... Read More
Bath Iron Works Corporation
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
N/A
For my first analyst call this was a good start. Thomas was professional, listened and took action to answer my questions and reference the appropr... Read More
Toyota Tsusho South Pacific Holdings Pty Ltd
Guided Implementation
10/10
$69,749
20
Best part was the opportunity to discuss concerns and other questions relating to the project and receiving real world real time response. Worst p... Read More
C2P Enterprises
Guided Implementation
10/10
$5,000
47
Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority
Guided Implementation
8/10
$1,900
3
Delivered an overall perspective that helped guide our implementation and focus on the key steps that must be completed.
Hamilton Lane Advisors
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
N/A
Mueller, Inc.
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
N/A
San Francisco Health Plan
Guided Implementation
7/10
$2,292
N/A
I really didn't learn a lot of new information. It just confirmed that which i already knew.
Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, Inc.
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
N/A
Anglo Beef Processors
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
N/A
Delta Dental Plan Of Colorado
Guided Implementation
8/10
$2,419
2
Capital Regional District
Guided Implementation
10/10
$14,500
5
Jeremy was extremely knowledgable and provided great answers to my questions, backed by research and experience. I continue to get value from Info... Read More
University of Ottawa Heart Institute - Institut de Cardiologie
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
2
Very knowledgeable and helpful session.
Translational Research In Oncology
Guided Implementation
10/10
$2,000
10
National Archives and Records Administration
Guided Implementation
8/10
N/A
N/A
Shared Services Canada
Workshop
10/10
$50,000
20
Positive outcome. Helped us have an essential conversation between all the Directors about where roles and responsibilities lie and bring structure... Read More
Corporation Of The City Of Barrie, The
Guided Implementation
9/10
$27,500
50
I cant say there were worst parts, the knowledge and assistance in getting us started on the right track was very valuable.
AAA Club Alliance, Inc
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
N/A
Jeremy is always awesome, and today was no exception. He provided great guidance on our current plan for O365, and on a couple of related issues t... Read More
Rim Architects
Guided Implementation
8/10
$8,913
5
Having someone to verbally ask the questions I needed answers to.
South West Water
Guided Implementation
7/10
N/A
1
Delta Dental Plan Of Colorado
Guided Implementation
6/10
N/A
3
Best - Risk areas. Worst - wanted way more in depth/technical discussion.
Manning & Napier Advisors, LLC
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
N/A
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.
Module 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
Outputs
Outline corporate and project goals to paint the starting line.
- Clear goals and metrics for migration
Review and prioritize services.
- Prioritized list of applications
Rightsize licensing.
- Effective licensing structure
Module 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
Outputs
Assess value and readiness.
- Cloud service appropriateness assessment
Identify key risks.
- Completed risk register
Identify changes in IT skills and roles.
- Reorganization of IT roles
Module 3: Mitigate Risks
The Purpose
- Review Office 365 risks and discuss mitigation strategies.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Completed risks and mitigation strategies report.
Activities
Outputs
Build mitigation strategies.
- Defined roles and responsibilities
Identify key service requests.
- Assigned decision rights
Build workflows.
- List of staffing gaps
Module 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
Outputs
Outline major milestones.
- Roadmap plotted projects, decisions, mitigations, and user engagements
Finalize roadmap.
- Finalized roadmap across timeline
Build and refine the communication plan.
- Communication and training plan
About Info-Tech
Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.
We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.
What Is a Blueprint?
A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.
Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.
Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst
Get the help you need in this 3-phase advisory process. You'll receive 8 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.
Guided Implementation 1: Evaluate requirements and licensing
- Call 1: Scope corporate and project goals for migration and establish metrics for moving forward.
- Call 2: Profile the user community to rightsize licensing.
- Call 3: Walk through the Office 365 Migration Workbook and Office 365 Migration Plan Report.
Guided Implementation 2: Mitigate key risks of the cloud
- Call 1: Discuss and gain a clear picture of risk and implications of moving services to the cloud.
- Call 2: Gain tangible insight from Info-Tech Analysts to aid in building mitigation strategies to counter and address risks of moving to the cloud.
Guided Implementation 3: Build the roadmap
- Call 1: Outline major milestones for project completion.
- Call 2: Refine and develop communication plan using the End-User Engagement Template.
- Call 3: Ready to take this project to deployment? Let our Analysts give you experienced and objective insight on how to present the migration plan and explore next steps.
Contributors
- Joel Markowitz, Principal, Technology Services
- Sean Simpson, Director, Information Technology, City of Surrey
- Benjamin Niaulin, Office 365 MVP, ShareGate & GSoft
- Plus 7 anonymous contributors
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