Migrate SharePoint On-Premise to SharePoint 365
Before anything else, you need a solid plan in your mind with a road-map on how to migrate to SharePoint 365! For this, you’ll also require a Governance Plan along with Information Architecture. Though Governance might seem like an alien creature to you, just a little bit of planning can allow you to bend it to your will. This will give you a chance to manage SharePoint much more effectively and benefit your organization!
Different Plans and Different Features
Moving to the cloud from an On-Premise basis, there are things you need to consider. The first variable would have to be your servers and how updated they are, second would have to be features. You will have to make peace with the fact that some of the features you had access to with SharePoint On-Premise, you might not get with SharePoint 365.
Missing Features in SharePoint Online
One common misconception is that SharePoint online is not much different from SharePoint on-premise. There is a big difference between the two as they each come with varying sets of features. The kind of features you get is entirely dependent on the plan you subscribe to. Which one are you planning on going for?
RMR Strategy
When migrating to SharePoint 365, adopt the RMR strategy (Remove, Migrate and Rebuild). It’s the technical equivalent of getting rid of unnecessary items while moving to a new house.
There are five unique ways you can use to migrate to either Office 365 or SharePoint Online;
1. Manual migration
This is the least practical option for migration. You can do this by taking files manually to the Explorer View in SharePoint and then towards your desired destination. However, in doing so, you will lose all of your metadata.
2. Office 365 Migration API
This is a relatively new way to migrate with the help of Azure storage. This is an easy option provided by Microsoft itself and needs some pre-planning in terms of environment preparation, but other than that you’re good to go.
3. Third-Party solutions/custom coded solutions
You can have coded solutions created for migration, but we highly recommend against that due to the amount of time this solution will consume!
4. Hybrid solutions
In hybrid mode, you can have both On-Premise and online SharePoint working simultaneously. This is a slow migration to the new SharePoint while the old one runs on the background.
5. Microsoft Fast track
With 150 seats or more, Microsoft gives users a free migration tool which helps with the move onto SharePoint 365.
Migrate On Your Own
You can always migrate to SharePoint 365 on your own! However, the journey to the destination is as remarkable as the destination itself. With custom options for migration, you often end up losing the metadata of your files, which can be crucially important. So which option will it be for your business?
(Learn More About Our SharePoint Migration Projects)
