Infrastructure / Microsoft 365 and Azure / Migration Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 : five migrations, not just one. The first one determines all the others.
Your employees' accounts come first. Email, documents, computers, and work processes follow, in that order.You already have subscriptions— Microsoft 365 —and part of your IT infrastructure still runs on your servers. The question isn’t whether the data can be moved: it all can. The question is in what order, and what you choose to leave behind.
Three scheduling mistakes—and what they cost
None of the three is a technical error. They all stem from the same source: we started with what was easy to move instead of starting with what everything else depends on.
The email system is being migrated before the account directory has been finalized
The directory is the list of your employees and what each one has access to. Until it’s finalized, each person ends up having two accounts: one set up in a hurry for email, and another created later for everything else. The two accounts don’t merge on their own, so you have to decide which one to discontinue, one person at a time.
The account directory is set up once, before anything else.
The documents are migrated before they have been sorted
Twenty years’ worth of shared files are imported as-is into the new environment. Nothing is lost, and nothing can be found: a search turns up fifteen versions of the same file, and the access permissions reflect an organizational chart that no longer exists.
Sorting is less expensive than migrating twice.
Computers are connected last
The data is online, but each computer is still managed as before. As a result, everyone is working in two different environments: the file is in the new environment, but the computer that opens it still relies on the old server.
A computer boots up during the migration, not afterward.
Two accounts can never be merged.
Microsoft 365 It can rename an account, assign it a different address, or transfer a mailbox to it. It cannot merge two accounts into one. When a single person ends up with two identities—one for mail, the other for documents—one must be abandoned, and everything associated with it is lost along with it.
Practical implication: The directory is decided first, before a single piece of data is moved. It is the only decision migration that affects everyone at the same time, and it’s also the only one that can’t be quietly undone.
The Five Migrations, and the Order in Which They Are Carried Out
The content of each one depends on your starting point, and it varies greatly from one company to another. Their order, however, does not change —it is the only part of the method that is non-negotiable.
Accounts and the directory
The directory is the list of your employees and what each one is authorized to access. You decide where this list is stored: on your servers, in Microsoft 365, or both. We also decide how each user logs in and how we verify their identity.
Everything else ties into this: this is the account used to access your email, documents, and computer. It’s also the step where you remove the accounts of people who left years ago—they’re still there, and you pay for them every month.
Email and Calendars
Mailboxes, archives, calendars, contacts, and addresses shared by an entire department. This is the most routine part of the project, and the one that holds the fewest surprises.
The real work isn’t the transfer itself. It’s keeping track of everything that sends messages without being a person: the management software that sends your invoices, the copier that sends scanned documents, the system alert that notifies you when a backup has failed. Each one needs to be accounted for individually, and that’s what we forget to count.
Documents
The file server folders, each user's personal documents, and existing internal websites. Three different destinations, and the selection is made on a folder-by-folder basis.
This is the only step where the main responsibility falls to you: deciding what to keep, what to archive, and what no longer has a reason to exist. We provide the inventory, the number of volumes, and the date each file was last opened; the decision is made in consultation with your managers.
Work Computers
Each computer must recognize the new account of the person using it, download their software and security settings, and function normally the next morning.
There are two ways to go about this: upgrade existing computers one by one, or take advantage of the replacement process so that the new machines come preconfigured. The choice depends on the age of your machines, and this topic is covered in detail in the article on computer management with Microsoft: Intune.
Work Style
Meetings, conversations, document sharing, and often phone calls in Microsoft Teams. This is the step that technical plans cover in a single line, and it’s the one everyone remembers.
It is prepared during the other four. The people who will answer the morning questions are selected and trained before the shift change, not after. A migration technically flawless shift in which no one changes their habits accomplishes nothing.
Exchange : Your email system is still running on a server at your office
So the second step has its own constraints: the version you’re using, the date Microsoft will stop providing updates for it, and the period during which both sides must work together. The process changes, but the order of the five migrations remains the same.
Not all specialists are created equal
Six questions to ask anyone—including ourselves. None of them require a source: all of them ask for a fact that you can verify during the interview, even if you’re not an IT specialist.
| The question | What a Solid Answer Includes | Ours |
|---|---|---|
| Who will do the work?And will I be able to meet him? | The names and job titles of the people involved—not just a team. And the chance to meet them before signing, not just during the sale. | The engineers who attend the first meeting are the ones leading the project. We carry out migrations Microsoft 365 in French-speaking Switzerland from our three offices, not from a remote service center. |
| In what order do you perform the migrations?And why? | One step at a time, and what happens if you reverse the order. An answer that starts with messaging deserves a follow-up question. | Employee accounts, email, documents, computers, and work processes. Accounts come first, because two accounts never merge. |
| What can't be migrated? | A list, right away, without having to look for it. Anyone who says, “Everything can be migrated,” hasn’t done it yet. | Sharing links sent in the past, automations set up on your file servers, document templates that pointed to a folder on the server, and some of the customizations made to your internal sites. We’ll list them before we begin. |
| In which country will our data be stored? | A specific country, not a commercial zone. And the difference between your documents and the department’s technical information, which may not all be in the same place. | Microsoft offers Switzerland as a storage location for its main services. This depends on the country you specified when setting up your environment: we’ll check your specific setup before making any promises. |
| What happens to the things that don't go away? | A decision for everything that remains: to keep it, replace it, or discontinue it as of a specified date. “We’ll see later” is an answer that costs two years. | What remains on your premises is part of the same plan as what leaves. We make use of both aspects, so we don't need everything to leave for the project to make sense. |
| What don't you do? | A short and precise answer. A service provider who claims to be able to do everything doesn't know what he doesn't know. | We do not resume a migration project without conducting our own review first, and that can sometimes throw a wrench in the schedule. And we don’t decide for you what deserves to be included: that decision is made with your managers, and that time is yours. |
None of these six questions is about a tool, and that’s by design: tools migration change names and capabilities every two years, but the way you manage a project does not.
What Costs More Than Expected
There are four issues that we factor into the budget right from the proposal stage, because they come up every time. None of them is a reason to give up; none of them comes up along the way without causing a delay.
Software Connected to Your Email
The management software that sends out your invoices, the copier that sends scanned documents, the computer alert that notifies you when a backup has failed, the website that acknowledges receipt of a form. Each has its own way of proving its identity, and the older ones don’t know how to do what Microsoft 365 is required today.
Here's what we do: We identify them in the first phase, open accounts with the software providers while the rest of the project moves forward, and maintain a backup sending solution until the last one is processed. None of these steps will delay the project if it is launched early enough.
The first synchronization of documents
On days when several hundred computers are downloading their files at the same time, your internet connection determines how the day goes. In a building with a slow connection, this becomes apparent within an hour.
Here's what we do: we measure the connection first, stagger the rollout by groups, and set up the computers in advance at the least well-served locations. That's also why the document phase never starts on a Monday.
The two overlapping subscriptions
During the transition period, you pay for both outgoing and incoming funds. The duration of this recovery process depends directly on the project’s duration, and this is the budget line that grows the most when a project falls behind schedule.
Current practice: The coverage period is specified in the proposal, along with the date on which each previous contract can be terminated. Contracts with annual expiration dates are identified at the outset, not when you want to terminate them.
What Disappears Without Being Data
Sharing links sent three years ago point to old addresses. Document templates that used to retrieve a file from the server no longer open. Spreadsheets that used to pull their data from the server have stopped updating. Nothing is lost, and yet something is no longer working.
Here’s what we do: We look for these links before making the change, we notify the specific individuals concerned by name, and we keep the old location accessible for viewing for a period of time agreed upon with you.
We're not migrating data. We're shifting everyone's workday.
The data is still coming in. It’s the things around it that are missing: the shortcut on the desktop, the link sent three years ago, the address where the copier used to send its scanned documents, the spreadsheet that the accounting department would open every morning without even thinking about it.
It is people who determine the sequence of steps, not technology
Technically, you can start with any step. What dictates the order is that the same person cannot appear twice in a directory, and a computer cannot depend on two directories at the same time.
What stays behind is decided at the beginning
The decision about what to keep isn't made during the migration : at that point, every department has a good reason to keep everything. It’s decided at the beginning, based on data volumes and dates of last use, in consultation with your managers.
The people who will answer the questions will be trained beforehand
In every department, someone needs to know how to answer the morning question. These people are trained during the migration, not on the day of the change—that’s what cuts support calls in half during the first week.
Your Starting Point
The order of the five migrations is the same for everyone. The content of each one depends on what you have today, and each starting point is handled on a case-by-case basis:
Microsoft Entra ID
Your employee list is still stored on a server at your office: how it gets Microsoft 365, and how everyone will then log in.
Read the page MessagingExchange, on your servers and online
Your email system is still running on a server Exchange on your premises: the versions, the end-of-support dates, and the period during which both systems will operate together.
Read the page Two EnvironmentsMigration from one tenant to the next
A merger, an acquisition, or a spin-off: two environments Microsoft 365 — two systems — must be merged into one, without interrupting operations in the meantime.
Read the page Shared DocumentsMicrosoft SharePoint
File server folders and internal websites: where they end up, how access permissions are applied, and what we choose not to mount.
Read the page Personal DocumentsOneDrive for Business
The desktop, documents, and downloads on each computer: what backs up automatically, what goes elsewhere, and what doesn't belong there.
Read the page ComputersMicrosoft Intune
Connecting the computers to each user's new account, installing the software, and configuring the security settings: the fourth step, with two ways to carry it out.
Read the page TelephonyMicrosoft Teams Phone
Your calls still go through a switchboard located in a technical room: how they reach Microsoft Teams, what you need to keep for emergency calls, and what will happen to the existing equipment.
Read the page ServersMigration to Microsoft Azure
Servers that will never become an online service: what leaves the server room in waves, and what stays right where it is.
Read the pageThe first meeting is with the engineers
One hour to assess your current situation: what you have, what’s already online, what Microsoft will soon stop supporting, and the deadline you’ve set for yourself. You’ll leave with the order of the five migrations for your specific case, and a list of what will need to be rebuilt rather than moved.
What we offer is the opportunity to meet the engineers who will do the work. Renens, Sion, Châtel-Saint-Denis — +41 21 806 37 15