The use of Microsoft Office 365 to drive better efficiency and business performance is heightened especially for the health and wellness industry. When Microsoft Office 365 was first released it was game-changing, helping businesses shift from an on-premises email management system to the cloud that is accessible from any location.

Microsoft Office 365 offers users tools to seamlessly manage calendars and contact lists and book appointments using meeting rooms. Further, the software enables emails to provide accounting and payment functions.

Microsoft Office 365 is one of the most widely used business tools with a suite of products that optimize workplace productivity. It is equipped to deliver fast results and has excellent security and compliance features to protect employees and business information from cyber-attacks.

When looking to migrate your emails to the cloud, the usability and flexibility of the software are crucial purchase decisions. Microsoft Office 365 has invested significant resources to ensure its applications are accessible and user-friendly across all industries.

While the suite itself might be simple to use, migration to Microsoft Office 365 is no easy feat. Most businesses face complications when migrating to the software, as it isn’t a simple shift from your mailbox to the cloud. Instead, it requires a certain amount of preparation and expert knowledge. Having expertise in non-compliance and licensing is essential for smooth email migration.

Here is our 5-step guide to a Microsoft Office 365 email migration:

1. Know What to Migrate

The first step of your migration must essentially be a plan of what needs to be moved. Next, you must create a checklist to ensure all necessary data is shifted with email migration. For example, you might consider migrating mailbox data, application or system mailboxes, shared mailboxes, distribution lists, DNS records, and user devices like mobiles, laptops, and tables must be reconfigured.

2. Understand & Access Licensing Requirements

 All Microsoft 365 applications like Outlook email need appropriate licenses. For a business in the health and wellness industry, it is necessary to specify the required licenses based on your staff count. However, a lack of understanding regarding Microsoft 365’s various license options and updates can cause roadblocks.

Moreover, businesses often make mistakes like license overlap, over-provisioning, or buying a license that fails to cover all their requirements. Therefore, it is essential to research and understand which suite of products and licenses are most suitable for your business requirements.

3. Plan an Organized Execution System

 Emails are the lifeblood of any business as it ensures constant communication and for many health and wellness businesses, it helps to drive better customer service. Ensuring your business harbors a well-administered email environment will facilitate a smoother migration process.

Migrating to Microsoft 365 features admin roles like permitting employees to conduct specific tasks. For such cases, determining who executes permission-related activities can avoid communication mishaps. Positions in this role include global admin, service desk admin, and exchange admin, among others.

4. Invest in the Best Security Measures

 Most health and wellness businesses face data breaches because of email phishing attacks. Without the right resources, you can take longer to locate the source of the breach and rectify the situation. It’s found that on average a business will lose $4.35 million yearly in data breaches.

When migrating to Office 365, security must be considered. Security measures like multi-factor authentication and digital certificates help to add an extra layer of protection to your materials.

5. Educate Users & Set Expectations

Migrating to Office 365 offers users many benefits, but with change comes minor challenges. When it comes to technology, often employees don’t like change as they are required to learn the new software and adapt within a particular timeframe.

As a result, it’s vital to ensure all your employees and users are well-trained on how to use Office 365’s emailing system and are guided through the migration. It’s also crucial that employees understand what can and cannot be retained to avoid unnecessary IT service requests. You can also accelerate email migration by cleaning up mailboxes, removing inactive emails, and more.

The whole point of migrating to Office 365 is moving your data to the cloud. Although, it is necessary that you store backups of all your data to prevent loss during migration.

The secret to avoiding an email migration failure is to ensure you are prepared. A well-resourced IT service provider can assist you with your migration plan and ensure smooth implementation. To learn more about how our expert team can help contact us.