Cloud Data Migration Questionnaire for UK Businesses

There is no doubt that questionnaires for internal teams and service providers can be great instruments in preparing the framework for cloud data migration projects. For UK-based businesses in particular, the questionnaires can cover standard as well as UK/EU-specific areas that address strategy preparation, budget planning, and security assessments.

This post covers two sets of questionnaires: one for your company’s internal teams (e.g., IT, management, etc.) and another for the migration service provider you choose to work with.

Questionnaire for Migration Goals Decision-Making

It is imperative that UK/EU businesses prepare and present a set of mission-critical questions to their internal teams for planning and finalizing migration goals. Here are some of the key questionnaires that address the needle mover areas:

1. Will It Be a Complete or Partial Migration Project?

One of the fundamental questions that can help businesses set the right foundation for planning cloud data migration goals is to decide whether to migrate complete or partial user accounts and data from the source cloud to the target.
Finalizing this decision will influence several critical factors, including:

• Deciding between decommissioning the source cloud or archiving a percentage of user accounts and data on it.
• Ending bulk of the licenses within a specific time and planning the migration timeline accordingly.
• Keeping a few source cloud licenses active to help the end-users go back and access what they need post-migration.

2. What Will Be the Protocols to Comply With GDPR?

Businesses, especially those based out of the UK and EU, must have the right processes to ensure proper GDPR compliance when planning the cloud data transfer project. Having discussions around this area will help set up processes, such as using servers hosted in the UK/EU region for the migration tool.

With GDPR compliance and company security as a priority, businesses must also choose between cloud-based and on-prem migration environments. Enterprises in the UK and EU that have a strong and scalable IT departments can internalize all the migration functions and perform the migration locally in their private data centers.

3. Should the IT Team Be Completely or Partially Involved?

One of the major IT-related discussions to have with internal teams is to decide whether the IT team will be completely or partially involved in the cloud storage migration project. For most businesses in the UK and EU, it is best to have the internal IT team only partially involved in the project to enable them to focus on other crucial areas, such as change management.

With CloudFuze as the cloud office migration partner, UK and EU businesses can opt for a white glove service and offload half of the efforts from their IT department and focus on change management areas, such as:

• Structuring administration in the destination cloud
• Integrating third-party services into the destination cloud if required
• Training the end-users to use the destination cloud’s functionalities

Read Cloud Migration Managed Services vs Internal IT Efforts for more information on this area.

4. Will the User Collaboration Structure Change or Remain the Same in the Destination?

Having a clear and concise answer to this question will help determine the scope of work (SOW) for the entire migration project. Deciding whether to replicate the user collaboration structure in the destination cloud or modify it will influence several factors, such as:

• Choosing the source cloud-specific files to migrate (e.g., Box Notes and Dropbox Paper).
• Choosing the type of features to migrate (e.g., sharing permissions, embedded links, external shares, etc.).
• Migrating data from the source cloud’s add-ons (e.g., migrating chat data of third-party/add-on services such as Slack)

5. How Will User Onboarding Be Planned?

Since onboarding the users is just as critical as the migration project itself, it is crucial to have a solid onboarding plan. UK/EU SMBs with a small workforce and a tight deadline can onboard the users in a single go with prior training on destination cloud adoption. 

On the other hand, UK/EU enterprises can perform the onboarding in a phased manner. For example, enterprises with a lot of functions/teams can onboard each department one after the other.  

Questionnaire for Migration Partner Analysis

It is equally important for UK and EU businesses to prepare a questionnaire for analyzing the migration partner’s methodologies and policies.

The set of questions presented below provides a foundational step for UK and EU businesses of all sizes to prepare an intricate set of questionnaires and present them to the cloud data migration partner they choose to work with.

1. Will a Dedicated Project Management Team/Regional Presence Be Available?

UK/EU businesses must have clarity on whether they will require the availability of a dedicated project management team with a regional presence from the migration vendor. For example, many UK businesses require onsite visits from the service provider to schedule regular meetings.

If required, it is worth probing the migration partner regarding their already existing UK/EU presence. Enterprises must know about the Visa statuses if the migration partner plans to send resources for onsite meetings. This is especially important when working with a migration partner from the US or another country.

2. Are There Options To Amend the Security Policies?

UK and EU businesses must know beforehand if the migration partner is open to making modifications to their security policies relating to the usage and storage of data. Having room for modifications plays an integral part in optimizing the cloud data migration project’s security protocols and getting approval from the legal team.

3. How Will the Commercials Be Planned and Executed?

Similar to security, it is crucial to have discussions around the commercials with the migration partner. Commercials can be complicated in scenarios where UK/EU businesses need to migrate data from the source cloud and its add-on services. For example, migrating users and data from Box to OneDrive and Slack to Teams as part of adopting the entire Microsoft 365 cloud suite.

Also, what will be the payment structure for cloud data migration projects with six or seven-figure price quotes? Will it be a one-time payment or milestone-based payments?

Working with the migration partner to streamline these areas is a must to move the project quickly.

4. Will a Dedicated Help Desk Be Set Up for the Migration Project?

Standard support processes may not suffice for UK/EU businesses that plan to get hands-on with the cloud office migration project. Also, UK/EU enterprises that plan to make a large corporate move between clouds require dedicated and priority support from the migration service provider.

Therefore, it is crucial to understand whether the migration partner can set up a dedicated help desk for UK/EU working hours during and after post-migration.

5. Can Industry or Region-specific Customer References Be Set Up?

Since customer references are one of the best practices to go forward with any service provider, it is crucial to discuss with the migration partner the feasibility of setting up customer references.

For UK and EU businesses, it is best to have customer references set up within the UK and from the same or similar industries.