Google Workspace to M365 Migration Action Plan for UK Firms

UK businesses planning for a Google Workspace to M365 migration must work with an action plan that addresses the nitty gritty of the processes of migrating sensitive data in the UK region. From having UK-specific security measures in place to planning the scope of work strategically, it is critical to ensure that the action plan can help your business migrate with 100% compliance while achieving the use case goals, such as consolidation into Microsoft 365.

Here we have shared bite-sized information nuggets that can help you create a strategic action plan to migrate Google to Office 365 in the UK.

1. Choose a Migration Vendor that Ensures UK Compliance

The primary area to focus on is choosing the migration vendor. Make sure to explore and choose a cloud office migration solutions provider that complies with UK GDPR and other security and privacy regulations. Also, ensure that the migration vendor you choose to work with specializes in Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 migrations.

At CloudFuze, we regularly cater to small, medium, and large-sized UK businesses and help them streamline complex Google Workspace to M365 migrations. With more than a decade of experience in creating success stories in this migration path, our migration team is equipped with deep insights that can help you plan the entire migration project in the most strategic ways.

2. Pre-assess the Migration Project

It is critical to perform a thorough pre-assessment to understand the collaboration structure in Google Drive, Google Shared Drives, Gmail, and other apps. This way, your IT team can get more insights into choosing the total number of users and data to migrate along with specific features e.g., sharing permissions, external shares, etc, that are integral to user collaboration.

During the pre-migration assessment phase, it is also important to segregate the users and data as per the respective drives and other apps. For example, when migrating from Google Drive to OneDrive, make sure to transfer the individual files and folders to the My Files section.

And when migrating from Google Shared Drives to SharePoint Online, make sure to create mappings for the relevant SharePoint Online Sites. This way, your organization can ensure total replication of the Google Workspace environment in Microsoft 365.

3. Have UK-Specific Security and Compliance Measures in Place

An integral part of performing Google Workspace to M365 migrations in the UK is adhering to the country’s data protection and compliance regulations, including the UK GDPR. Make sure that the migration vendor you choose to work with complies with UK GDPR and other security regulations.

Also, check the migration service provider’s privacy policies and review their SLAs and make amendments (if necessary) to match your organization’s security and compliance requirements. The migration vendor must also maintain high security during the migration infrastructure’s preparation, including the cloud servers. Check more cloud office migration security steps for UK businesses.

4. Plan the Migration in Phases

Instead of migrating all users and data in a single go, it is best to segregate them into several batches and migrate them accordingly. This way, your IT team can streamline the process of mapping users, migrating them, and validating them.

Performing Google Workspace to M365 migration in phases also helps your organization keep the risk of API throttling at bay by using the API calls in a controlled way for each migration batch. As a result, you can significantly lower the risk of downtime during the one-time and delta migrations.

5. Plan Post-Migration Optimization Approaches

It is equally important to plan the post-migration stage for setting up proper change management processes. The better streamlined the change management stage, the lesser the user impact when onboarding Microsoft 365. Here are some of the needle mover steps to ensure proper post-migration optimization:

• Training users to use Microsoft 365 apps in advance
• Adjusting Global admin settings and parameters in Microsoft 365
• Making provisions for ongoing support from the migration vendor and Microsoft 365’s onboarding team