Moving Data to Google Drive From Dropbox During an M&A

Migrating users and data from one cloud to another (from Dropbox to Google Drive in this case) during an M&A is somewhat different than standard cases as there are several intricacies to factor in, such as timelines, specificity in selecting users and data, and other factors that vary from one company to another.

More often than not, organizations undergoing a merger, or an acquisition, need to plan a migration strategy that is in line with the overall roadmap of the M&A activity.

Check out this post to explore strategies and action items that can help businesses and their IT teams plan a solid roadmap with respect to the pre-planned or in-progress M&A activity.

Choosing and Mapping Users as per the Acquirer’s Target Cloud Environment

In many acquisitions, the acquiring company requires the target firm to relocate their data sets to their cloud environment to unify them or have some level of governance over them. As such, it becomes crucial to choose and map user accounts accordingly.

For example, it can be necessary for the target firm to map files and folders to the acquirer’s strategic folders and libraries. Both parties must have proper communication to avoid going wrong in any area during the users and content mapping stage of the migration project.

Scheduling the Migration Timeline in line With the M&A Requirements

When moving away from Dropbox to Google Drive during an M&A, it is crucial to schedule the migration timeline as per the M&A requirements. Does the M&A undertaking include a pre-planned buffer time to let the target firm onboard at a convenient pace? Or does the M&A activity require the target firm to onboard as and when it is complete?

Having clarity on these areas helps the IT team of both companies to strategize the migration project’s timeline by coordinating with the migration service provider they plan to work with. It is a must to communicate the timeline plan with the migration partner right from the start, during the pre-migration analysis stage.

Decommissioning Source Cloud Accounts as and When Migrating Them

It is common for companies undergoing a merger or an acquisition to let go of their current work environments, including cloud services, to embrace the infrastructure of the new parent company. If this is true to your company’s planned or undergoing M&A activity, it may be best to decommission user accounts in the source cloud (Dropbox) as and when they get migrated to the target cloud (Google Drive).

This migration optimization approach helps speed up the process of decommissioning Dropbox licenses which, in turn, makes it easy for the IT team to completely move away from the cloud platform when onboarding users to Google Drive and Google Shared Drives in the Google Workspace cloud suite.

Making Changes to Folder Structures to Suit The Parent Company’s User Hierarchy

In many M&A undertakings, the acquiring or the merging company may require your organization to adopt their Google Drive user hierarchy to consolidate your firm’s collaboration with theirs. In such cases, making changes to the folder structure as part of the Dropbox to Google Drive migration roadmap can be a needle mover in streamlining the user and data hierarchy consolidation processes.

With CloudFuze as the migration partner, companies involved in an M&A undertaking can either retain or makes changes to user and data hierarchy, including folder structure and permission replication or modifications.

Migrating Features Linked to User Data In Strategic Ways

Similar to making changes to user account and data hierarchy when migrating them, it can be crucial to choose strategic ways to transfer features such as permissions and metadata over straightforward approaches.

For example, preserving sharing permissions during files and folders migration while looping in Google Drive user accounts of the other company can help distribute permission of vital files and folders as needed. Same goes for timestamps; it might be best to dedicated whether to preserver original or modified timestamps as per the other company’s requirements.

CloudFuze’s Track Record of Helping Companies With M&A Related Migration Projects

Our migration teams have a proven track record of helping companies such as Stryker and McGraw Hill successfully migrate their cloud office users and data in tandem with their M&A activity. Get in touch with our migration managers to learn how CloudFuze can work for your company’s M&A-related migration needs.