Switching to a new email hosting provider may be the solution to many issues that your company is now facing, such as the need to improve security or consolidate the tools in your IT stack. However, the shift will need you to examine a greater number of factors the larger and more complicated your firm is.
With the possibility of an email migration on the table, many executives have questions, such as whether or not their data will be secure, how long it will take, and whether or not they would be required to be offline during the process.
It is absolutely necessary to properly prepare in order to reduce the hazards.
In this post, we will discuss the concept of email migration as well as the significance of this process. After that, we’ll walk you through the steps you need to take to successfully plan, prepare for, and carry out your subsequent email migration.
What exactly is meant by the term “email migration,” and why is it so vital?
Moving from one email hosting provider to another, such as switching from Gmail to Office 365, is an example of an email migration. When you switch email providers, all of your emails, contacts, and other data will be moved between the various email services.
The migration of data and emails is quite straightforward when there are only a few accounts to be migrated throughout an organisation. It is going to be more difficult if you have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of accounts, integrated software, and terabytes of data.
In spite of the obstacles, there are a great many reasons why a company would want to switch email providers, such as the following:
a) Boost in both speed and productivity
When compared to newer, web-based email systems, older, more traditional email platforms are painfully sluggish. They frequently become “clogged” with data, which hinders the operations of a corporation. In addition, some email service providers cater to sole proprietorships and other types of small businesses. It is possible that if your company expands, you may want an email client that is designed for a corporate setting.
b) Greater degree of compatibility with the requirements of the company
Migrating to a solution that is more user-friendly and integrated might potentially give your employees with a better overall user experience. Your systems will be less complicated as a result of the fact that many email platforms now interact with a wide variety of other tools and apps.
c) Reduction in the burden of cost
The relocation of an organisation’s email system enables a number of cost-cutting opportunities for businesses. They have the option of switching to a service that is more affordably priced or selecting a provider that offers other capabilities, such as the documents and spreadsheets that are offered by Google Workspace. In the same vein, an email migration is frequently the ideal opportunity to clean up your data and reduce the number of unneeded accounts that you have.
d) Improved safety and protection
Because of the increasing risk posed by malicious software and frauds, it is essential for each company to have a strong security system. Your total company risks are increased as a result of the fact that many outdated email systems are susceptible to security attacks. Multiple levels of security protection are now offered by a significant number of the industry’s most prominent companies.
All this and not to mention the need to go for an email hosting that is more professional by nature.
Putting the migration into action
After business hours is the best time to execute the cut-over that is the final step. When this is done, there will be just a little amount of disturbance to the email service for each user.
Before commencing the conversion, it is imperative to verify that all essential data, including emails, attachments, and other files, have been successfully backed up.
1.Make sure that your domain is verified
This step will seem a little bit different for you depending on who you choose to register your domain and who your existing email provider is.
Both Microsoft and Gmail will require you to provide the TXT verification record in order to establish that you are, in fact, the owner of the domain in question. This is accomplished with Office 365 by joining in within the new platform using their setup procedure. In this section, Gmail describes how to do this task.
2.Create new user accounts
Before users’ emails may be moved, each user has to have their own unique email address.
In case you choose to switch from G Suite to Office 365, you will be required to submit an application for Office 365 licenses by means of either a standalone plan or a subscription. In the event that you are moving from Office 365 to G Suite, you will be required to set up user accounts for your employees within the Google Workspace.
3.Create the migration file
You should make a spreadsheet using your user map and the recently established accounts in order to match the old email address with the new address.
In order to successfully migrate emails to Office 365, your spreadsheet has to have the following columns:
The email address associated with the Office 365 mailbox may be seen in Column A (Email-address).
The sign-in name for the user’s initial mailbox may be found in Column B’s “Username” column.
The password for that particular user’s primary mailbox may be found in Column C (Password).
In order to generate this spreadsheet, you will need to be familiar with the Gmail passwords of all of the users. During the process of migrating emails, if you are an administrator of Google Workspace, you will have the ability to change passwords and give temporary ones to users.
When you migrate to Gmail, you also have the option of adding many emails at once. Once more, you’ll need to produce a CSV file.
4.Create migration endpoints using Office 365
When you start the migration process, your email data will transfer to migration endpoints, which are locations that you choose. In order to facilitate the transfer of emails, Office 365 will link to Gmail in this manner.
You will need to connect in to the Exchange Admin Centre using an administrator account in order to setup migration endpoints with Office 365. Because G Suite is built on the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), you will need to select that option when configuring your email client. In the following procedure, all of your email accounts will be moved to the site specified above.
If you are moving to Gmail, the process will be carried out somewhat differently. The Google Workspace Migration for Microsoft Exchange is the primary tool that Google offers to users in order to assist them with migrating their email to the G Suite. Google also offers a number of other tools.
5.Start moving your mailboxes while also running a test migration batch
It is recommended that you put some mailboxes through their paces before diving in headfirst. You need to test the migration process using a limited number of insignificant email addresses and keep track of the amount of time it takes. This will help you estimate how long it will take to migrate all of your mailboxes as well as how many mailboxes you can migrate at the same time without negatively affecting the bandwidth available to your company.
After the migrations have been finished, you should verify that they were a success. You should be able to see that the new licenses are synchronised in the Exchange Admin Center or in G Suite if it was successful.
It is now time to transfer the remaining accounts in your possession. During this stage of the process, your old and new mailboxes will be brought into sync with one another. This procedure might take several days (depending on the size of the mailboxes and the bandwidth of the server), so make sure you provide enough time for it. The number of mailboxes and your platform are both factors that determine how long it will take. For illustration purposes, moving ten mailboxes of an average size can take anywhere from three to four days.
6. Now is the time to make the switchover
The cut-over takes place when your old email server finally gives up and your new server starts picking up where it left off. It might take anything from thirty minutes to several weeks for this procedure to finish depending on the client, so be sure to perform it after hours (you will ultimately get all of the emails that were sent during this period). During the email downtime, the client will not be able to send or receive emails.
In order to begin receiving emails, you will need to alter the settings for your DNS. It is the responsibility of your provider to guide you through this period. After reaching this stage, your emails should be synced, and the new system should allow you to access them.
After the switchover has been completed, you should continue to run frequent sweeps between your old server and your new server for at least three days to check that your emails are being sent and received properly. As soon as you are satisfied that everything is operating as it should, you may finally stop using the prior email provider permanently.
Conclusion
Email migrations, despite the fact that it might be challenging, is not in any way impossible. You should be able to prepare for the relocation process with as few bumps in the road as possible with the help of this guidance.
BigRock is a reliable domain, web security and web hosting provider that offers 99.9% up-time, 24/7 support, high scalability and performance. In case you have any doubts, queries or feedback for this article, please share them in the comments section below.
