Ryan and I have talked about a lot of things since we took over as the editors of Smart Data Collective a few years ago. One thing that we didn’t talk as much about is why a Microsoft 365 Migration is important for organizations that rely on data to guide decisions. You may already notice that many analytics conversations focus on tools while overlooking how people actually access and share information. It is common for teams to store data in multiple places without a clear structure for collaboration. There are growing expectations for leaders to turn raw data into insight without slowing daily work.
You may be running a data-driven business that produces reports but still struggles with visibility across teams. It is this tension between data volume and data clarity that frames this discussion. Keep reading to learn more.
Why Data-Driven Businesses Look at Microsoft 365 Migration
A report from EdgeDelta shows that most businesses analyze only 37% to 40% of their data, even though 97.2% of companies invest in big data solutions. You may recognize this pattern in your own organization, where dashboards exist but answers still feel incomplete. There are limits to what analytics can deliver when information is scattered.
You may assume that heavy investment naturally leads to better insight, but the numbers suggest otherwise. It is often the case that access and organization matter as much as collection.
Neil of the Cognopia Academy reports that just 32% of firms have a data strategy today. You may be operating without a formal strategy while still expecting consistent reporting across departments. It is difficult to maintain confidence in numbers when priorities and ownership are unclear. There are real consequences when data goals are left undefined.
You may also see how collaboration tools affect how quickly teams respond to questions. It is easier to build shared understanding when files, conversations, and metrics live in connected systems.
You may deal with version conflicts, duplicated files, or delays caused by manual sharing. There are risks tied to that fragmentation, especially when decisions rely on timely information.
Shelley Bougnague of Cloudficient writes that data migration failure rates drop by 73% with proper planning. You may find reassurance in knowing that preparation reduces disruption and rework. It is planning, not speed, that often determines whether a migration supports long-term data use.
You may be thinking about growth and future reporting needs rather than short-term fixes. It is this forward-looking view that often leads data-driven businesses to reassess their platforms.
Microsoft announced the end of support for Exchange 2016 and 2019 on October 14, 2025. The implication of this declaration is that these Exchange Servers will still function, but not receive any security updates, hotfixes and cumulative updates moving forward. After hearing this news, many organizations are in a quandary. Currently, they have two options—switch to Microsoft 365 (cloud version of Exchange) or upgrade to Exchange Server SE (the on-premise version of Exchange).
Because Microsoft 365 is a completely cloud-based solution, it provides a great way to keep servers and critical business information secure. It also reduces the administrative burden on Exchange Admins as this cloud-based platform is managed by Microsoft. However, migrating from on-premises Exchange to Microsoft 365 involves many complex steps and thorough preparation, which we will discuss in this article.
Key Preparation Steps for Successful Microsoft 365 Migration
Below are some key preparatory steps for Microsoft 365 migration:
1. Assess Your Current Exchange Environment
You can evaluate your on-premise Exchange environment by following the steps below:
- Analyze current license assignments one-by-one. Identify user mailbox size and feature requirements. Based on this information, you can provision new licenses (Basic, Standard, Premium for businesses and E3, E5, F3 for enterprises) with required mailbox storage space and features that the migrated users are likely to use. You can also combine different licenses to address user needs. For instance, the expensive E3 and E5 licenses that offer over 1 TB of storage can be allocated to power users and the cheaper F3 license with only 2GB of storage can be assigned to frontline workers with low mailbox storage requirements.
- Make a list of all the settings of your on-premise Exchange environment. Write down mail flow rules, compliance policies, and retention. When you are done with migration, apply these settings to the new Microsoft 365 environment. This will ensure that your work operations can resume with the same settings. For instance, after having applied mail flow rules to block certain messages that are unsafe in on-premise Exchange, an Exchange admins need to create equivalent mail flow rules in Microsoft 365. This will ensure that unsafe messages still remain blocked in Microsoft 365.
- Before beginning migration, make a list of user, shared and resource mailboxes. After that, analyze this list to gauge which mailboxes need to be migrated, merged, archived, or deactivated/deleted.
2. Validate Network Readiness
Before Microsoft 365 migration can begin, an Exchange admin should test the current network bandwidth:
For testing network readiness, it is important to follow the steps below:
- Make sure that your network is ready for Microsoft 365 migration by assessing the number of clients that will be on the new tenant and which features/services they will be using
- Create a pilot group that is diverse and closely resembles the actual user base that you have. After that, you can use network connectivity test tool to test the connectivity after migrating that pilot group to Microsoft 365. Using these results, you can get a good idea about the network bandwidth requirement of the entire organization.
- Configure network elements such as firewalls, proxies, and security gateways appropriately to ensure the passage of traffic through Microsoft 365 endpoints without any delay or restriction
3. Prepare Microsoft’s Azure AD for Migration
It is important to synchronize on-premise Active Directory (AD) to Azure Active Directory (now called Entra ID) for maintaining consistent user identities between local and cloud environments. Proper synchronization is vital for averting authentication issues. Follow the steps provided in this link to prepare Microsoft’s Azure AD for migration.
4. Plan Communication and Support
Effective communication and support planning can make migration to Microsoft 365 simple and fruitful for the entire organization. Below are the steps you can follow to plan and communicate support:
- Provide information about migration timelines to the end-users. Also keep them abreast of expected service interruptions, so they plan their mail communication accordingly.
- Provide comprehensive Microsoft 365 training ahead of migration to users who will be migrated to the cloud environment. This will help them use the new features effortlessly after migration.
- Create a robust support plan that provides timely support to end users. The support can troubleshoot common post-migration issues, such as login problems, email configuration, or document access, which will enhance user experience after migration.
Stellar Migrator for Exchange migrates mailboxes from on-premise Exchange Servers to Microsoft 365 while preserving folder structure, and metadata. Using this software, you can perform both same domain and cross domain migrations without any need for complex PowerShell scripting. Apart from these main advantages, the tool also provides the following benefits during Microsoft 365 migration:
- Real-time dashboards for complete visibility during migration: Native migration methods provide limited visibility during migration, which prevents Microsoft admins from addressing migration issues as they happen. But that’s not the case with migration tools like Stellar Migrator for Exchange. It is equipped with job progress dashboard and mailbox progress dashboard for monitoring migration progress, track errors, and verify completion in real-time.
- Reduce migration time by mapping mailboxes automatically: The tool allows you to automatically map mailboxes. It does that by comparing email addresses between the source and target servers. This feature of Stellar Migrator for Exchange reduces the time spent by Exchange admins on migration. If automatic matching isn’t possible, the tool allows you to manually map the mailboxes to ensure correct mapping.
- No downtime and access to critical business emails: You can run a migration job on a Live Exchange Server using the Stellar Migrator tool without incurring any downtime. While the migration job is in-progress, the on-premise server may receive new critical business emails or new calendar entries. You can transfer all these new mailbox items from the already migrated mailboxes by running delta migration. This will move data between servers by running an intelligent scan, identifying already moved items and transferring only the new items.
Conclusion
You may now see that a Microsoft 365 Migration is less about technology trends and more about how data is handled day to day. It is the structure around data that often decides whether insight is trusted.
You may decide that migration planning is an opportunity to rethink access, ownership, and collaboration around data. There are long-term benefits for organizations that want their data to inform action rather than sit unused.
A successful Microsoft 365 migration demands strategic planning before beginning the migration process. Any misstep or oversight while following the native Microsoft process can cause downtime.
In contrast, Exchange Migration tool such as Stellar Migrator for Exchange open up a simple and shorter migration path. The tool migrates mailboxes stored in on-premise Exchange Server to Microsoft 365 and does it while preserving folder structure and metadata without any need for complex PowerShell scripting. It allows for automatic mailbox mapping, data filtering and delta or incremental migration. These features expedite migration with minimal user input. As a result, Exchange admins reduce migration time and lower the risk of administrative errors and downtime.
