Across SkyKick, we understand the mission-critical nature of email migration. I often quip that I know people who can go longer without fluids than they can their email. Though meant lightheartedly, there’s some truth to it. Email is mission-critical workload. Customers can’t afford downtime. End-users are frustrated immediately when their email experience is disrupted or changes unexpectedly. We know how important it is for you to be fully in control of the process, and to have an experience that gives you what you need to feel confident in the entire migration experience, from set-up, to data synchronization, to end-user transition.
Consistent vision, changing landscape, new technology
Over 10 years ago, SkyKick began with a simple, yet challenging vision to be “the easiest way to Office 365.” In pursuit of that vision, we developed a variety of technology to automate a growing number of components of a migration, resulting in our current SMB and Enterprise Migrations Suites. And over that time, we have been honored to receive numerous awards and become the standard migration platform for tens of thousands of partners worldwide.
However, during that time, much has also changed across the email migration landscape. Microsoft has continued to innovate its platform. Partners have become more sophisticated in proficiency. And customers are demanding more with their requirements.
Fundamentally, our original vision to be “the easiest way to Office 365” hasn’t changed (well… except, it’s now Microsoft 365). What has changed is the need for a migration platform in which you, the partner, feels empowered to wield the award-winning SkyKick automation to your exact needs and specifications.
Migrations vNext
That’s what we set out to achieve with Migrations vNext – an experience that delights our partners by delivering transparency, control, and predictability across the entire migration process, from streamlined setup and flexible configuration to redesigned sync technology and improved manageability.
Streamlined setup
- Redesigned user experience
- Improved discovery
- Intelligent configuration defaults
Flexible configuration
Redesigned sync technology
- Up to 2x faster syncs
- Dynamic adaptation to M365 throttling
- Sync statistics reporting
Improved manageability
- More sync control with Flights and on-demand resyncs
- More flexibility to add objects, including after cutover
- Improved Outlook Assistant management
The upcoming transition to Migrations Full Suite vNext
Since 2022, partners have been successfully using the Migrations vNext platform with Data-Only migrations.
Over the next few months, our SMB and Enterprise Suites will join our Data-Only Suite in being transitioned to the Migrations vNext platform.
Important details
The first thing to note is that our SMB and Enterprise branding is being retired and will be replaced by what we’re now calling “Full Suite”. You might see SMB and Enterprise show up in some areas of the product – particularly when choosing the right SKU or promo in the “Payment Method” tab – but otherwise the SMB and Enterprise products have now been condensed into “Full Suite”.
The second important note is that the rollout of Full Suite vNext is split into two phases. Phase one, which we will primarily be talking about today, can be simplified into a version of Full Suite that has only the core sync technology, and our all new SKOA management experience. Full Suite vNext also doesn’t yet support migrations from POP or IMAP, or migrations purchased through distributor marketplaces.
Features such as end-user communications, provisioning, pop and IMAP and marketplace availability will be progressively rolled out over the course of the next few months, the culmination of which will be the conclusion of phase two of the rollout.
The third point to note is that, where vNext is a complete reimagination of our migration platform, many features will have a different scope and behavior than you might be used to. To that end, we strongly encourage you to review the content in our help center, which goes over these differences in detail.
Migrations Full Suite vNext Rollout – Phase 1
Migrations Full Suite vNext Phase 1 will include:
- The Outlook Assistant 9.0
- New Outlook Assistant device management capabilities exclusively available in vNext Full Suite Migrations
- A project creation experience, defaulting to the vNext Data Only and Full Suite project types while continuing to offer the legacy SMB and Enterprise Suites as an option.
- A combined Migration Dashboard with Data Only and Full Suite vNext projects alongside existing saved, completed and in-progress SMB and Enterprise projects
- The new and improved features and capabilities already available in vNext Data-Only Migrations
- End-user communications to gather source credentials for Exchange migrations or deployment of the Outlook Assistant via a download URL
For more information, see vNext Full Suite Migrations overview.
The following scenarios are not supported in phase one, but will continue to be fulfilled by the legacy SMB and Enterprise Suites:
- POP/IMAP Migrations
- Migrations placed in Distributor Marketplaces
- Provisioning – The creation and configuration of objects in the target environment
- Bundling with Cloud Backup
- Ability to purchase via distributor marketplaces
Migrations Full Suite vNext Rollout – Phase Two
Phase two will mark the deprecation of legacy SMB and Enterprise Suites. Existing, in-progress migrations will not be affected but these project types will not be available for new projects. Our projected timeframe for this final phase, is July 2023.
Over the weeks ahead, the following features will be added as part of Phase Two:
- Comprehensive end-user communications: Phase 1 does include end-user communications to gather source credentials and to send a download URL for the Outlook Assistant but does not yet include end-user communications to gather target tenant credentials or provide reminders or instructions on configuring mobile devices.
- Provisioning: For interested partners, there will soon be an early adopter program for this feature.
- Support for IMAP and POP migrations: Until those source environments are supported, you will need to continue to use the SMB or Enterprise Migration Planner.
- Ability to bundle with Cloud Backup – Please contact your SkyKick Account Team to understand your options for purchasing Full Suites vNext as part of any SkyKick Bundles.
- Migrations purchased through distributor marketplaces
