Top 6 preparation tools for a successful O365 email migration | SkyKick

Preparation is critical to the success of many endeavors. This is certainly true for email migrations to Office 365. Abraham Lincoln put it this way: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” The more migration projects you do, the sharper your ax will be. But because every migration project is different, it is important to take the time to sharpen the ax for each project before you start swinging.

SkyKick offers a variety of tools, training, and consultative support, you can use to effectively prepare for every migration project.

Top 3 tools to sharpen your migration preparation skills

SkyKick offers a variety of tools you can use to increase the chances that you win an email migration project, reduce scope creep and your costs on the work, and drive customer satisfaction with your work. The tools include how to:

  • Scope the project to prepare a more accurate and comprehensive Statement of Work (SOW)
  • Identify potential issues which may require specific technical skills or additional effort
  • Set appropriate customer expectations for the project
  • Clarify customer roles and responsibilities
  • Work with your customers to customize the project for their specific requirements

Tool 1: Migration Pre-Order Checklist

The Migration Pre-Order Checklist is a great tool to download, print out or repurpose for your own use on every project. Use it to capture key items and information that may impact the effort, complexity, and cost of the project across the following areas:

  • Source email environment information
  • Workstation and end user email access information
  • Customer resources and responsibilities
  • Customer access requirements
  • Customer information and collaboration

 

Tool 2: What to Consider in a Migration Project SOW

Read the article “What to consider in a Migration Project (SOW) to be sure you include the most common items that may need to be addressed during a migration project, including:

  • Required partner tasks and actions
  • Customer roles and responsibilities
  • Dependencies to include
  • Actions to avoid
  • Mail objects, properties, and attributes that require manual effort

Tool 3: SkyKick Discovery Services

Accurate estimates at the start of a project greatly increase the chances of winning the work. And no one likes surprises in the middle of a migration. The SkyKick Discovery Service is a powerful tool to learn about the customer’s environment.

All you need is a single email address and password in one of the SkyKick Migration Planners to initiate SkyKick Discovery Services. This will uncover the following critical information for the SOW:

  • DNS Hoster and Registrar
  • Highest fidelity connection to the source server
  • Mailboxes on the source server

Top 3 training and support resources to sharpen your migration planning

You can have the sharpest ax in the world, but still may need some training or consultation to swing it effectively. SkyKick offers a variety of resources to help partners prepare for and plan successful migration projects.

Resource 1: Help Center

Go to the SkyKick Migration Help Center to sharpen your general knowledge or gain specific information for various unique migration scenarios you encounter.

Resource 2: Webinars

Click here to find migration scoping and planning webinars that you can attend or watch on-demand.

Resource 3: Support

SkyKick phone and email Support is not only free and unlimited to assist during migration projects. Support technicians are available and eager to help partners during the planning and selling phase as well. If you ever have questions about a project, from planning and scoping to completion, never hesitate to email or call SkyKick Support.

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