Microsoft 365 Migration

Understanding the Risks When Migrating from Exchange to Microsoft 365
Let us help you migrate to Microsoft 365

Reduce Costly Mistakes When Migrating Your Business to Microsoft 365

Microsoft has been pushing Exchange to a Microsoft 365 migration to take advantage of cloud computing. 

Small businesses, in particular, have flocked to the product. Sixty-one percent of small businesses use Office 365. Currently, 24% of medium-sized companies use the product, and 15% of large organizations use Office 365. Overall, deployments of Office 365 increased 21% last year. 

5 Considerations During a Microsoft 365 Migration

Access

Having appropriate access to your business infrastructure and your domain is critical to success. 

Mitigating Risk

Microsoft 365 has failure points including email, security, and authentication. Unlike on-premises services where redundancies can be built in, with MS 365 when you’re down, you’re down. You need to have a plan in place to mitigate potential outages.

Security

Spam filtering is a challenge with Microsoft 365. Whereas Exchange offers numerous choices for security, MS 365 offerings are more limited.

Data Loss

Data can get corrupted. Synching errors can occur. Employees can error. You need to prepare for data loss. It’s best to run your old system parallel to the new instance until everything is ironed out.

Migrations

The size and complexity of your organization will impact how smoothly your Microsoft 365 migration goes. Other factors include your number of instances and versions of Exchange. Another consideration is skill gaps.

Exchange Server 2010 SP2 uses a wizard to reduce the steps required from roughly 50 to six. But advanced planning is still a must. There’s simply no one size fits all solution for a migration.

Ongoing training and access to expert resources are needed to learn and remain current.

We’ve helped businesses throughout Central PA and beyond with Microsoft 365 migrations. If you’d like some expertise to make sure your migration goes smoothly, give us a call. 

Keep Your Sensitive Data Secure After Migration

With any cloud service, cybersecurity is a concern. Microsoft 365 is no exception. You need to take steps to harden security following migration. Doing so requires addressing identity and access management, Exchange,  Sharepoint, and OneDrive. 

5 Steps We’ll Take to Harden Your Security After an MS 365 Migration: 

  • Multi-factor Authentication:

    Of importance, make sure you require MFA for users to log in. 

  • Limit Remote Access:

    Most email compromises stem from Outlook web access (OWA). You can improve security by disabling OWA or enabling only when required. You can also look at disabling POP3, IMAP, MAPI, EWS, and ActiveSync. 

  • Secure Score:

    Microsoft 365 includes Secure Score. It reviews security settings and suggests areas for improvement. 

  • Message Forwarding:

    Hackers often use inbox rules to forward messages or delete messages to hide them from users. You can configure Microsoft 365 to alert you when a user sets up a new inbox rule. You can also disable forwarding and deletion rules altogether. 

  • Audit Logging:

    In the event of a breach, you'll need to know what areas are compromised. You can track logs by turning on audit logging and enabling mailbox auditing for each user. These tools are inactive by default. 

The above list only touches the surface concerning hardening Office 365. The complete list is extensive and includes other items like disabling unused apps, disabling third-party access, enabling security defaults, blacklisting malicious extensions, enabling DKIM, and more. 

Having a Microsoft 365 expert evaluate your cybersecurity ensures valuable security layers don’t go unnoticed. One of our primary focuses during any Microsoft 365 migration is ensuring the product is hardened to reduce the chances of a cyber breach. Hardening protects both you and your customers’ sensitive data from cybercriminals.

You'll Get Greater Flexibility with MS365

As mentioned, Office 365 delivers numerous benefits, especially when compared to the leading competitor, G Suite.

Many small and medium-sized businesses switch from G Suite to Office 365 because they outgrow the platform. Expanding business requirements demand greater functionality than G Suite delivers without having to tack on third-party services that add unexpected costs. 

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7 Benefits of Microsoft 365

  • Licensing Costs

    Because Microsoft 365 is in the Azure cloud, your IT department doesn’t have to worry about licensing, performance updates, or security issues. New software and app features are available right away. ​

  • Server Elimination

    Eliminate costs for on-premise servers, maintenance, equipment updates, facilities, and power consumption. 

  • Greater Efficiency

    Migrating to Microsoft 365 frees up staff to focus on other projects. Employees can focus on larger, innovative tasks that support business efficiency and customer support. ​

  • All-Inclusive

    Unlike G Suite, Office 365 offers everything in one package. You’ll have access to Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Microsoft Teams, and a great deal more. ​

  • Data Access

    You’re guaranteed 99.99% access to your data. ​

  • Security

    Azure Rights Management protects Office 365 with built-in cybersecurity features. You have visibility into who accesses your data at all times. ​

  • Improved Scalability

    You can adjust your billing based on business fluctuations. So, you pay only for what you need. Plus, it’s a fixed monthly cost to control your budgets. No capital outlay is required.   ​

If you’re ready to take advantage of MS 365 benefits and looking for an IT company near you for support, talk to us. We’ll handle the entire Microsoft 365 migration for you, or we can help support your move.  

Make Your Microsoft 365 Migration Seamless 

As a managed service provider, we’ve helped clients in Harrisburg, York, Reading, Lebanon, Lancaster, and Allentown with Microsoft 365 migrations. We always focus on hardening your implementation to help eliminate any vulnerabilities associated with MS 365 and with cloud applications in general.

A lot of companies take on an Microsoft 365 migration only to run into issues. Don’t let that happen to you. Get in touch. We’ll make sure the process is seamless. And, we’ll harden your deployment to prevent cyber breaches.

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