A leading manufacturer of frozen products, renowned for its high-quality offerings, sought to enhance operational efficiency by consolidating its digital communication and collaboration platforms. The company operated across three separate Google Workspace tenants, resulting in fragmented data management and collaboration challenges. To unify its operations, the company aimed to migrate all users and data into an existing Microsoft 365 tenant.

Challenge

The primary challenge was to migrate all users across multiple domains from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 without disrupting daily operations. The migration encompassed substantial data volumes:

• Gmail: 2.6 TB

• Google Drive: 3 TB

• Shared Drives: 3.7 TB

Additional complexities included externally shared documents among their many domains and with other external partners, as well as emails and calendar entries with large attachments exceeding 100 MB.

Solution

The company engaged NBConsult to facilitate a structured and efficient migration process. Utilizing the AvePoint Fly migration tool, the approach was segmented into per-domain migrations with a staged methodology:

1. Analysis: Comprehensive assessment of the existing Google Workspace tenants to identify potential challenges and strategize the migration process.

2. Pilot and UAT Migrations: Conducted initial pilot migrations followed by User Acceptance Testing (UAT) to ensure data integrity and address any issues prior to full-scale migration.

3. Bulk Production Migration: Executed the migration of remaining users and data in phases, minimizing downtime and ensuring continuity of operations.

The nature of migrating from Google to Microsoft allowed both environments to coexist temporarily, reducing the risks associated with a hard cutover and enabling a smoother transition.

Benefits

The successful migration yielded significant benefits:

• Unified Collaboration Platform: Consolidation into a single Microsoft 365 tenant enhanced collaboration across teams and improved data accessibility.

• Enhanced Data Management: Centralized data storage in OneDrive and SharePoint facilitated better data management and security.

• Improved Compliance: Standardized email and document management systems streamlined compliance with industry regulations.

• Operational Efficiency: The seamless migration minimized disruptions, allowing employees to maintain productivity throughout the transition.

Conclusion

Through meticulous planning and execution, the manufacturer successfully unified its digital workspace, paving the way for enhanced collaboration and operational efficiency. The strategic migration to Microsoft 365 not only addressed immediate challenges but also positioned the company for future growth in an increasingly digital landscape.