Small Enterprise SituAction: Building an Office 365 Strategy

There are a lot of Office 365 implementations, and many of them were done poorly. Take a controlled approach to planning the migration to Office 365, negotiating with Microsoft, and preparing for future expansions.

Situation: The CIO of a professional association is given a mandate by the board. Employees are spread across the country and struggle with communication and collaboration. IT has been pushing Microsoft’s Office 365 as a possible solution to the random collection of enterprise and consumer tools that they are currently using.

Complication: The board greenlights the funding required to roll out Office 365. Now the CIO really has to make it work and demonstrate appropriate benefits.

The first step is to create an Office 365 migration strategy.

Recommendations

1. Migrate to Office 365 Now. One small step to cloud, one big leap to Office 365. The key is to look before you leap. Many businesses are opting for a one-size-fits-all licensing strategy. If you don’t select licensing to suit actual user needs, you will oversupply users and overspend on licensing. Build a roadmap through a logical step-by-step process to outline major milestones and develop a communication plan to engage users throughout the migration. Demonstrate IT’s due diligence by relaying the project findings and results back to the business using Info-Tech’s Office 365 migration plan. A few of Info-Tech’s resources include:
   • Office 365 Migration Plan Report (Word)
   • Office 365 Migration Workbook (Excel)
   • End-User Engagement Template (Word)
2. Modernize Your Microsoft Licensing for the Cloud Era. Take control of your Microsoft licensing and optimize spend. If the cloud doesn’t fit, it’s time to start making room. Most organizations are still at a stage where they can keep their on-premises licensing. But this will likely change over the next couple of years – the cloud is imminent, if not inevitable. If the cloud doesn’t make sense now, start thinking about how you might make it work in the future.
   • Microsoft Cloud Products Cost Modeler (Excel)
   • Microsoft Licensing Purchase Reference Guide (Word)
   • Effective Licensing Position Tool (Excel)
3. Establish a Communication and Collaboration System Strategy. Don’t waste your time deploying yet another collaboration tool that won’t get used. Communication and collaboration portfolios are overburdened with redundant and overlapping services. Between Office 365, Slack, Jabber, and WebEx, IT is supporting a collection of redundant apps. This redundancy takes a toll on IT and on the user.
   • Enterprise Collaboration Strategy Template (Word)
   • Enterprise Communication and Collaboration System Business Requirements Document (Word)
   • Collaboration Capability Map (PowerPoint)
4. Backing Up Office 365 – Oxymoron or Necessity? Office 365 lives in the cloud but still might require traditional infrastructure considerations like backup and recovery.

Bottom Line

Info-Tech’s blueprints and tools are valuable starting points for getting IT leaders up to speed quickly with Office 365 strategy and migration.

Want to Know More?

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