Migrate Exchange to Office 365 or Not? 7 Signs to Pull the Trigger

Is this the right time to move to Office 365? Many IT directors know they need to migrate Exchange to Office 365 at some point, but too many wait until it’s an absolute necessity before they make the investment. While it’s understandable that IT directors want to avoid unnecessary costs, putting off the migration to Office 365 could cause serious problems for your business.

Why Migrate Exchange to Office 365?

Microsoft Exchange on-premises is the default option for some businesses, but it has many drawbacks. Hosting Exchange on-premises is the most costly way to manage your organization’s messaging systems. Migrating your corporate messaging to the cloud could reduce your costs by up to 70 percent. When you migrate to the cloud, you also benefit from automatic backup and recovery services, as well as 24/7 support from Microsoft. There are plenty of reasons to migrate from Microsoft Exchange to Office 365, but how can you tell whether the time is right for your business? Here are seven signs that you should consider making the migration a priority.

1. You Need to Upgrade Your On-Premises Servers

If you’re about to upgrade your on-premises servers, stop right there! This is the perfect opportunity for you to migrate from Exchange to Office 365. By migrating your systems to the cloud, you can avoid the need to invest in expensive new hardware. That means big cost savings for your business.

2. You’re Reaching Your Email Storage Limits

Office 365 offers almost unlimited email storage for every end user. If some of your employees are starting to run up against their email storage limits, migrating now would solve the problem. Why search for alternative solutions to email storage limits when you could simply get rid of them by migrating to Office 365? Since you’ll almost certainly need to move to the cloud at some point; you might as well do it now to solve your storage problem.

3. Your IT Team Is Too Busy

If software updates, upgrades and general server maintenance are eating up much of your IT team’s time, you need to find a way to reduce their burden. One way to do that is to migrate to Office 365 so you can automatically receive updates and upgrades to the latest version. Your other option is to hire more IT staff, but this can be a very costly solution over the long term.

4. You Want to Adopt New Applications

Perhaps you’ve realized that you want to add new business and productivity applications to your current system? Office 365 offers a huge range of applications to help your employees work more productively. Rather than investing in alternative software, why not move the migration up your priority list?

5. You Want to Mobilize Your Team

One of the biggest advantages of Office 365 is that it allows employees to access their emails from anywhere. This flexibility frees your workforce to work remotely, which can hugely increase their productivity. Whether your employees need to communicate with their co-workers while they are out on a site visit, or you simply want to give them the option of working from home, migrating to Office 365 could help.

6. You Have Too Much Downtime

Large amounts of downtime suggest that your current servers are not reliable enough to support your business operations. Frequent downtime can cause frustration and lead to hours of lost productivity, which can have a serious effect on your bottom line. One way to resolve the problem of downtime is to migrate Exchange to Office 365. Microsoft guarantees at least 99.9 percent uptime to Office 365 Business and Enterprise users, a figure that can reassure you that your business won’t be affected by sudden cutouts in your email service.

7. You Need Better Security and Compliance

If you’ve been putting off migrating to a cloud-based service because you’re worried about cloud security, think again. Cloud storage isn’t necessarily less secure than hosting messaging services on your own premises. In fact, thanks to Microsoft’s security expertise, Office 365 may actually be able to offer better security than your on-premises servers. It’s even an option for businesses that need to comply with industry regulations, such as healthcare or legal businesses. Office 365 security standards comply with industry-standard regulations, so migrating to Office 365 could take the stress out of ensuring your business meets regulatory requirements.

Ready to Migrate Exchange to Office 365?

If all the signs say it’s time to migrate Exchange to Office 365, don’t worry: the transition doesn’t have to be an overwhelming process. If your migration is complex or you don’t have the skills to handle it in-house, you can work with a consultant to help you make the switch. An experienced consultant can help you migrate your files, data and services to the Office 365 platform, minimizing downtime during the transition so your business can keep operating as normal. Learn more about Agile IT’s Office 365 consulting and migration services to find out how we can help.