Ryan and I have talked about a lot since we took over as editors of the Smart Data Collective a few years ago. One thing we haven’t talked about as much is why migrating to Microsoft 365 is important for organizations that rely on data to make decisions. You may have already noticed that many conversations about analytics focus on tools while overlooking how people actually access and share information. It’s common for teams to store data in multiple locations without a clear structure for collaboration. Leaders are increasingly expected to turn raw data into insight without slowing down day-to-day work.
Maybe you run a data-driven business that builds reports but still struggles with cross-team visibility. This tension between data volume and data clarity frames this discussion. Keep reading to learn more.
Why data-driven businesses are focusing on migrating to Microsoft 365
EdgeDelta’s report shows that most businesses only analyze 37-40% of their data, even though 97.2% of companies are investing in big data solutions. You may recognize this pattern in your own organization where dashboards exist, but the answers still seem incomplete. There are limits to what analytics can provide when information is scattered.
You might assume that big investments naturally lead to better insight, but the numbers suggest otherwise. It is often the case that access and organization matter as much as collection.
Neil from Cognopia Academy reports that only 32% of companies today have a data strategy. You may work without a formal strategy and yet expect consistent reporting across departments. It is difficult to maintain confidence in numbers when priorities and ownership are not clear. Undefined data targets have real consequences.
You can also see how collaboration tools affect how quickly teams respond to questions. It’s easier to build a shared understanding when files, conversations, and metrics live in interconnected systems.
You can resolve version conflicts, duplicate files, or delays caused by manual sharing. There are risks associated with this fragmentation, especially when decisions rely on timely information.
Cloudficient’s Shelley Bougnague writes that data migration failure rates decrease by 73% with proper planning. You can find reassurance in the fact that preparation reduces disruption and overwork. Planning, not speed, often determines whether a migration supports long-term data usage.
Maybe you’re thinking about growth and future reporting needs rather than short-term fixes. It is this forward-looking perspective that often leads data-driven companies to reevaluate their platforms.
Microsoft announced the end of support for Exchange 2016 and 2019 on October 14, 2025. The effect of this announcement is that these Exchange servers will continue to function, but will not receive any security updates, hotfixes, or cumulative updates. After hearing this news, many organizations are rushing. They currently have two options – switch to Microsoft 365 (the cloud version of Exchange) or upgrade to Exchange Server SE (local version of Exchange).
Because Microsoft 365 is a completely cloud-based solution, it provides a great way to secure servers and important business information. It also reduces the administrative burden for Exchange administrators, as this cloud platform is managed by Microsoft. However, migrating from on-premises Exchange to Microsoft 365 involves many complex steps and thorough preparation, which we will discuss in this article.
Key preparatory steps for a successful migration to Microsoft 365
Below are some key preparation steps for Microsoft 365 migration:
1. Assess your current exchange environment
You can evaluate your on-premises Exchange environment by following these steps:
- Analyze current license assignments one by one. Identify user mailbox size and feature requirements. Based on this information, you can provision new licenses (Basic, Standard, Premium for Business and E3, E5, F3 for Business) with the required mailbox storage and features that migrated users are likely to use. You can also combine different licenses to meet the needs of users. For example, the expensive E3 and E5 licenses that offer more than 1 TB of storage can be allocated to power users, and the cheaper F3 license with only 2 GB of storage can be allocated to frontline workers with low mailbox storage requirements.
- Create a list of all settings for your on-premises Exchange environment. Write down your mail flow, compliance and retention policies. When you’re done migrating, use these settings in your new Microsoft 365 environment. This will ensure that your work operations can continue with the same settings. For example, after using mail flow rules to block certain messages that are not secure on-premises Exchange, Exchange administrators must create equivalent mail flow rules in Microsoft 365. This ensures that unsafe messages are still blocked in Microsoft 365.
- Before starting the migration, create a list of user, shared, and source mailboxes. Then analyze this list to determine which mailboxes need to be migrated, merged, archived, or disabled/deleted.
2. Verify network readiness
Before starting the migration to Microsoft 365, the Exchange administrator should test the current network bandwidth:
To test network readiness, it is important to follow these steps:
- Make sure your network is ready for the Microsoft 365 migration by assessing the number of clients who will be on the new tenant and which features/services they will use.
- Create a pilot group that is diverse and closely resembles the actual user base you have. You can then use the network connectivity tester to test connectivity after this pilot group is migrated to Microsoft 365. Using these results, you can get a good idea of the network bandwidth requirements of your entire organization.
- Properly configure network elements such as firewalls, proxies, and security gateways to ensure traffic passes through Microsoft 365 endpoints without any delay or restriction.
3. Prepare Microsoft’s Azure AD for migration
It is important to synchronize on-premises Active Directory (AD) with Azure Active Directory (now called Entra ID) to maintain consistent user identities between on-premises and cloud environments. Proper synchronization is necessary to warn of authentication problems. Follow the steps in this link to prepare Microsoft Azure AD for migration.
4. Communication and support plan
Effective communication and support planning can make migrating to Microsoft 365 simple and fruitful for the entire organization. Below are the steps you can take to plan and communicate support:
- Provide end users with information on migration schedules. Also keep them informed of expected service interruptions so they plan their mail communications accordingly.
- Provide users who will be migrated to the cloud environment with comprehensive Microsoft 365 training before the migration. This will help them use the new features effortlessly after the migration.
- Create a robust support plan that provides timely support to end users. Support can address common post-migration issues, such as login, email configuration, or document access issues, improving the post-migration user experience.
Stellar Migrator for Exchange migrates mailboxes from on-premises Exchange servers to Microsoft 365 while preserving folder structure and metadata. With this software, you can perform same-domain and multi-domain migrations without the need for complex PowerShell scripting. In addition to these main benefits, the tool also provides the following benefits during the migration to Microsoft 365:
- Real-time dashboards for full visibility during migration: Native migration methods provide limited visibility during migration, preventing Microsoft administrators from addressing migration issues as they arise. But this is not the case with migration tools like Stellar Migrator for Exchange. It features a job progress dashboard and a migration progress dashboard to track migration progress, track errors, and verify completion in real-time.
- Reduce migration time with automatic mailbox mapping: The tool allows you to automatically map mailboxes. It does this by comparing email addresses between the source and destination servers. This feature of Stellar Migrator for Exchange reduces the time spent by Exchange administrators on migrations. If automatic mapping is not possible, the tool allows you to manually map mailboxes to ensure correct mapping.
- No downtime and access to critical company emails: You can run a Live Exchange Server migration job using Stellar Migrator without any downtime. While the migration job is in progress, the local server may receive new important business emails or new calendar entries. You can transfer all these new mailbox items from already migrated mailboxes by running a delta migration. This will move data between servers by running a smart scan that will identify items that have already been moved and only transfer new items.
Conclusion
Now you can see that migrating to Microsoft 365 is less about technology trends and more about how data is handled every day. The credibility of an insight is often determined by the structure around the data.
You may decide that migration planning is an opportunity to rethink access, ownership and collaboration around data. There are long-term benefits for organizations that want their data to inform action rather than sit idle.
A successful Microsoft 365 migration requires strategic planning before starting the migration process. Any misstep or oversight in following Microsoft’s native process can cause outages.
In contrast, an Exchange Migration tool like Stellar Migrator for Exchange opens up a simple and shorter migration path. The tool migrates mailboxes stored on-premises Exchange Server to Microsoft 365 and does so while preserving the folder structure and metadata without the need for complex PowerShell scripting. Enables automatic mailbox mapping, data filtering, and differential or incremental migration. These features accelerate migration with minimal user intervention. As a result, Exchange administrators reduce migration time and reduce the risk of administrative errors and downtime.