Considerations For Migrating To Microsoft Teams
Considering migrating to a technology that delivers on both communication and collaboration functionality? Then Microsoft Teams will benefit your business. Conall O'Kane, Storm's Modern Workplace Team Lead shares some top considerations for migrating to Teams below.
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Following the digital surge of 2020, many organisations are already aware of the need for technology such as Microsoft Teams to facilitate remote working, keeping employees connected regardless of location. Now organisations are adapting to a world of hybrid working where the additional functionality of Microsoft Teams comes into play.
Microsoft Teams is more than a communication platform but also acts as a collaboration platform allowing workers to work together efficiently across any channel using multiple working apps all while not leaving the Microsoft Teams App. As well as being tightly integrated with Office 365, one of the most widely used suites of productivity applications, Microsoft Teams offers integration with a wide number of third-party applications.
For organisations who are ready to look more towards a full collaboration platform that will benefit users for the future of remote and hybrid working, it might be the right time to migrate to Microsoft Teams. Below we explore some considerations for migrating to Microsoft Teams.
Technical Scoping
Once you have decided to migrate to Microsoft Teams, it is essential to consider the technical side of it first in terms of estimating the time and cost involved. Your business may need to consider if Teams is already included on an existing Microsoft 365 licence and which technology partner your business will work with for the roll-out. Your technology partner will help with scoping all the technical aspects of the migration and the rollout. With the foundations for the roll-out assessed, you can then plan the path to successful implementation within your organisation.
Get The Right People Involved
As with any change in an organisation, it is essential to have buy-in from the right people at all levels of the organisation. Having a range of people from across the organisation such as end-users, IT, and executive leaders who can become a team of decision-makers around the Microsoft Teams roll-out. This group can help the business understand where and how Teams can be deployed to deliver the most business value. It may be a good idea to get a change management professional on board from the beginning to help ensure a smoother roll-out.
Think About Governance
When rolling out Teams, it is critical to make some decisions around governance. Not applying governance can result in Teams sprawl with duplicate documents, teams and less visibility over information flow. Applying governance usually entails deciding a set of processes that are followed around Teams to ensure it continues to run smoothly. An example of this is assigning a set of admins the permission to create new teams and channels while following decided naming parameters. There are also applications to make this process easier which can easily integrate into and help manage your Microsoft Teams environment.
Pilot Test
For smaller organisations with a handful of users, it is possible to move all users to the new environment at once. However, for larger organisations, it may be helpful to conduct a pilot test. Identify early adopters and champions to become Microsoft Teams advocates within your organisation. Allow these users to use Microsoft Teams first, immersing themselves in the platform to give useful feedback. This will allow the organisation to see how Teams works for them as well as giving more information on how it can be used in the most optimal way. This essentially helps prepare leaders to manage the wider transition to Microsoft Teams.
Track Progress
Before deploying Teams to all employees, it is important to consider how your organisation will track the success and impact of this migration. It is a good idea to decide on some key performance indicators in relation to the migration. Then ensure your organisation has all the information and tools to track and report on these against targets such as adoption and productivity. This should be an ongoing process where you can use this information to continue to optimise and enhance the Teams experience for all employees.
If you would like to learn more about planning a Microsoft Teams Migration or need help with an ongoing migration, speak to one of our specialists today.
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