MS Exchange Server to Google Workspace

Working with this client was one a decent size account (over 300 users with 90 to migrate) and there were multiple sources that had to be migrated from. The main source was off of the Exchange server. It was around Thanksgiving and they had a decent timeline where they wanted to finish before Christmas.

Many clients are impressed by our communication when it comes to the holidays. We are often the driving force, pushing the clients to meet deadlines so we can all enjoy the holidays.

There were many unforeseen surprises, and we had to deal with third-party companies that either controlled the actual servers and/or the exchange server. One thing that stood out was that we needed what was called impersonation rights and for the longest time, we couldn’t access them. We try to avoid getting everyone’s password because a lot of people are uncomfortable giving it out.

While we did not make the projected deadline, they were very understanding because at every step of the way we were communicating with all parties and never shy about issues that were coming up. As a company that cares about our work and our customers we have  to be willing to tackle difficult situations in a manner that supports our clients. Once we finally were able to finish we even kept the account and they are still loyal customers under our reseller account.

Note on missing deadlines: A migration is subject to many variables, and deadlines are useful to create a realistic target to go live. Using our experience we set deadlines with the client that we often meet, but when it comes to a migration completion takes priority over a rushed deadline. Since we can delta migrate from the date the completion of the primary migration is done to the actual date we go live, we help the client pick a start date that the organization plans for and ultimately makes it smoother for the users at large.