“Divestitures require cautious planning and execution, however they will create great alternatives for firms to rework their companies and unlock new progress potential.” – Ginni Rometty, former CEO of IBM.
Divestitures are widespread in enterprise, and IT professionals and MSPs needs to be ready for them. There are completely different varieties, however normally, a divestiture entails a enterprise being acquired by a separate firm, leading to a merger with the brand new firm’s IT atmosphere. This may very well be Workplace 365, Google Workspace or one other tenant.
Whether or not firms create a brand new group, purchase an present firm or spin off a brand new enterprise, they usually have to restructure information belongings. Property can vary from enterprise information to doc databases, emails and extra. This restructuring usually means MSPs have to execute a migration.
Migrations, in fact, are not any easy process. There are quite a few steps, challenges and greatest practices MSPs ought to contemplate to make sure a easy migration throughout a divestiture. Whether or not that is your first divestiture or not, it’s by no means too late to hone the method.
Challenges
It’s vital to establish which environments are concerned within the divestiture. Does it make sense emigrate to an present atmosphere or create a brand new one? Maybe one firm makes use of Microsoft Workplace 365 whereas the opposite firm is utilizing Google Workspace. MSPs are sometimes tasked with both making a greenfield atmosphere the place every part is ready up from scratch or working with the CIO and IT groups to find out which productiveness suite and practices work greatest for the merged firm.
“Divestitures are an vital approach for firms to divest themselves of companies that aren’t performing and deal with their core enterprise and progress areas.” – Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.
One problem MSPs face is matching a number of items with the mother or father firm. These embody safety parameters, licensing schemes and even e-mail setups. For instance, the mother or father firm might use firstname.lastname@companyname.com for his or her e-mail addresses whereas the acquired firm makes use of firstname_lastname@companyname.com. This creates a problem for the mother or father firm, which now has to inform its new workers they’re getting a brand new e-mail handle after 20 years.
MSPs additionally wish to be certain that safety protocols between the environments match. Mismatched protocols create alternatives for hackers to entry the atmosphere and injury operations.
Geography may also current a problem. Divestitures can occur between firms in several international locations, creating an IT barrier that may complicate migrations. For instance, an organization in Germany that shops nearly all of its information on native methods would possibly have to migrate all of it to the OneDrive of a brand new mother or father firm in Japan. This causes an immense problem as a result of many international locations have completely different restrictions in place relating to information migrations. In consequence, it’s vital to grasp what information could be moved relying on regional legislation for the international locations concerned within the divestiture. This can be a time-consuming course of, however will probably be value it ultimately.
What to know earlier than migrating
Earlier than a divestiture migration, contemplate a number of questions. What are the prices related to the migration? What are its staffing wants? What’s the timeline for ending? How a lot information must be moved? These are key questions that should be answered beforehand.
As well as, you want the best instruments. The correct migration device can make sure the transition is profitable and minimally disruptive to finish customers. These instruments additionally provide predictability. Migration instruments with numerous bundles assist MSPs choose the best choice for his or her particular migration. This tells them how a lot a migration will price and helps them keep away from disastrous surprises.
MSPs also needs to contemplate bringing in a buyer success engineer as quickly because the divestiture pre-sale is completed. Handover between pre-sales representatives and the buyer success crew is a necessary step to the success of a divestiture migration. A buyer success engineer can assist handle any points or issues that come up throughout a posh migration. It will guarantee there’s added assist through the migration course of to stop mishaps and hold finish customers glad.
Finest Practices
Whether or not it’s earlier than, throughout or after a migration, there are a number of greatest practices that assist guarantee a easy course of. Should you’re utilizing a migration device, all the time ensure that to observe the timestamps and monitor the migration because it progresses. Don’t watch for the device to inform you the migration is full. Some recordsdata might not have migrated, which may trigger complications for the tip consumer and delay the mission. At all times be certain that every file is really full by checking for any errors which will happen through the transition. One easy approach to confirm that is to check file sizes.
You need to all the time ask extra questions than seem on the usual working process (SOP). All buyer environments have hidden quirks. An organization might have stopped utilizing EMC SourceOne over three years in the past however doesn’t understand there are nonetheless stubs pointing to the e-mail system. Now, it’s the final day of the migration, and this info hasn’t been moved. Unknowns like these can hobble all the migration, delaying each authorized and enterprise deadlines for the divestiture.
Lastly, ensure that finish customers are skilled within the new environments and productiveness suites. A brand new suite will all the time have a studying curve. Due to this, it is best to provide coaching to workers unfamiliar with new environments. With entry to coaching assets, workers can guarantee they perceive tips on how to use the platform and its instruments and work throughout groups effectively with out slowing down operations.
Migrating information throughout a divestiture could be difficult, however it’s not unimaginable. By following these steps and greatest practices, MSPs can guarantee migrations run easily, enabling CIOs and executives to deal with the general divestiture course of and reassuring finish customers their information is safe and guarded.
By Tosin Vaithilingam
