The cloud sounds quite easy to use on paper. Many descriptions, including ours, describe it as one of the most convenient cloud computing IT solutions—an online portal that allows you to easily store and save your data for effortless collaboration and backup in the case of disaster. Indeed, this is true! However, moving your existing data from your current system over to the cloud often proves to be one of the more challenging parts of using it at all. This holds true for every cloud service available. However, in this article, we will specifically focus on Office 365, one of the most popular and recognizable services around. Read on to learn how to make transitioning to Office 365 easier.
Migrate Your Email
If you use Microsoft Outlook for your email services, you have the ability to connect it to the Microsoft Exchange server. By doing this, you can easily transfer as many inboxes as you need or want to the cloud, where it will be readily accessible from your PC and anywhere else. However, there is one hitch worth noting: depending on the year your previous copy of Outlook was made, you may have to either connect to the Exchange server on your own or the program will do it without any prompting from you.
If you don’t use Outlook but still want to move your inbox to the Office 365 cloud, you’ll have to make use of a service known as IMAP. IMAP will ask you to create inboxes compatible with Microsoft Exchange and then gather each staff member’s login data to make the transfer possible. If this sounds overly complicated, you can ask our cloud experts for help.
Compose User Accounts
Microsoft Office 365’s business plans require you to join with a minimum of five users. They will all receive separate accounts on the server, which all must be set up individually. This can be tricky, but it is certainly doable. Microsoft provides the easiest way to do it through its own interface, which combines with your Active Directory.
Create (or Preserve) Your Company’s Domain
When you first start using Office 365, you will be prompted to start up an Active Directory for your company. However, if you have already set up a domain for the office prior to this transition, you may be wondering if its possible for this domain to be preserved. Luckily, Office 365 has a feature known as partial redelegation, which will allow you to keep your domain while also using Microsoft Office’s server networks for other applications.
Migrating to Office 365 can be an intimidating process, especially for those who are less tech savvy. This is why we’re here to help you with any issues you may have during the process. We make it our mission to provide IT support for small businesses. If you have concerns about your switch to the cloud, contact us for help and support.
