Microsoft IT shares insights
about moving to the cloud
IT Showcase Article
Key takeaways
 Don’t try to move everything, and
don’t try to move it all at once.
 Prioritize what needs to move, and
carefully consider when to move it.

Treat migration like the important
project that it is.
 Don’t underestimate the value of
effective and timely communications.
Published October 2015
Planning to move your business environment to the cloud
is a bit like moving to a new house—you must plan and
organize as well as consider the process, costs, and
benefits. To advance the vision of our “mobile first, cloud
first” initiative, Microsoft IT migrated its own data and
applications first. We faced some unexpected challenges,
developed several best practices, and learned some
lessons we can share with other companies that want to
move to cloud computing.
Why Microsoft IT moved to the cloud
Like any IT department, Microsoft IT has a core mission of creating solutions
that support its customers—other Microsoft business units. Maintaining and
upgrading servers, server applications, databases, and the hardware that
these all required was such a huge undertaking that it was interfering with
that core mission.
The cost of hardware, data centers, and people—all the assets that were required
to maintain the operating systems—was tremendous. Plus, there were ongoing
software updates and security patches. This required a considerable budget of
millions of dollars a year just to keep the hardware running.
For example, when there was a new product release, Microsoft IT faced the
task of upgrading a global collaboration footprint in datacenters on three
continents. By moving much of its infrastructure and data to the cloud,
Microsoft IT was able to outsource much of that work to Microsoft Office
365 services.
Microsoft IT management recognized that moving applications and data to
the Office 365 cloud would improve collaboration and enable access
anywhere, anytime—from a desktop or laptop PC, a tablet, or a
smartphone—any device that can run Office 365.
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Microsoft IT shares insights about moving to the cloud
Planning and executing the move
Microsoft broke the migration into three steps, which included:
1. Putting together a plan and a schedule.
2. Taking an inventory of assets and prioritizing how to move them.
3. Communicating with and preparing the affected workforce.
The migration was treated as a bona fide project that required careful planning, execution, and
communication. Microsoft IT used Microsoft Project software to manage its move, but any project
management tool will work.
The key is to follow good project management principles—identify stakeholders and risks, build out
a schedule with discrete tasks, and set realistic end dates. Anticipate every possible scenario and be
prepared for the unexpected.
Simplifying and speeding up the move
Just like sorting and packing when moving a house, data and applications were evaluated and
prioritized. Some assets didn’t need to move at all, so they could be archived offline or left behind.
Important data and applications were scheduled to move first—then the easy ones—and finally, the
difficult applications. Some applications and portals needed to be reengineered to work in the
cloud and remained on-premises. These were moved as they were updated.
Microsoft IT had to move large amounts of data—over 40 farms in all. The main SharePoint portal
contained 36 terabytes of data. Tests of the network throughput, coupled with the migration
process itself, indicated it would take over four years to move. So the IT team developed a strategy
of moving data “organically.” They opened up enrollment in the cloud for brand new sites and
stopped opening new sites on premises. Encouraging users to move their own sites and data (and
clean house while they were at it) was a successful strategy.
Moving only active content to the cloud greatly reduced the sheer volume of data to be moved.
This strategy also meant that Microsoft IT did not have to spend time and take up space moving
and storing unused data. Focusing on moving collaborative content that was needed in day-to-day
operations helped to prioritize assets from most important to least important.
Takeaways
To simplify and speed up the migration process:

Have users and groups evaluate their own data, then archive anything that needs to be kept
but is no longer actively used to offline storage. Leave behind unwanted data that has no
further use.

Let those who are willing to move themselves do so before the rest of the migration begins.
Provide tools and resources for them to move their content safely and efficiently.
Teams and users that move their own content get the cloud service sooner and are able to
create new sites. They immediately gain the benefits of the cloud platform—accessibility from
any device, anywhere, at any time.

Promote timely cooperation and readiness and, in return, meet expectations by negotiating
and setting firm dates and times for each group’s migration, and then following through on
schedule.

Create new sites only in the cloud—require a legitimate business justification for any
exceptions.
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Microsoft IT shares insights about moving to the cloud
Considering architecture
Microsoft IT weighed two factors when evaluating data and applications for cloud migration:
technical complexity and business impact. The group proceeded with a hybrid approach—a
majority of its content would be moved to the cloud. The remainder that was too costly or time
consuming to move, or was nearly obsolete, would stay on-premises.
To serve as a test case for customers, Microsoft IT was not afforded the luxury of simply connecting
drives to cloud datacenters and porting the data over at high speeds. It had to send its data
through the corporate gateway to the Office 365 cloud like any other customer.
Moving Exchange mailboxes to the cloud
Microsoft IT initially moved approximately 2,000 mailboxes in its first migration to the cloud.
Because the necessary infrastructure was not in place to support the large volume of data suddenly
flowing between the corporate intranet and the cloud, the entire Microsoft network bogged down
when users connected after the move and their mailbox caches started syncing. IT had to back out
the changes and work with the network team to improve the hardware and ensure that the move
would succeed without disrupting any other services.
Recommendations
Moving an existing infrastructure to the cloud is more complex than just copying data from one
place to another. IT must take into account firewalls, data bandwidth limitations, latency, profile
synchronization, and other technical considerations that may apply.
Enterprises that use an on-premises Microsoft Exchange server for email should keep these
important concepts in mind before migrating to cloud-based Office 365 mail:

Move a small group of mailboxes initially to determine if the process is sound and that the
network can handle the volume of data moving from the on-premises server through the
network gateway and, ultimately, into the cloud.

Avoid downtime, and do the move during the weekend or non-business hours.

Synchronize users’ mailboxes after the move, but before making the switch from the onpremises server to the cloud (that is, changing the path that the mailboxes point to).

In case something goes wrong, have a plan in place to back out of the process to eliminate or
minimize downtime and prevent data loss.
Identifying and communicating with key stakeholders
In addition to the users and groups that will migrate and the teams that will do the migration, IT
must identify other teams that may be affected. For example, the network team may suddenly find
that the corporate network is bogged down with an unexpected surge of data flowing to the cloud.
Network teams need to be provided with details of the migration plan and informed that network
traffic might suddenly spike. Their expertise is important to determine if hardware is sufficient for
the increased data flowing between the cloud and the on-premises network.
A communication plan to share the message about migrating to the cloud should:

Reach key stakeholders and end users

Be as transparent as is feasible

Establish the best communication channels (email, presentations, site messages)

Outline timing and scheduling for delivering your message
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Microsoft IT shares insights about moving to the cloud

Use targeted email instead of widely broadcast, non-specific messages

Update SharePoint site home pages with relevant and timely information

Conduct presentations and Q&A sessions

Incorporate branding in your communications
Key takeaways

Reduce the amount of data to be migrated, to reduce the complexity and time needed to
complete the process.

Carefully examine the hardware and network to determine if it can handle the additional traffic
to the cloud. Consult with experts and upgrade your infrastructure as needed.

Use the analogy of moving a house to encourage users to leave behind content they no longer
need for their day-to-day business operations.

Start the migration with small processes that are likely to succeed on the first try, and learn
from and build on the experience to tackle the more challenging projects.

Make it a paramount goal to avoid losing any data during the migration. Perform backups and
monitor the operation as it progresses.

Be agile and plan for any setbacks that might occur.
For more information
For more information about Microsoft products or services, call the Microsoft Sales Information
Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Order Centre at (800) 933-4750.
Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access
information via the web, go to:
http://www.microsoft.com
Microsoft IT Showcase
http://www.microsoft.com/ITShowcase
Optimizing network performance for Microsoft Office 365
http://www.microsoft.com/itshowcase/Article/Content/631
Microsoft IT migrates mailboxes to Office 365 Exchange Online
http://www.microsoft.com/itshowcase/Article/Content/577
Be productive anywhere with Office 365
http://www.microsoft.com/itshowcase/Article/Content/642
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