A Step-by-Step Guide for Tenant-to-Tenant Migrations (The Only Playbook You Need) 

Moving one tenant from one cloud environment to another is something inevitable for most companies. 

We’ve helped dozens of companies perform successful tenant-to-tenant (T2T) migrations, and common glaring trends are often insufficient capabilities of their previous cloud platform, increased demand for usage, or security concerns. 

Mergers and acquisitions can also lead to migrations. It actually happens a lot more frequently. If you merge your company with another, for example, and both of you use Microsoft 365, you might need to consolidate your data and services into a single tenant.

If you are considering a T2T migration, let’s dive right into what you should know. 

Main Reasons for Tenant-to-Tenant Migration 

When companies separate or merge certain parts of their business, it necessitates T2T migration. Reasons for migrating differ from company to company, but the main ones include:

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)  

When companies merge, it is important to ensure seamless collaboration between their departments. This may require consolidating data and services into a single location, which is where T2T migration comes in.

Data Security and Compliance  

Security and compliance play a big role when it comes to a company's assets. Sometimes, organizations move their data to a new location for improved security or to comply with regulations. If the current tenant doesn’t provide the protection you need, you may find another with the solution. 

Standardizing IT Processes and Policies 

Moving to a new tenant can give more space for standardizing IT processes, policies, and configurations across the organization, leading to better governance and efficiency.

Scalability and Flexibility

Setting up a new tenant can offer improved scalability and flexibility, allowing you to accommodate growth, adapt to changing business needs, and leverage advanced features and capabilities.

Improved Collaboration

Migrating to a new tenant can enhance employee collaboration by providing access to integrated communication and collaboration tools, such as Microsoft Teams.

Cost Optimization

You may want to migrate to a new tenant to optimize costs. This way, you can consolidate services, reduce licensing fees or leverage the cloud service provider's volume discounts.

Enhanced User Experience

A new tenant may offer a more modern and user-friendly interface, improved performance, and better integration with other productivity tools, promoting a better user experience.

Rebranding

If you plan to rebrand your company, migrating to a new tenant can help portray your new brand identity and align with business strategy changes.

Feature Consolidation

Combining many tenants into one tenant makes it easier to manage, as everything is in one place. This can help keep track of licenses and features, and it also reduces complexity.

Tenant-to-Tenant Migration Stages

The biggest obstacle to carrying out an effective strategy is inadequate planning. Often, issues arise, leading to complexities and possible data loss. Before diving into T2T migration, consider the following:

1. Pre-Migration

This is the stage that determines how everything will end up. 

Here, you want to establish a strategy for everything you wish to move and account for it all. Know the data type you want to migrate—user accounts, mailboxes, OneDrive, SharePoint, or Teams—and set success goals.

While at it, notify users about the migration timeline, new login procedures, new environment benefits, and offer training on using Microsoft 365 in the target tenant.

2. Execution

This is the step to begin implementing your migration plan. You may have multiple migration options, but a successful migration always involves an expert for consulting. 

Once the migration is complete, plan and execute the transfer of your domain name to avoid any service disruptions. Be sure to update your login credentials for the new domain and reconnect any applications and services that were affected by the migration.

3. Post-Migration  

After migrating everything successfully, you need to ensure proper functionality. Provide a testing period for users to verify data integrity, functionality, and user experience in the new environment. This is where you address any user-reported issues.

If necessary, archive or delete the source tenant after a successful migration. This is optional and entirely depends on your organization’s policy.

Best Practices for a Successful Tenant-to-Tenant Migration 

To smoothly transition your data to a new environment, start by conducting a comprehensive inventory of all your data and then identify the requirements of the target environment. Develop a meticulous migration plan, document every step, and analyze the current environment for any potential issues.

Set up a test environment for pre-migration testing and communicate the plan clearly to all stakeholders. Also, execute the migration in stages to minimize downtime, monitor progress in real-time, and ensure accurate data transfer. Verify data integrity and functionality, testing thoroughly to confirm the new environment operates as expected.

It’s important to monitor the new environment for any issues and provide training to users on new features. Establish a support process for addressing problems and document the new environment for future migrations, ensuring smoother transitions.

The Benefits of a Successful Tenant Migration

Tenant-to-tenant migrations require some steps, going from planning to execution and then monitoring, but when done properly, T2T migration benefits your business in the following ways: 

Enhanced Collaboration and Productivity  

Consolidating all your data and services fosters employee teamwork and productivity. It also facilitates project management, communication, and document collaboration.

Centralized Security and Compliance

Moving to a new tenant enables centralization of security rules and standards for all your data and services. A centralized setup reduces security risks, ensures data integrity, and maintains regulatory compliance.

Seamless User Experience  

A successful migration ensures a smooth transition for users, minimizes disruption to their workflows, and provides a consistent user experience across different applications and services.

Improved IT Efficiency

Centralizing data and services in a single tenant simplifies administration, reduces complexity, lowers maintenance costs, and streamlines IT management processes.

Enhanced Security and Compliance

A successful migration will have stronger security measures implemented and compliance controls such as multi-factor authentication, data encryption, and access controls. These measures enhance data security and help organizations comply with regulatory requirements more effectively.

Cross-Tenant Migration Tools: What Should I Consider?

Cross-tenant migration involves transferring data and resources between two separate environments. When evaluating cross-tenant migration tools for a successful tenant-to-tenant migration, here are some factors to consider:

Compatibility and Support

Ensure the migration tool is compatible with the source and target cloud environments and the versions of these platforms you're using.

Feature Set

Assess the migration tool's features and determine if they meet your requirements. Look for capabilities such as mailbox migration, OneDrive migration, SharePoint migration, Teams migration, and domain transfer support.

Scalability

Consider the migration tool's scalability, especially if you're dealing with large volumes of data or a significant number of users. The tool should handle the scale of your migration without compromising performance or reliability.

Ease of Use

Choose a user-friendly and easy-to-configure migration tool. Look for intuitive interfaces, step-by-step wizards, and support resources to assist with the migration process.

Security and Compliance

Ensure the tool supports secure data transfer methods, such as encryption in transit and at rest, and complies with relevant regulatory requirements.

Migration Speed and Efficiency

Choose a tool that can complete the migration within your desired timeframe with minimal disruption to business operations.

Reliability and Data Integrity

Select a migration tool that ensures data integrity throughout the migration process. Look for features such as error handling, data validation checks, and rollback capabilities to prevent data loss or corruption.

Reporting and Monitoring

Look for features that provide real-time status updates, migration progress tracking, and detailed reports to monitor the migration process effectively.

Cost and Licensing

Evaluate the migration tool's cost structure and licensing model, ensure it aligns with your budget constraints and offers transparent pricing.

Support and Documentation

Ensure the migration tool is backed by reliable customer support and comprehensive documentation. Look for online tutorials, knowledge bases, community forums, and direct support channels that can help in case issues arise.

Tenant-to-Tenant Migration Checklist  

• Assess your current environment – Take stock of all the apps and services you use in your current tenant and identify what needs to be migrated.
• Plan your migration strategy – Decide what data and apps you need to migrate, how you will migrate them, and in what order.
• Prepare your target environment – Create a new tenant in your target environment and ensure all the necessary settings and configurations are in place.
• Communicate with your users – Inform them about the impending migration and provide all the necessary information.
• Migrate your data – Use a reliable migration tool to move your data from the source tenant to the target tenant.
• Test your migration – Verify that all your data and apps have been successfully migrated and are working as expected.
• Update your DNS records – Update your DNS records to point to the new tenant.
• Train your users – Provide training to your users on how to access the new environment and use the latest apps and services.
• Monitor your new environment – Keep an eye on your new environment and ensure everything runs smoothly.
• Decommission your old tenant – Once you are confident that your new environment is working as expected, you can let go of your old tenant.

Common Challenges and Possible Wrong Outcomes

Things could go wrong even when you have the perfect T2T migration strategy. Here are some challenges you might encounter and how to deal with each:

Incomplete Data Migration

Data may get lost or corrupted, resulting in incomplete data migration. To avoid this, check your data before and after the move to account for everything. Use tools that can identify and fix issues promptly.

Inaccurate Permission Mapping

Permission settings may transfer incorrectly when you move data. This can cause security and access problems. To address this, plan how you will transfer the permissions and test everything afterward to ensure it works properly.

User Disruption and Resistance

Switching to a new system can be difficult for some people and affect their productivity. Keep everyone informed about the changes, provide clear instructions and support, and resolve any concerns. 

Security Risks During Migration

Migrating data between tenants may increase the risk of exposing sensitive information to unauthorized access. To avoid this, implement strong security measures like encryption. 

Inefficient Use of Target Tenant Storage

This may lead to wasted storage space and increased storage costs. To solve this, archive or delete redundant data and implement data retention policies. Monitor storage usage and adjust resources as needed to optimize costs.

Post-Migration Performance Issues

Performance issues, such as slow application response times, may occur after the migration due to configuration errors. Conduct performance testing and monitoring to identify any performance issues promptly. 

A Foolproof Way for a Successful Microsoft 365 Tenant-to-tenant Migration 

This playbook highlights everything you need for a successful tenant-to-tenant migration. But, it is clear that T2T migrations have many moving parts, and things could inevitably go wrong. 

Managing all configurations at each stage, setting up the right environment, and even choosing the right migration tool requires extensive expertise.

We are CrucialLogics, an IT consulting company and Microsoft Gold partner with a reputable history of successful tenant-to-tenant migrations. Speak with us today for expert consultation.