Most people ask why PST to Office 365. There are countless benefits of migrating to Office 365, such as compliance aspects and Microsoft's security guarantee. Office 365 complies with nearly all international security standards, including HITECH, GDPR, and HIPAA. There are numerous benefits to migrating to Office 365, but the focus is mainly on recuperating organizational proficiency and providing better results. Factors to Consider When Migrating PST Data to Office 365
Security of Data
Migration can be data-intensive, which can put a lot of strain on a local network's bandwidth and resources, creating substantial downtime for users during the process. This can reduce productivity, so selecting a robust solution that can handle the migration during business hours while still delivering an optimized experience is important. It's critical to select a solution that can prevent data loss during the migration process and ensure that the PST file structure is not corrupted.
PST File Format
The Portable File Format is an old but very popular format introduced in 1987 when Bill Gates developed his first version of Microsoft's File Allocation Table (FAT). A FAT is a table of disk clusters mapped to files or directories by the filesystem driver. One of the earliest uses of the FAT format was on the Apple II in 1977 and later on micro-computers and early PCs for storing configuration settings. The Microsoft Office team adopted this file format for documents, including its proprietary extensions, back in 1989 when Microsoft released its first version of what we know today as Microsoft Outlook.
Although many competing proprietary file formats currently support hierarchical data storage, such as document management system (DMS) formats, they still do not provide a complete replacement for PST files because they cannot be easily shared between different applications. PST format compatibility is a significant drawback because when you try to migrate data from a PST file to an Exchange mailbox, Office 365 clients require that you use their native file format.
Choose the Right Approach for the Migration Process
The first thing you'll want to do when migrating PST data to Office 365 is to choose the right approach for your organization. You will want to decide whether you are going to use Exchange Online Import Service or if you'll be using a third-party tool. In the case of using an external tool, you'll want to determine which option is right for your organization. There are several products that are available today, and it's essential to consider the features that each one offers so that you can choose the correct one for your organization.
While there are many tools available that you can use to migrate PST data to Office 365, I would recommend using Exchange Online Import Service because of its high levels of security and simplicity in terms of deployment. However, if you need to use a third-party tool, consider migrating with a VirtualMigrate. Another option for using a third-party tool for migrating PST files to Office 365 is the Microsoft Solution Accelerator for Office 365. This tool will allow you to migrate data from several sources, including on-premises Exchange, into your Office 365 environment.
Always do a Proof of Concept
This is data we're talking about, and there's no Proof of Consequences. Before you migrate PST to Office 365, ensure you've prepared for the worst case if your PST files are corrupt. Test with a small subset of users first to ensure that the process works as expected. Then test some more with more users.
Even if your PST files are not corrupt, doing a Proof of Concept is still very valuable for you. You should never ignore the warning signs that indicate things may go wrong down the road.
For example: If your PST file was created using Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010 (or Microsoft Entourage), only save it in Wordpad first and then save it to Excel. Microsoft Entourage doesn't support saving directly to Office 365 files, so this will be an excellent way to confirm that your migration works.
Predict What Might Go Wrong
PST files are not always 100% reliable. Small mistakes in the file format or a missing regular expression can cause data corruption and other unexpected results. As such, it's a good idea to prepare for the unexpected. Take the time to test your migration process on a test mailbox before your real-world migration
Another reason to test is that you will be able to determine if you can recover data from the actual user mailbox in question. Since you are testing PST files, you probably have data that has been altered in some unforeseen way. The test mailbox will allow you to determine how much of your data is recoverable and how complex this recovery process will be.
In a nutshell, when you're considering migrating PST data to Office 365, it is essential that you spend the time to consider a number of factors. This way, you can clearly understand what the process entails and whether or not it's appropriate for your organization.