The work doesn’t stop when two companies come together. Planning and attention to detail are crucial at all stages of a merger or acquisition, continuing well into the post-merger integration process. This will include a fairly high-stakes data migration, and it’s important to have a well-structured plan to ensure a seamless process and business continuity.

Here are a few tips to consider when navigating this journey:

1. Identify an M&A plan – Work with internal IT departments to understand integration plans post-M&A to keep Modern Workplace solutions at the forefront.
2. Secure buy-in from stakeholders – Define who will make business decisions, including the selection of a migration tool.
3. Leverage experts – Understand if the migration will be done in-house or by an external resource. In either case, the project team must have the required knowledge and resources available.
4. Locate the data – Data may be stored in multiple places and in some cases on different servers or physical locations. It will be necessary to identify all Source and Destination environments concerned.
5. Profile the data – It’s crucial to map out the data to determine what should and should not be migrated, as well as when each workload will be moved.
6. Choose a suitable migration tool – Make sure to select a migration solution that can accommodate the scale, scope, and workload requirements of the project.

Why should MigrationWiz be part of your M&A plans?

There’s a lot to think about during a merger or acquisition. The companies or business units involved not only have to contend with data transition, but also with the details of workforce integration and change management. To streamline the migration, achieve success with minimal downtime, and keep employees operating efficiently, you need a proven tool backed by attentive and knowledgeable support.

Every acquisition involves a lengthy checklist, including due diligence, contracts, and announcements, but once that’s complete, the integration checklist begins. With MigrationWiz in your toolkit, you can lay the groundwork for post-merger integration and data consolidation as part of the overall M&A IT plan. Let’s take a look at the data-heavy applications you’ll want to include in your migration plan:

Mailboxes

Mail is a core communication tool for any business, and it will be your job to make sure discordant systems are working together on day one. Systems can range from legacy on-prem email servers to cloud-based systems like Exchange Online and Gmail. For employees already anxious about what a merger means to them, it’s important to assure a seamless experience migrating individual mail items as well as calendars, contacts, and tasks.

Documents

Most businesses are investing in purchasing other organizations in order to acquire their IP. That means preserving files – both user and shared documents – is critical. Migrating all information successfully is just as important as the ink on the contract. Whether combining cloud-based repositories or consolidating documents from a range of on-prem or network file shares, MigrationWiz makes sure version history, metadata, and folder structure stay intact.

Archives

More and more organizations are electing to archive content as part of their transition to a new environment. Whether it’s personal archives or personal storage table (PST) files, you’ll need to consider what to do with older information, particularly in high-compliance markets where preserving data for a certain period of time has legal implications.

Workstream collaboration

If the merging entities don’t both use Microsoft Teams, you’ll need a plan for onboarding new users. You’ll want to ensure that all the necessary data required is migrated in order to optimize communication and collaboration between workforces from the start. Private chats and conversation history are becoming increasingly important. The latest enhancements to MigrationWiz enable a complete and streamlined Teams migration with minimal disruption.

When navigating the digital transformation that results from a merger or acquisition, choosing a trusted and reliable migration tool is your key to success. And success means satisfied stakeholders and end-users. At a pivotal time for both businesses involved, it’s paramount to execute a flawless migration and keep the workforce humming. When the work matters, choose MigrationWiz!