Divestitures
Starting a new Microsoft 365 life but your organization isn't new. This is a major change to the business and users, while also shifting relationships with the existing IT Team.
Prepare, Plan, Licensing, and Migrate
Organizations can integrate existing domains and directories into new projects, with challenges in migrating emails, files, desktops, and server applications. The relocation and permissions of files, especially in cloud services like Google Drive and SharePoint Online, are crucial aspects to consider.
- Identities.
- Your organization may bring along an existing custom domain (e.g. @agileit.com) and/or branding a new business. This along with any existing local Windows Active Directory and Azure Active Directory is a critical part of all projects.
- Email.
- Migrating email is common in many divestiture projects. However, there could be a shift in the email addresses, SMTP domains, delegated permissions, and more
- Files.
- Many departing organizations are allowed to take their files, but it's location, permissions, and where they'll go into Microsoft 365 (SharePoint, Teams, or OneDrive) or Azure Storage is the key challenge.
- Desktops.
- Taking existing desktops into a new environment may sometimes require a refresh, transition to new local Windows Active Directory, and certainly new Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Director).
- Applications & Servers.
- Migations of servers, server applications, and new SaaS connections is also a key and often complex part of many projects.
- IT Department and Permissions.
- Other popular file services are provided via cloud file services, such as Google Drive, DropBox, Box, AWS, and yes SharePoint Online
AgileAscend
Agile IT AgileAscend is a collection of solutions to bundle best practices with predictable pricing and results.
Onboarding
Microsoft services, security, compliance, etc.
Migrations
Identity, email, files, servers, & data
Change
Change management and adoption
Application Modernization
Improve, migrate, and build Line of Business apps and workflow
Government Compliance
CMMC, ITAR, CUI, FCI, FedRAMP High, GCC High, DFARS, FIPS, NIST, etc.
If you know or need to meet any of the acronyms above, then don't forget to include their requirements your planning for your migration. Agile IT can help!
Agile IT Government SolutionsFrequently Asked Questions
Have a different question and can’t find the answer you’re looking for? Reach out to our team.
- If users are keeping their existing Windows computers and laptops, is there anything special we have to worry about?
Probably. In most cases, those devices are joined to a local Windows Active Directory and/or Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory). In these cases, the devices will need to leave that directory and join a new one.
- If we're bringing Windows or Linux servers with us, what impact will that have on the project.
Network access and management is something to take into account. If those servers are also leaving local Windows Active Directory/LDAP and need to be associated to a new directory where the user identities are required to access, this can require some upgrades or a migration to a new deployment.
- If we're not sure how to handle the migration of servers and applications, but have pressure to at least get our users and desktops going in the new environment, is this possible?
Yes. However, this requires acceptance from the IT team from the source environment to allow some network connectivity and possible configuration on those servers to use Application Proxy or VPN for specific use cases.
- Can we divest from one organization while being acquired or merging with a new or existing Microsoft 365 environment?
Yes. The tricky part here is mapping all the identities together and handling common/duplicates (e.g. hr@contoso.com and hr@fabrikam.com). We often start with an Identity assessment and planning project to help guide all the teams to an agreeable plan and timeframe.
- Can we use the same Multifactor authentication, security, and compliance polcies that we already have in our existing Microsoft 365 tenant a new one?
Yes. However, those policies would need to be reviewed as they be more than what you'll need and your new environment may be dramatically different. We have Assessment and Planning services that can take this into account.