Document Migrations Require More Diligence Data creation has risen dramatically in recent years and shows no signs of slowing. According to analyst firm IDC, widespread remote work led to a spike of new data in 2020. At its current rate, data creation will eventually outpace storage capacity, leaving today’s businesses oversaturated with data. This data […]
Data creation has risen dramatically in recent years and shows no signs of slowing. According to analyst firm IDC, widespread remote work led to a spike of new data in 2020. At its current rate, data creation will eventually outpace storage capacity, leaving today’s businesses oversaturated with data.
This data growth highlights vital considerations around document migrations. Remote workers are creating significantly more data in file-hosting repositories like Google Drive or OneDrive. Often, organizations underestimate the amount of data they have. When it’s time to migrate this data, it can create problems during consolidations of IT resources, such as during a merger or acquisition.
The ongoing data surge has made migrations more complex. Organizations must embrace a knowledgeable, precise, and highly organized approach to document migrations. Diligence and preparation are essential to a successful end-to-end document migration. Preparation—or lack thereof—will make or break a migration, leaving lasting effects on IT operations.
Here are a few best practices for a successful document migration.
The quality of migrating data must be protected. It’s critical that permissions, file structures, and compliance protections remain intact after they move. There are also compliance and governance considerations. Organizations must determine which customer documents must be saved, as well as what personal, identifiable information must be moved, encrypted and archived, or deleted.
The myriad pieces and parts of data are complex and difficult to track. When manually performing document migrations, it’s easy for file structures and permissions to not transfer to the destination. Using automated solutions with auto-discover capabilities is an effective way to keep permissions and protections intact by finding all data that must be carried over.
Employing automated migration tools can help streamline the process. Features like auto-discover can ensure thorough scoping and discovery stages, minimizing the risk that critical data is overlooked. Automated tools provide detailed project reporting that pinpoints where failures, errors, or instances of throttling occur. Manual document migrations or free migration tools don’t provide these critical insights, making it much more difficult to understand and remedy project snags. Automation greatly reduces the labor and complexity that go into large-scale document migrations and will ensure that your IT teams are still able to be productive while overseeing the project.
As data creation continues to soar, document migrations present a new challenge to companies migrating data. Diligence and careful planning, along with utilizing automated tools and the available expert resources, can mitigate the complexity of these projects. Use the help that’s available to navigate the challenges and guide you to digital transformation and success.
By Stacey Farrar