Upgrade your day-to-day tasks with Microsoft
We are kicking off a new year of growth and optimization so, with that, you may recognize that your organization is ready to move away from paper processes, duplicative data entry, and manual notifications. As such, it may be time to migrate your process and any legacy applications to the Microsoft ecosystem; however, it's necessary to understand the full scope of what that entails before you lose out on productivity.
Organizations must first determine if they have the resources for the overhaul. Will this be an initiative undertaken internally or will you outsource to consultants to complete the task? Understanding and identifying who will complete the work early-on impacts both budget and schedule so this should be addressed immediately. Organizations should also be consciously aware of costs associated with licensing as all of Microsoft's products require a license of some sort. Subsequently, you should have a good idea of how many end-users will require access.
Next, take stock of what drives your decision to migrate by identifying the current gaps within your manual process or legacy application. Determine pain points or requirements that must be addressed with the new application so you can confirm that the solution will address the critical functionality and features its predecessor does not. To do otherwise may incur a costly mistake. If your organization is updating a legacy application, do not forget to evaluate and identify which third-party connections will be required on the new platform that your current legacy application supports. Microsoft has over 275 connectors to work with third-party services. Assuming your organization is unable use one of Microsoft's connectors, organizations also have the option to create and utilize their own custom APIs with the Power Platform.
When creating or updating new applications or processes, we must always remember the data. How will you handle your legacy data? Will you migrate all of it to the new platform? Will the organization start completely new with an empty database? If migrating the data, how do you intend to accomplish that? How will the new platform and database handle the legacy data? If your migration requires cleaning the legacy data, an implementation plan for transporting and transforming to the new platform and databases is critical.
Lastly, consider the importance of training. Depending on how many end-users will have access to your application, training could potentially be a huge endeavor. As a result, a scaled training plan should be created and implemented regardless of the size of your organization. This ensures that end-users will have the resources and content to competently use the updated application without an interruption to your organization's productivity.
Key Takeaway
If you're interested in exploring the use of a consultant for your organization's migration to the Microsoft ecosystem, reach out for a consultation.