Should I migrate my company data manually or use a third-party?
So you have followed the recommended data management guidelines, your data structure looks good, your intranet even better! But now you are evaluating what to do with your legacy data, and you have pressure to keep most of it in the new system? What are the pros and cons of migrating your data manually versus using a third-party service like AvePoint, ShareGate, OneSync or the now free Microsoft Mover.io and so many others that we can’t list.
Maybe you weren’t ready for data migration, but you need to consider it due to certain reasons. Companies or organisations migrate their data for many reasons like:
The company is merging with another.
The organisation is restructuring its internal departments, i.e., departmental splits, moves, or mergers.
The company has been sold, and ownership has changed hands.
The company’s data needs archiving.
So how do you migrate your data into SharePoint, Teams, etc.?
There are generally two ways to migrate your data, which are:
Do it by manually
Manually copying from one source and pasting into SharePoint, Teams, etc.Photo by Museums Victoria on Unsplash
or Automate it
Or paying a third-party service to handle your migration painlessly. Also called automated migration. Photo by Austrian National Library on Unsplash
Both of these methods are still widely used, as each method has its relative merits and demerits. So before you using either path, read on to find out the advantages and disadvantages associated with each path.
Also, if your data management needs some improvement, watch out for our upcoming article on the best data management practices you need to follow for flawless migrations. These practices will cover what you need to do before, during, and after a migration.
So without further ado, let’s dig in.
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Manual Migration
Now, this method is as old as data itself. Manual copy and pastes have been around for some time for a good reason. Yet, as with all things, a newer and better method always comes along, which we’ll look at later.
So what is manual migration, what does it involve, and what are the consequences?
Manual migration is any process that involves copy-pastes, drag and drops, or PowerShell to move data from a server (e.g., file server) to another (e.g., SharePoint Online, Teams, Microsoft365). Again, it's a process that needs to be constantly be driven by human input.
Companies sometimes prefer manual migration methods because they seem cheaper, secure, or familiar. It’s usually because IT employees can handle the migration in-house; therefore, there's no need to expose data to third parties.
However, manual migration might be costlier in the long run due to the sheer amount of work, problems, and time involved.
Pros of manual migration
The process is In-House: You don’t need to provide third-party tools with access to your data. Privacy is generally crucial if you handle highly confidential data, which is not the case with most organisations.
Cheaper: Most third-party tools/services that automate migration will charge you top-dollar to use their services. Companies that want to avoid extra expenses use seemingly cheaper IT employees.
Cons of manual migration
Forced Downtime: Manual migration needs to be done during downtimes. Otherwise, newly added or modified data will not migrate to the new environment. This forced pause in business operations may cost your business time, productivity, money, or opportunities.
Slower Transfer Speeds: Most organisations don’t have robust internet infrastructure to supercharge their data migration. Furthermore, some ISPs throttle internet speed affecting download/upload speeds. As a result, migration might take months, and downloads could fail.
Permissions Are Not Transferrable: A key reason why organisations use automated services/tools to migrate their data. It could take your IT department months to duplicate your original permission and sharing settings in the new environment. Moreover, permissions need to be extracted first, before duplication.
Risky and Open to Human Errors: To err is human, so mistakes will inevitably happen whenever your entire migration process hinges on human effort. Sometimes these mistakes might be catastrophic for your business, and sometimes they might be just a slight hiccup.
Time Consuming: Manual migration is significantly slower than automated migration. Choosing the manual path means your IT department might be too busy, for a long time, to handle their other duties/tasks effectively.
Loss Of Dates and Author Name (Metadata): When manually moving your data, its original dates and authors will be lost. The time of migration and the user handling the migration will replace the old date and author.
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Automated Migration
Migration tools, services, or software help make complex data migration quick, automatic, and faultless. In addition, file permissions and metadata are also moved together with the data, unlike with manual migration.
Performance-wise, using a third-party automated migration tool is the best option for your SharePoint, Teams, etc., data migration. On the other hand, buying a license for an automated migration tool like ShareGate or AvePoint can be pretty costly. $$$
However, the good news is that Microsoft now has a free but less powerful migration tool called “Mover.io”.
Generally, third-party tools are more robust as you can use them for more than file or site migrations. For example, ShareGate Desktop can also help with auditing, reporting, security modification, and reviews.
Some third-party tools can help optimise migrations by:
Scanning your data and flagging potential problems like long file paths, duplicate data, etc.
File path adjusting.
Renaming files partly or entirely for maximum performance.
Providing detailed migration reports to use during correction or error-finding.
Here are some Automated Migration Tools you can consider using:
Pros of using a tool
No Forced Downtime: Migration tools can do their work even as you work. In contrast, manual migration is done only during downtime. Migration tools enable users to continue working during data migration as any modified data on the new or old system is synced.
Process is Quick and Automated: Migration tools take only days to complete a process that would take weeks or months in manual migration. Migration tools need little to no human intervention. Therefore, they save your IT professionals’ time so that they can devote it towards their core business.
Data Is Flawlessly Migrated: A software service is unlikely to make common human errors like misspellings. Therefore, your data’s integrity is preserved during migration.
Faster Transfer Speeds: migration tools use content migration specialist infrastructure to supercharge a migration process. The service's enterprise-grade servers enable migrations to finish in days instead of weeks or months.
Permissions and Shares are Transferred: Migration tools can extract and migrate the permissions structure together with the data. As a result, users can immediately enjoy the same privileges a before.
File Author and Date (Metadata) Preserved: Your data’s metadata is also flawlessly moved to your system without loss or renaming.
FIle Previous Versions and Permissions Are Kept: In the case of any problems, you can easily roll back to previous versions to undo problems.
Cons of using a tool
Costly: Buying a licence for data migration might set you back a bit financially. It’s often not worth buying a licence for small amounts of data.
Not As Private: Some organisations might want to avoid exposing their confidential data to an external party.
Final Words
Although the oldest trick (manual data move in our case) is sometimes the best, we cannot stress enough how this can go wrong. Especially when there is a lot of data to move.
Migration tools used to be expensive, but not anymore, and even a fully free one will do better than a manual move, and let’s be honest: you have better things to do of your weekend than monitoring a migration!
So go third party tool! Test test test until you actually pick the one that is best for your organisation. Then plan it well and it will be easy peasy, stress-free migration!