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Message
Pros and cons of switching from onsite exchange to Office 365
Posted on 3/22/15 at 9:31 am
Posted on 3/22/15 at 9:31 am
Need some help as I have two IT providers recommending different things.
I manage a firm who on average has around 20 employees and I have one provider who tells me Office 365 is the way of the future and has recommended the E3 plan because I need access to ediscovery and another who says Microsoft is the devil and allowing them to have access to my data is a dumb idea. He feels the added expense of maintaining our exchange server is the way to go.
From what I have read over the weekend, which is a lot, I have found very little negative information about 365 other than a few glitches that resulted in downtime.
The questions that are relevant to me are:
As far as past employees or addittional mailboxes that I need access to for archived information only do I need a subscription?
Does 365 have any limitations when it comes to storing and accessing old information?
Any other major cons not easily discovered.
How big of a pain is a migration of 500 gb of data
I manage a firm who on average has around 20 employees and I have one provider who tells me Office 365 is the way of the future and has recommended the E3 plan because I need access to ediscovery and another who says Microsoft is the devil and allowing them to have access to my data is a dumb idea. He feels the added expense of maintaining our exchange server is the way to go.
From what I have read over the weekend, which is a lot, I have found very little negative information about 365 other than a few glitches that resulted in downtime.
The questions that are relevant to me are:
As far as past employees or addittional mailboxes that I need access to for archived information only do I need a subscription?
Does 365 have any limitations when it comes to storing and accessing old information?
Any other major cons not easily discovered.
How big of a pain is a migration of 500 gb of data
This post was edited on 3/22/15 at 9:36 am
6
Posted on 3/22/15 at 9:59 am to LSU5508
Migration of data is straightforward. For additional mailboxes - you can go the shared mailboxes route (I think) and that doesn't require a license.
Posted on 3/22/15 at 10:26 am to LSU5508
For such a small office I'd say you'd do well going to O365. It's easier to manage licensing because there is not real product key that you need to keep track of, easier to distribute, and easier to manage imo, with a good directory sync setup.
My understanding of the in-place archive is that the users will need a mailbox assigned to them in the new infrastructure, but then you're deprovisioning their license after you set up the in-place archive through the Exchange online console..so I think the answer to that is yes and no, though if they're former employees that no longer work there you won't need an E3 for them, only an Exchange license.
Here's something to read regarding archiving of old mailboxes:
In-Place eDiscovery
My understanding of the in-place archive is that the users will need a mailbox assigned to them in the new infrastructure, but then you're deprovisioning their license after you set up the in-place archive through the Exchange online console..so I think the answer to that is yes and no, though if they're former employees that no longer work there you won't need an E3 for them, only an Exchange license.
Here's something to read regarding archiving of old mailboxes:
In-Place eDiscovery
This post was edited on 3/22/15 at 10:29 am
Posted on 3/22/15 at 10:34 am to HMTVBrian2
Thanks Brian. My main concern is the data size. While we are a small firm as far as users our line of business is email intense for many of our employees. We have several employees who maintain very large mailboxes and receive hundreds of emails a day.
Posted on 3/22/15 at 4:03 pm to LSU5508
Another thought is to use a non-Microsoft Exchange provider, such as Intermedia or Backspace. I have used Intermedia in the past with good results. These providers still offer the standard Office applications, but the e-mail is hosted by the third-party company and not on Microsoft's servers.
That said, my present company is migrating all of our users to Office 365 for office applications, IM and e-mail, roughly 200k users... I suppose if they can do it, anyone can?
That said, my present company is migrating all of our users to Office 365 for office applications, IM and e-mail, roughly 200k users... I suppose if they can do it, anyone can?
This post was edited on 3/22/15 at 4:04 pm
Posted on 3/22/15 at 4:40 pm to LSU5508
quote:
another who says Microsoft is the devil and allowing them to have access to my data is a dumb idea
Did he say specifically why this would be a dumb idea? Microsoft works with thousands of small businesses, I don't see the risk here.
Posted on 3/22/15 at 5:33 pm to LSU5508
The lack of backup and recovery is the biggest con of Office 365 LINK
Are these mailbox and attachment size restrictions a concern?
quote:
Microsoft has built in redundancy and backups in all of their data centers, just like Google, Salesforce, etc., but these backups are for internal data center recovery only, and not available to customers for restoring their data in the event of accidental or malicious data loss. Once data is automatically or manually purged from the recycle bin the data is lost forever.
Are these mailbox and attachment size restrictions a concern?
quote:
Get a 50 GB mailbox per user and send attachments up to 25 MB.
Posted on 3/22/15 at 6:36 pm to TAMU-93
quote:
quote: Get a 50 GB mailbox per user and send attachments up to 25 MB.
Is this set in stone or can additional space be purchased at an additional cost?
I have users who have mailboxes that when combined with archiving may exceed this. However my understanding is that Microsoft 365 treats the inbox and archiving as two separate functions and has different size limits for each.
Posted on 3/22/15 at 9:25 pm to LSU5508
What line of business are you in ? or, how private is the data ? That should be your biggest question...
The other big consideration is simply the lack of customization and advanced control ... I've never used 365, that's just what I've read is the biggest downside ...
Besides that, I'd think a 20 person shop would be ideal for 365 .... Can't believe you have 500 GB of data for 20 people... have you considered making them clean their crap up ? Make them archive to PST and get it out of those databases...
The other big consideration is simply the lack of customization and advanced control ... I've never used 365, that's just what I've read is the biggest downside ...
Besides that, I'd think a 20 person shop would be ideal for 365 .... Can't believe you have 500 GB of data for 20 people... have you considered making them clean their crap up ? Make them archive to PST and get it out of those databases...
Posted on 3/23/15 at 12:48 am to Zilla
Unfortunately in the legal field people use outlook as a file store. While I make every effort to clean up mailboxes unfortunately the older partners just are not comfortable with anything being taken away. Just part of the industry. Don't see that changing until the younger more tech savy generation ages.
Posted on 3/23/15 at 1:58 pm to LSU5508
We're in the midst of migrating and our prep before was to make sure all mail older than a year is archived. We use SourceOne and it integrates with O365. We have 750 users and 150 will be E3 and 600 E1. This is local government so we've addressed the issues with records requests and retention laws.
Posted on 3/23/15 at 10:28 pm to BabySam
quote:
We're in the midst of migrating and our prep before was to make sure all mail older than a year is archived. We use SourceOne and it integrates with O365. We have 750 users and 150 will be E3 and 600 E1. This is local government so we've addressed the issues with records requests and retention laws.
How did you make the decision on who deserved an E1 subscription vs an E3 subscription?
Posted on 3/24/15 at 7:22 am to LSU5508
We based it on the "level of use" of the Office suite. We (Tech Dept) felt that the Finance Dept and ourselves needed it, plus all Directors and their admin assistants/budget people. Hell, most people only use 5-10% of office's full capabilities...plus we're having to do this in a hybrid environment because FDLE hasn't officially approved O365, but they have already purchased their own $2+ million subscription....plus we paid for a migration engineer that we know to handle the environment setup.
Posted on 3/24/15 at 2:22 pm to BabySam
Sam,
What are your protocols for archived mail when an employee leaves the company. I cannot fathom having to maintain a subscription for a mailbox after an employee is gone yet still needed for some period of time. I have many past employees who have data in their old email that is constantly accessed by current employees for ongoing cases and I need to maintain access. Is there any way around maintaining an E1 subscription?
What are your protocols for archived mail when an employee leaves the company. I cannot fathom having to maintain a subscription for a mailbox after an employee is gone yet still needed for some period of time. I have many past employees who have data in their old email that is constantly accessed by current employees for ongoing cases and I need to maintain access. Is there any way around maintaining an E1 subscription?
This post was edited on 3/24/15 at 2:27 pm
Posted on 3/24/15 at 7:37 pm to LSU5508
This all depends on if your current archiving solution is compatible with O365, which ours is. We are required to keep all emails for 10 years (florida sunshine law). Currently if a user leaves we delete the account and keep their mailbox. I know this was a key factor we brought up when discussing archivig with our Microsoft rep, and O365 has an additional archiving solution/subscription. I would suggest contacting a Microsoft rep and slgetting more information, or utilizing a vendor you have a relationship with.
Posted on 3/25/15 at 10:30 am to BabySam
Can't I just make the mailbox inactive kill the license and sit it on 365 forever? That seems to be a commen approach used by many others. However i have never actually tried to do this and there may be drawbacks
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