The Definitive Microsoft Teams Migration Checklist (Including 7 Steps Most Won’t Tell You)
Moving–the packing, the organizing, the desperate exercise of finding buddies to help—is something no one looks forward to. But sometimes you have to move to grow.
The same is true when it comes to migrating Microsoft Teams, whether it’s due to a merger or acquisition, an organizational rebrand, a geographical expansion or a need to upgrade security. It might not be fun and you can absolutely anticipate hiccups along the way, but migrating from one tenant to another is sometimes just what business operations need to continue to thrive.
Millions of American companies rely on Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams for productivity and collaboration. To help simplify the process a bit, we’ve put together a comprehensive checklist detailing potential challenges and outlining the critical steps that need to be taken as part of the migration.
Call it a guide, a checklist, or a plan—we’re not picky. What matters is that it helps. Reviewing this before you begin could turn a potentially painful data migration into a smooth, seamless Teams transition.
9 Critical Challenges to Any Microsoft Teams Migration
A Microsoft Teams migration presents a range of challenges, particularly from a logistical standpoint. From handling large volumes of data and mapping users to managing potential downtime and the risk of data loss, the process can quickly get complicated.
Add to that the hurdles of maintaining user adoption, transferring access and permissions accurately, and addressing any compatibility issues, and it’s easy to see why a careful, well-executed plan is essential.
Let’s dive into which hurdles can be avoided when a proper migration strategy is implemented ahead of time.
- Too little advanced planning: A migration project takes an immense amount of careful planning. Failing to recognize that need prior to moving from one Teams environment to another could prove to be frustrating at best and potentially catastrophic at worst. Take the time you need to plan, develop a migration strategy that includes user mapping, gain a full understanding of the migration process and that up-front investment will make your Microsoft Teams migration more palatable.
- Failing to set up permissions & memberships: It’s important to make sure that permissions and memberships for the migrating Teams are established in the new Microsoft Teams environment. Third-party tools can automatically map users making it easier to ensure that all the users in the new environment have proper access.
- Underestimating the time & effort needed: When you initiate a tenant migration, you need to be realistic about the time it will take and the team members that will need to be involved. Understanding the full scope of the Teams data being migrated between the Teams channels allows you to set accurate expectations.
- Not planning for some data loss and downtime: The more data moved at one time, the more likely data loss is to occur. By using a third-party migration tool, IT teams can experience a more seamless data transfer to the destination Microsoft Teams. While a phased migration may take more time, it does minimize the potential for data loss because it allows for errors to be identified during the time it takes to migrate data.
- Not being honest about the current state of data: If you’re in denial about the state of the data being migrated, the process may not go as smoothly. It’s important to prepare both the source tenant and the new Teams before you start a migration. If the new Teams environment, file sharing or Teams settings aren’t ready for that migration, problems can arise. This is also a great time to clean the source Teams of any unneeded files and data before the migration begins.
- Bypassing true leadership buy-in: Since a Microsoft Teams migration involves critical data, chat history, and key collaboration tools—and carries the risk of downtime or data loss—it’s essential to have full support from organizational leadership. Their buy-in helps manage expectations, especially if a phased approach is used, which can extend the timeline. Leadership backing ensures a smoother transition and a more positive experience for users across the organization.
- Not cleaning data before launch: If you skip cleaning your data before launching in the new Teams environment, you’re setting yourself up for a range of potential issues down the line. Efficiency and performance will likely suffer, data integrity and quality could be compromised, and security could be put at risk. Fixing errors post migration can be costly, and downtime during or after the last migration could negatively impact revenue.
- Skipping post deployment feedback: Failing to inventory your data after migration can leave you blind to missing files or unresolved errors. Verifying that everything made it to the destination Teams is essential, and gathering post-migration feedback is just as critical, whether you used a tool or handled it manually.
- No ongoing iteration & optimization steps post launch: Few things in this world, particularly in the tech space, are a “set it and forget it” endeavor. A collaboration tool like Microsoft Teams, especially following a tenant migration, will need occasional intervention for updates and optimization. If that falls to the wayside, performance could suffer in the new environment.
Superior Strategy & Seamless Process: A Step-by-Step Teams Migration Guide
If a seamless Microsoft Teams tenant migration is the goal, then having a clear strategy in place before the move is non-negotiable. That strategy should cover all the nitty gritty details regarding correct users, private Teams, the Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) and each SharePoint site. Just as important is outlining the time and resources needed to successfully execute the migration plan.
That strategic migration plan should also include a communication strategy for target Teams that may need extra support, a decision on whether to migrate to a new tenant manually or using automation, and how to prepare destination tenants for critical data.
Every Microsoft Teams migration should take all these steps into account, from small to large organizations, to protect against the most common challenges that can pop up along the way.
Here is a step-by-step guide on how to achieve a seamless migration process from one Teams environment to another.
- Take Stock of Your Situation & Don’t Sugarcoat It
The most efficient way to manage a migration plan in Microsoft 365 for Microsoft Teams is to keep it real. You need to assess every angle of your data landscape, from user mapping to access to data volume, and make decisions based on the environments in which you’re working — from the source tenant to the destination tenant. Denial does no one any good.
- Define Your Migration Goals
It’s possible that migrating Teams is an opportunity to restructure other Teams or streamline data, adopt a new naming convention or manage conversation history. With specific goals in mind, a migration plan can address multiple needs. And in the pre migration phase, don’t underestimate the value of a test run. It’s one way to determine the readiness of the destination tenant before initiating the full migration plan. Then, when you start migration, you can proceed with more visibility into how easily the data will transfer.
- Get Leadership Buy-in
As we’ve demonstrated, and as IT experts know, migrating Teams is not an exercise that requires just a few clicks. It’s a process. It’s vital to get buy-in from leadership and assemble a team of administrators who are ready and able to set aside time to commit to the endeavor.
- Set up Proper Design & Architecture
Once everyone necessary is on board, proceed to developing the design and architecture of the new Teams environment. And then test it. Run a pilot migration, migrating a limited volume of Teams data to the destination Teams and see how it goes.
- Clean & Streamline Data
Where there’s an opportunity to retire old data from the source Teams, like chat history and users that are no longer needed, do so. Who wants to move into a cluttered environment? Take this migration process as a valuable moment to clean and streamline data wherever possible.
- Deploy & Solicit Candid Feedback
If a pilot deployment is satisfactory, proceed with the full migration plan and standby ready for feedback. This step-by-step guide has been fairly clinical, but it’s impossible to overstate the value of a positive user experience in the new environment. Candid feedback also allows the migration team to keep tabs on file sharing that may not have gone as smoothly as planned.
- Monitor & Optimize
Once the last migration is complete, it’s important to monitor the new environment and be aware of opportunities for optimization. A SharePoint site, for example, may need optimization to improve performance and usability, while individual Teams or public Teams may need specific support to ensure proper functionality as it relates to permissions. Monitoring is a critical component of the entire migration process.
Superior Microsoft Teams Migration Services by Diversified
A Microsoft Teams tenant migration can be complex, but you don’t have to navigate it alone. At Diversified, we specialize in enabling human connection through technology, helping forward-thinking organizations future-ready their collaboration environments at scale. From strategy and design to integration and ongoing support, we deliver seamless AV and media technology solutions that work—globally.
With deep experience in Microsoft Teams migrations and over 23,000 Teams Rooms deployed worldwide, we understand not just the process, but the platform. Our team speaks the language of tenant-to-tenant migration—fluent in the details that matter most to your business continuity.
That’s why industry leaders trust Diversified to help them avoid the hidden pitfalls that can derail a migration and disrupt operations.
Let’s make your Microsoft Teams tenant migration a smooth one. Talk to an expert today—and keep your focus where it belongs: on your business.