SharePoint migration is not a simple SharePoint Server version upgrade. It is your key to unlock huge business potential, better collaboration, document management, and a lot more. When planning the cost of SharePoint migration, you need to be watchful as it includes a lot of things to consider to avoid unnecessary spending.

Migrating from legacy systems to the modern SharePoint platform includes a lot of challenges throughout the journey. The complete migration cost breakdown varies based on factors such as tool selection and professional services, evaluation of hidden expenses, and ROI calculation. This comprehensive article helps you identify the migration costs and the value it delivers. It helps organizations make decisions that align with their objectives and budget constraints.

What are the factors defining SharePoint migration costs?
To identify the cost, it is important to learn about the factors influencing the migration resources and budget.

Scope and size of the data migration
When you plan to migrate a large organization, there is a huge amount of data and several users within the tenant. The resources occupied and efforts required will also be more in comparison to a medium-scale migration. Therefore, the cost and time required to perform a large-scale migration will also be huge.

Number of sites within the tenant
Organizations that require creating more SharePoint sites than a usual small or medium scale organization, will involve more complexity. They will also need more resources, which means a higher migration cost.

Migration timeline
Another factor that often adds to the cost of migrating from SharePoint to SharePoint is the timeline to finish the project. If there is a tight deadline to complete the migration, you’ll have to put more resources to work, which increases the actual migration price.

Training and user adoption
It is often difficult for the end users to adopt the new platform for their day-to-day activities. To help your users utilize the platform to its potential, train them on the updated SharePoint platform. This will require you to make a good investment, which will help you increase the returns in the future.

Fluctuations and downtime
Business downtime is quite common whenever something new is introduced within an organization. Consider this and plan strategies to mitigate the impact of these fluctuations on your business. Proper pre-migration planning is the key to avoiding downtimes and errors during or post-migration.

How to optimize migration for optimized execution?
Here are some activities that will help you lower the cost of migrating content to SharePoint:

Data cleanup: Perform a thorough/ detailed data cleanup from the source environment to eliminate all the data that you will not require later. This helps to minimize the data volume that you’ll migrate, significantly lowering the actual migration cost.

Perform phased migration: Don’t go after a big bang approach, thinking that it will save your time. It’s important to understand that if anything goes wrong, you’ll not just encounter errors; there’s an equal chance of permanent data loss. This will result in the increased cost, so use a phased migration approach.

Communication: Timely inform the users and stakeholders, so that they have enough time to learn about the new destination. Also, provide them with the intuitive learning material.

Migration tool: Getting help from SharePoint migration tools minimizes the resources required and chances of error during migration. With a tool, you don’t need to make many adjustments within your environment, helping you save on additional costs.

Testing: Consistent testing before performing the final migration helps you avoid errors, saving you from an increased timeline and data loss. This, if not managed otherwise, might add up to the cost.

Regular monitoring: Regular monitoring after the migration eliminates the chances of a failed migration. Get feedback from the users and use it to make enhancements in the SharePoint environment.

Doing these will help you lower the cost of migrating the data. However, you can look for reliable SharePoint migration services to avoid the chances of errors or data loss and the cost of resolving them.

Final Words
When identifying the cost of migrating to SharePoint, you need to consider everything from the number of users, storage, and migration plan to tools, services, etc. All this will help you understand and evaluate the ROI you’ll gain after making such a huge investment. However, the best and affordable migrations are those that involve use of a professional SharePoint to SharePoint migration tool like Kernel Migration for SharePoint. Get the free trial version today to start your migration journey.