How to Migrate from Exclaimer to Office 365?

For companies to project a professional image and maintain brand consistency, it is important for them to have effective email signature management. Many people employ Exclaimer which is a popular tool for managing this activity.

However, due to the increased popularity of Microsoft Office 365, many establishments are now thinking about shifting their email signature management in order to exploit the inherent functions of this cloud-based platform.

Understanding Exclaimer and Office 365

The role of Exclaimer is to provide email signature management solutions that help individuals generate and manage professional email signatures across different platforms such as Microsoft Exchange, Office 365, and G Suite among others.

Incorporating email automation, improving branding consistency, and simplifying the process of managing an email system are its goals. Exclaimer has designed its products such that they can be managed by non-technical users.

Contrary to this, Office 365 is a cloud-based productivity package that provides various applications including hosted mail through Exchange Online, file storage using OneDrive as well as collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams. Moreover, its elasticity and scalability make it a great choice for businesses intending to consolidate their productive workflows

Why Migrate from Exclaimer to Microsoft 365/ Office 365?

As companies transition to cloud environments, many find that while Exclaimer is powerful, it isn’t optimized for these platforms. On the other hand, Office 365 presents numerous advantages for migrating email signature management, such as:

• Simplified IT infrastructure: Office 365 simplifies the data centers of companies and streamlines operations, thereby helping to move away from complexity.
• Enhanced Safety and Compliance: Office 365 provides a cover against malware and computer threats that not only ensure compliance with legal standards but also generate digital signatures of emails.
• Improved user Experience: With all these options consolidated into one platform within Office 365, users will have fewer applications to navigate, making tasks such as managing email signatures simpler and more efficient.
• Centralized Management: Office 365 unites the functionality into one platform for handling email signatures. Users can maintain uniformity and control over the whole organization.
• Cost Savings: Microsoft 365/ Office 365 comes equipped with email signature management tools. These tools leave no room for external applications, thereby reducing costs for the firm.

Exclaimer to Office 365 Migration Process: A Step-By-Step Guide

The migration process consists of various steps: The most used method of migration is the Cutover Migration Batch. SMEs (small and medium enterprises) can choose cutover migration when they want to move their mailboxes to Office 365 in the shortest time possible.

Below are some of the steps that are involved in carrying out a cutover migration from an Exchange server to Office 365:

Step 1: Check the Domain Name – You must confirm your domain ownership before using Office 365 for your email addresses. Adding a domain and going through the verification process can be done in the Office 365 Admin Center.

Step 2: Get your Exchange Server Ready – Ensure that you have a valid SSL certificate for your Exchange Server which should not be self-signed but issued by a reputable authority. Another thing is confirming if Autodiscover works well and whether Outlook Anywhere is enabled properly or not and set up accurately too.

Step 3: Establish an Empty Migration Batch – Go to Recipients > Migration > ‘+’ in the Office 365 Exchange Admin Center. Then, select “cutover migration” under “Migrate to Exchange Online.”

Step 4: Modify Migration Preferences – You will need to provide the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of your Client Access Server, as well as details for an on-premises account with the necessary permissions to access mailboxes (normally a Full Access permission account). Additionally, you will require Outlook Anywhere’s Proxy server settings for RPC. This should be autocomplete by the wizard if Autodiscover is configured properly.

Step 5: Start Migrating Batch – After you have filled in all the required information, start migrating the batch. As a result, mailbox synchronization with Office 365 will commence.

Step 6: Revise DNS Records – Once all mailboxes have been synchronized and prepared for migration completion, you’ll need to update your DNS records. Specifically, modify your MX record to direct incoming mail to Office 365 if you want it to receive all incoming messages. For instance, make sure that Outlook can configure itself automatically by adding or updating the CNAME record for Autodiscover to autodiscover.outlook.com.

Step 7: Complete the Migration Batch – After the changes are completed, you can finish the rest of the migration batch from within the Office 365 Exchange Admin Center.

Step 8: Provide Users with Licence – Next, assign an Office 365 license to each migrated user. Users won’t be able to access their mailbox without a license.

Step 9: Verify and Evaluate – In the end, you should verify that everything is operating as intended by testing. Make sure all data is there, users can send and receive email and they can access their mailboxes.

However, remember that cutover migration is a simple technique, but it needs to be planned well and executed with accuracy so as to avoid mail access interferences. Moreover, it is also recommended that a test transfer using a smaller data set be carried out before going ahead with complete mailbox conversion.

Common Challenges During Exclaimer to Office 365 Migration

Migrating from Exclaimer to Office 365 comes with its fair share of advantages, nevertheless, there are various issues common among them being:

• Design and Branding Inconsistencies: This relates to ensuring that the new email signature template adheres to organizational branding and design requirements.
• Technical Complexities: Setting up Office 365 with the new email signature template can be technically difficult, especially for organizations without an extensive IT background.
• User Adoption: The changes must be communicated to users as well as training them on how these new email signatures work.

Apps4Rent Can Help Migrate Emails from Exclaimer to Office 365

Even though it may be difficult for someone to switch email signature management from Exclaimer to Office 365, there are several benefits that a company stands to gain. Business entities can opt for their email signature plan by understanding why they need migration, and the benefits and steps involved in doing so.

We know how challenging migration can be. It is a process that needs to be handled with care to avoid any problems. And that is where Apps4Rent comes in. As a Microsoft Solutions Partner, we help firms migrate to Office 365 and optimize their email signature management.

The team of Microsoft-certified professionals at Apps4Rent will guide you throughout the Exclaimer to Office 365 migration process thus ensuring a smooth transition that fits perfectly with your firm’s needs.

Want to have the smoothest migration process with no difficulties? Contact Apps4Rent today to ensure you get the most seamless Exclaimer to Office 365 migration for your business!