Are you currently deploying or planning to deploy Microsoft 365? Looking for best practices for deploying Microsoft 365? Read on to find out how Microsoft FastTrack can help you—and to learn about some key Microsoft 365 deployment considerations to keep in mind.
1. Start with a solid plan
Your plan needs to go well beyond technical deployment to include assembling a team, identifying business scenarios, onboarding users, and transforming how they work. Identify your goals concisely so that they can be tied directly to your organization’s bottom line.
Customers who have defined DIBS tend to be more successful in deploying Microsoft 365 and in accelerating user adoption. DIBS makes it easy to remember some of the most crucial aspects of building your plan:
- Due Date – a specific target date to go-live.
- Intent – a desire for the solution and commitment of resources to enable it.
- Business reason – an understanding of why your organization has invested in Microsoft 365.
- Success owner – the stakeholder or executive sponsor who owns getting the value from the Microsoft 365 investment.
Focus your initial plan on business processes rather than technologies. For qualified enterprise customers, FastTrack can help you plan your implementation, including assessing your current environment and providing remediation guidance. Alternatively, you can take advantage of the many self-service tools available to all customers on the FastTrack site.
2. Assess network readiness
Consider the number of users, whether they’re local or remote, and the number of WAN sites involved in your deployment. Also, include steps in your plan to avoid latency issues.
Helpful resources:
- Microsoft’s best practices – network considerations
- Network planning and performance tuning
- Bandwidth connectivity to Office 365
3. Engage with your security team
The Microsoft FastTrack team can provide guidance on security best practices during your engagement. Make sure to include your organization’s security, compliance, cyber security, and audit teams early in the project. These internal teams can help you define security elements, such as separation of duties, data classification, governance, data retention, compliance, and litigation policies.
Helpful resources:
- Security session video from Microsoft Ignite 2018
- Microsoft Security and Compliance Center
- Security best practices for Office 365
4. Create your identity strategy
Start by setting up a separate Azure Active Directory tenant for each Microsoft cloud service. Work with marketing and other teams to select the best tenant name, because it’ll be visible in various locations. Explore available identity options such as cloud, synchronized, and federated identities. Learn about the tools and Microsoft Azure features that are available to set up and manage identities.
Helpful resources:
- Office 365 IDFix tool
- Setup directory synchronization with Azure Active Directory Connect
- Office 365 identity and Azure Active Directory
5. Build a licensing strategy early
It’s critical to assign licensing early in the process and before any data migration occurs. Eliminate onboarding delays and reduce costs by assigning the right licensing SKUs. Consider the number of employees rather than accounts—you’re likely to find cost savings. FastTrack has developed several tools based on experience working with thousands of customers to help you with licensing and onboarding.
Helpful resources:
- PowerShell or AAD groups to handle license assignment through the Azure portal
- Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted) for Office 365 ProPlus channel updates
- Office Readiness Toolkit to remediate earlier Office versions or apps
6. Understand your migration needs
In general, workgroup mailboxes or data should be migrated together to eliminate complexity, reduce costs of hybrid environments, and to deliver the best possible user experience. Test a small group of users first, followed by larger workgroups. FastTrack provides data and email migration services to eligible customers at no additional charge.
Helpful resources:
- Data migration video from Microsoft Ignite 2018
- FastTrack Office 365 data migration
Curious to learn more about these key deployment considerations? Watch the video of this session at Microsoft Ignite 2018.
Your next steps
As always, customers with eligible Microsoft 365 subscriptions can use FastTrack at no additional cost for the life of their subscription. Visit www.microsoft.com/FastTrack and sign in to submit a request for assistance and create your Success Plan.
Need deeper technical content on Microsoft 365 deployment? Join the Microsoft Technical Community and find relevant on-demand sessions from Microsoft Ignite 2018.
Finally, to learn more about FastTrack and Microsoft 365 deployment, join us at Microsoft Ignite | The Tour coming to 17 locations around the world through May 2019.