What Is the Ideal Cost of Data Migration for Businesses?
The cost of data migration for businesses is somewhat a complex topic as there is a lot that goes into determining business data migration costs.
Unlike personal migration, where data migration cost per terabyte or gigabyte is standard, there is no one-size-fits-all pricing for business migrations. As such, the ideal cost of business data migration should be one that factors in all the core aspects and requirements of the migration project.
Here are five core factors that determine the cost of data migration for businesses of all sizes and industries:
Number of Users and the Size of Data To Migrate
The main factor that directly determines the cost of data migration for businesses of all sizes is the number of users and the size of data to migrate to the destination environment. In most cases, businesses have a greater number of users and size of data to migrate compared to personal migration requirements.
The source environment where the users and data are located does not really matter. In other words, the source and destination combination (e.g., Google Drive to OneDrive) does not play a role in determining the cost.
Permissions, Metadata, and Other Features to Transfer
Businesses need to transfer data along with sharing permissions, metadata, and other features associated with the user accounts. And in most cases, the more the number of features to migrate, the higher the data migration costs become.
In some cases, migrating files specific to the source cloud (e.g., transferring Box Notes in Box to SharePoint Online migration) can add to the overall cost of migrating data.
Custom Migration Requirements
Many businesses have highly specific migration requirements, which creates the need to customize the feature or function of the migration vendor’s tool. For example, businesses may need to transfer Dropbox Paper files during Dropbox to OneDrive for Business migration.
The capability of the migration vendor’s tool to transfer Dropbox paper may not be available out-of-the-box. In such cases, tooling customization is needed to meet the migration requirements, which adds to the overall data migration cost.
Managed Support From While Glove Migration Service
Not every business has the infrastructure and IT capabilities to perform migration independently (with the help of in-house teams). For these types of businesses, opting for a white glove migration service helps avoid the technical complexities associated with business data migration.
However, managed migration service does come with an additional charge which adds to the overall cost of data migration. Data migration companies that offer managed migration services, including CloudFuze, handhold businesses throughout their migration journey to ensure complete migration success.
Migration Tool License Extension
Many businesses, especially MSPs (resellers), need to use/access the migration tool beyond the migration project’s contract timeline. In such cases, businesses must extend the migration tool license, which directly increases the overall cost of data migration.
However, there are multiple benefits to extending the migration to license as well. For example, MSPs can extend the tool license to migrate numerous customers rather than pay additional charges for renewing the tool license or creating a new contract for another customer migration project.
