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Troubles with Email Migration Under M&A Project? Synchronize and Move Exchange Accounts Seamlessly with CB Exchange Server Sync

Georgii KapanadzeCompany news, Products and Solutions Leave a Comment

There are several reasons for email change. One of the most complex is business transformation during mergers and acquisitions. Such process often requires additional effort and supervision.  

Whatever the reasons behind M&A, newly joined entities need instant communication and collaboration. And since email is the main communication and collaboration tool in the world, getting discordant systems working together from day one, post-close is top priority. This includes having full calendar interoperability for scheduling meetings, having up-to-date contacts and tasks in place and being able to work smoothly as before.  

Email migration projects can happen under various scenarios: 

  • Company A needs to integrate Company B’s calendar and email system in their own during an acquisition; 
  • Company A and Company B need to form one new email system out of two existing during a merger; 
  • Company A is splitting into two companies during a divestiture and needs to migrate to two different mailbox systems;
  • Several smaller companies require migrating into fewer mailbox systems in case of consolidation.  

Complexity of migration projects under M&A

The complexity of the email migration project depends on a list of technical variables.  

Firstly, the location of the Exchange Servers in the two companies under M&A. Some corporate mailbox infrastructures like Exchange are deployed on-premises, some are outsourced as SaaS, and others are hosted elsewhere in the cloud 

Speaking of Exchange Servers, oftentimes enterprises have different versions such as Exchange 2010, Exchange 2013, Exchange 2016, Exchange Online (independent mail server or as part of Office 365), or Exchange 2019. Thus, migrating mailboxes between the various versions poses an additional challenge. If you add such a requirement as migrating same-domain, cross-domain or cross-forest, the task may seem too stressful for some IT teams without third-party applications. 

Besides, many companies undergoing the M&A process consider migrating to Office 365 as the ultimate solution. However, they can be hindered by such circumstances as the need to perform Office 365 tenant to tenant migration or even migrate from on-prem Exchange to Office 365, or vice-versa. 

Without detailed planning, these critical migration projects can harm the workflow and put sensitive data at risk. On the top of this, during Mergers & Acquisitions, when everything seems to be falling apart, experiencing downtime of mailboxes and calendars is completely unacceptable. But unfortunately, enterprises suffer even through this. 

A chaotic approach to IT integration can drain value from an acquisition. To ensure a smooth migration of mailboxes, companies often require synchronization software to moves mailboxes and data, without harming business productivity.  

If a standard Exchange Server migration is not possible, a tool that solves even most complicated migration scenarios is CB Exchange Server Sync by Connecting Software. 

What CB Exchange Sync can do for your stress-free M&A mailbox migration

Connecting Software has developed CB Exchange Server Sync so you can sync automatically email folders, contacts, calendars, tasks and public folders, on different Exchange accounts, domains or servers, or even same domains and servers – depending on your needs. You don’t need to plan downtime and stop working. The service can synchronize mailboxes while the network is still in use. You sync them first and then finish the migration and decommission the redundant server when everything is ready.

CB Exchange Sync is a perfect solution when, for example, standard Exchange Server Migration cannot be done because the client has two independent Exchange Servers in different Active Directory (AD) and mail domains. This migration is not possible in one step. So, the two servers need to coexist while the users are switching to the new server.

Scenario 1. Acquisition. Different versions of Exchange Servers

Let’s imagine a big Company A from Australia that has acquired a smaller Company B from Brazil and now needs to incorporate new employees in their network. Company A uses Exchange 2019, and Company B – Exchange 2013. For these entities, the acquisition process is going to take around half a year. During this period, the employees of Company B will work with two Exchange accounts: their old one and the new one from Company A. This is a perfect task for CB Exchange Server Sync. The team of Company B will have both of their mailboxes synchronized and calendars populated during the whole acquisition process. When the acquisition is over, they will switch to the Company A server without hassle or downtime.  

Auto Mapping and Post Processing

CB Exchange Server Sync has handy features which facilitate every migration project. For instance, in our case with the acquisition of a company from a different country, mapping between accounts will be done automatically even though they are in different languages – English (Australia) and Portuguese (Brazil). Auto mapping enables synchronization of mailbox items in folders automatically and mirror accounts in multiple languages. Besides, each item migrates with all properties if you choose so. 

If the companies decide on a one-way sync, a post-processing feature can mark the email subject with a special sign, for example REF: Mailbox A. In this case, you know straight away which item is original and which is a replica. 

Scenario 2. Consolidation. Different Locations of Exchange Servers

Let’s imagine another scenario. A company is forming a holding out of several smaller entities. The top management of the holding will coordinate all its parts, so an integrated management structure is needed. However, as the parts in the holding used to be completely unrelated companies with separate mailbox systems, they have different Exchange instances – some are hosted, and others are on-prem.  

Now in the holding, the top management must be integrated in each of the systems. They need to have their calendars populated on all sides so that their colleagues from all divisions could cooperate with them without any disruptions and appointments overlaps. Plus, they can share contacts and receive tasks. 

Regular synchronization is not possible in this case.  

Again, CB Exchange Server Sync will do the job for the smooth migration. The solution is very flexible and scalable to your project requirements. 

Besides, the managers synchronizing Outlook accounts with different divisions don’t need to show completely populated calendar to everyone. With CB Exchange Server Sync, they can indicate that they are busy at one particular hour, but not inform their subordinates on either side what exactly their appointment is about. Data integrity is ensured with secure, encrypted connections. 

Scenario 3. Merging. Resource sharing

Companies A and B have decided to merge. Even more: they have already moved under one roof. The problem is: they are using different instances of Exchange Servers and haven’t decided yet what to do. However, they have common resources like a conference room, and they need to stop duplicate booking right now. In this case, companies use CB Exchange Server Sync to keep multiple references to the same resource in sync among multiple domains. According to the feedback from our clients, this is an elegant solution for a reasonable cost.

Cost-effectiveness

Speaking of the financial implications of mergers & acquisitions, various sources account for 5-15 % of the whole acquisition project to spend on IT systems migration. It doesn’t need to be so expensive! Connecting Software delivers the solution for your M&A mailbox migration project for a fraction of the cost and guarantees hassle-free synchronization. Check CB Exchange Server Sync options on our website and contact us for a free tutorial.  

Also talk to our experts to know if CB Exchange Server Sync is the best synchronization software for your M&A migration project. And watch the video below to learn more about CB Exchange Server Sync. 

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