Investment businesses can benefit greatly from migrating to Microsoft 365 (M365). However, attempting migration without a solid plan will lead to problems. Here’s what asset managers, hedge funds, and private equity firms need to know about M365 migration.
Microsoft 365 migration defined
Microsoft 365 is a cloud-based office productivity suite. It comprises applications and services that many businesses use daily, including Microsoft Outlook, Excel, Word, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Exchange.
Firms that have not migrated to Microsoft 365 usually fall into one of two broad categories:
Organizations that still rely on on-premises solutions, either within the Microsoft ecosystem or using on-prem software sourced from different vendors.
Businesses that have started a shift to the cloud, but have not migrated everything to Microsoft 365. They may be using a patchwork of different cloud solutions to meet their needs (e.g., Google Workspace for email and calendar, AWS for hosting, Dropbox for sharing files, Slack for communication, Zoom for conferencing, and so forth). But regardless of the starting point, M365 migration means moving to Microsoft’s cloud services to support core business functions and operations.
The advantages of M365 for investment businesses
Asset managers, private credit and private equity firms, and hedge funds that migrate to Microsoft 365 will receive benefits on several fronts:
Efficiency and Reliability
Moving to M365 eliminates infrastructure maintenance costs associated with on-premises and self-managed deployments, reduces the risk of downtime, and offers more reliable availability of mission-critical resources.
Firms gain flexibility and risk reduction from transitioning to a consumption-based model where businesses are billed for their actual usage of services rather than paying a fixed fee.
Businesses receive greater overall reliability and lower risk of downtime due to regional outages, thanks to Microsoft’s extensive network of data centers, which use geographic redundancy to ensure that data and services are replicated and always available across multiple geographic locations.
Employees get enhanced auditing and reporting capabilities, instant messaging and collaboration tools like SharePoint and Teams, and powerful automation tools to increase productivity and operational efficiency.
Security and Data Protection
Migration ensures that the IT environment will use only the most up-to-date security protocols and will receive new security updates immediately, strengthening organizational cybersecurity and resilience and helping to meet compliance obligations.
IT and cybersecurity teams get access to Microsoft 365’s advanced security and data protection features, including automatic security updates; anti-phishing and anti-malware protection for email; and mobile device management (MDM), multi-factor authentication (MFA), and data loss prevention (DLP) capabilities.
MS365 uses Identity Access Management (IAM) to eliminate the need for Active Directory, a Microsoft directory service that is a popular target for bad actors.
Compatibility and Future-Proofing
IT teams can be sure that M365 components will be compatible with other mission-critical products in their environment.
Using a suite of solutions sourced from a single provider means that everything works together out of the box, eliminating compatibility issues, reducing integration challenges, and further enhancing productivity.
Using Microsoft’s newest platform avoids difficulties in upgrading software in the future, reducing the costs and burdens associated with updating IT systems over time.
Common M365 migration challenges for investment firms
The technological and business cases for Microsoft 365 migration are compelling, but cloud migrations can be complex, and attempting one without the proper preparations is risky.
Migrations must be customized to be truly successful. M365 is packed with valuable services and features—but if these aren’t optimized for an organization’s specific needs, much of that value gets left on the table. Simply relying on M365 default settings is, frankly, wasteful.
Because of this, extensive planning is required to ensure an effective M365 migration. Budget, resource allocation, employee training, backups, contingency planning, and potential downtime must all be carefully considered. An experienced team or partner with the right technical and project management expertise is a prerequisite.
In addition, investment businesses face several special migration challenges:
First, while every organization should try to configure M365 for optimal security and data privacy, in the financial industry, this is a regulatory and compliance issue as well. Requirements relating to SEC, FINRA, and GDPR regulations, and more must be part of any migration plan.
Second, financial businesses tend to have relatively complex IT environments. But M365 is designed with a “standard” office in mind. Because investment firms frequently rely on legacy codes, old systems, and obscure data protocols, their migration and integration processes can be quite complicated.
Lastly, the specialized nature of the financial industry’s IT environments and its unique culture make it difficult to source third-party support. Generalized IT service providers may not understand the underlying technology or the operational needs and business culture of investment businesses.
Smaller providers may lack the technical expertise needed to complete a successful migration—or to properly optimize the migration for cost savings and efficiency. Larger providers, accustomed to working with enterprises whose day-to-day needs differ significantly from those of financial firms, may be unable to undertake a migration project with the expected level of service and urgency.
Expert help with your M365 migration
M365 migration is nothing to fear—and can deliver tremendous benefits and rapid ROI. But financial businesses must begin by acknowledging the challenges involved and securing adequate IT resources for their migration.
If a firm’s internal team is busy with other projects, lacks M365 expertise, or needs help with the more complex aspects of migration, such as cybersecurity, compliance, and governance, it is prudent to seek the help of an experienced technical partner.
Linedata is a global provider of software, IT and outsourcing services, and value-added data dedicated to the financial sector.
For over a decade, we’ve helped asset managers, private equity firms, and hedge funds complete their M365 migrations efficiently, accurately, and safely with the white glove service such firms need and expect.
We realize that there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all migration plan since we’ve worked with investment businesses that range from start-up hedge funds to global asset managers with $500B AUM.
For this reason, all migration plans are customized to meet our clients’ individual needs—and all of our migration projects begin with a no-obligation conversation.
Contact us to talk about your Microsoft 365 migration goals and how we can help.
Learn more about our software consulting, IT managed services, and cybersecurity solutions.
About the author, Joshua Barber
Joshua Barber co-heads Linedata’s Technology Services business, which includes Public and Private Cloud, Cybersecurity, and Managed Services. He’s spent nearly two decades building and managing IT Service Organization delivery teams, while basing himself in North America, Europe, and Asia. Josh is passionate about delivering excellence and enables IT teams to grow and scale to the rapid and specific requirements of hedge funds, private equity, and asset managers.
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