Carolyn Woodard talks with Steve Longenecker, Director of IT Consulting at Community IT, about a client's decision to migrate from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365, and what a real nonprofit migration project looks like once years of technical debt have piled up.

The client's story is a familiar one: a lean two-person IT team supporting 300 information workers, years of default settings, and undocumented shared folders that quietly became a governance risk. Steve walks through why this organization is moving to Microsoft, from their existing use of Outlook and Windows devices to the stronger admin and device management tools Microsoft 365 provides, and why he keeps coming back to a moving-house metaphor: sometimes you need to declutter before you pack.

This episode covers:

• Why Google Workspace's low barrier to entry can turn into years of undocumented shared folders, oversized mailboxes, and unclear file ownership if no one is minding governance.
• The real differences in how Google and Microsoft handle IT administration.
• Why this client, already using Outlook and Windows devices, is moving to Microsoft 365 for stronger device management and identity tools.
• The moving-house metaphor: purging old email and cleaning up 2,200 shared folders before migration so the new home isn't just as cluttered as the old one.
• Why leadership buy-in, often from a newly hired executive, is what finally gets a years-overdue technology migration off the ground.

Resources Mentioned:

• Google Workspace vs. Microsoft 365 – Community IT Innovators – https://communityit.com/google-workspace-vs-microsoft-office-365/
• Migrating Within Google to Use Shared Drives – Community IT Innovators – https://communityit.com/migrating-within-google-to-use-shared-drives/
• Securing Google Workspace for Nonprofits – Community IT Innovators – https://communityit.com/webinar-securing-google-workspace-for-nonprofits/
• Managing Google Workspace and Office 365 Together – Community IT Innovators – https://communityit.com/managing-google-workspace-and-office-365-together/
• Growing Your Nonprofit With Google Workspace – Community IT Innovators – https://communityit.com/webinar-growing-your-nonprofit-with-google-workspace/

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Start a conversation :)

• Register to attend a webinar in real time, and find all past transcripts at https://communityit.com/webinars/
• email Carolyn at cwoodard@communityit.com
• on LinkedIn 
• on reddit/r/nonprofitITmanagement
• on the Community IT website

Thanks for listening.