Migrating email from Google GSuite to Office 365 is a common request. 
Google Gmail provided enterprise cloud email slightly ahead of Microsoft – and plenty of
businesses have adopted their platform.
For cloud email, Google GSuite is a strong competitor to Microsoft O365.
Google O365 Coexistence
Various 3rd Party tools have the ability to provide various levels of coexistence between both Google GSuite Gmail and Office 365 Exchange Online.
The core coexistence functions that are
required, are typically as follows:
▪ Mail Flow
▪ Common Address Book
▪ Calendar Free Busy
Mail flow is achievable without 3rd party tools, however the other functions aren’t. Care is
required with Gmail O365 coexistence, especially for larger organisations. Areas like anti-
spam, SPF records, forwarding addresses – all of the above require careful focus.
From the user perspective, thorough testing is required to make sure mail clients, and mobile
devices, can work on both platforms with little to no effort.
Google Gmail O365 Email Migration
The IMAP protocol protocol offers a free method for migrating from GSuite Gmail into Office 365, but this has limitations, as it does not easily support calendars, or address books. This could be
acceptable for a small user base, however this constraint can be an issue as you scale up to a
larger project. Office 365 has built in a migration option from Google, using IMAP protocol.
Migration speeds can be slow, and test migrations are recommended to give an accurate
estimate.
There are many 3rd party tools available to migrate all Google mail data into Office 365. It is an
important decision to pick the correct tool, and there are many differences to consider. For
example, some tools offer a Google Docs to OneDrive migration licence.
GSuite Migration Planning
Like any email migration project, proper planning is required. Using both mail platforms
alongside each other allows for thorough testing to take place in advance of any user mailbox
migrations.
Saving Money
Coexistence will see both email platforms in use – with costs for both. It is recommended that
with every migration project an end date is finalised. If an end date is not established
costs can become an issue.
Hire a Google GSuite to Office 365 Migration Expert
Contact us here at office365migrate.com for a free consultation on how we can help you to migrate from Google GSuite to Office 365 smoothly. We have done this type of migration project many times before, and can help you avoid the common pitfalls.