If you’re wondering why you should be thinking about migrating from GoDaddy 365 to Microsoft 365, here’s a helpful article to get you started: 5 Reasons to Migrate from GoDaddy to Microsoft Office 365.

If you’ve already covered that territory and you’re ready to get started, read on, brave one!

1. Find and Decode Your GoDaddy Licenses

GoDaddy only offers a few different licenses on the Microsoft 365 platform. One issue that creates confusion is that GoDaddy uses a separate naming convention from Microsoft for its licenses. You will need to know which users have licenses and then translate them into Microsoft’s offerings. Below is a handy decoder to help you.

GoDaddy to Microsoft License Name Decoder

• GoDaddy Online Essentials = Microsoft 365 Business Basic
• GoDaddy Business Premium = Microsoft 365 Business Standard
• GoDaddy Premium Security = Microsoft 365 Business Standard with 3rd party security features

2. Count Your Active User Accounts

Microsoft 365 does not require you to license shared email accounts (but GoDaddy does). You can reduce the number of licenses you need by identifying which email addresses are for individuals versus those shared by groups. By eliminating group email addresses from your license count, you can save money on your monthly email service plan.

$ Cha-ching!

GoDaddy’s version of Microsoft 365

• Every email address must be licensed to have a mailbox, even shared or service accounts (such as [email protected] or [email protected]).
• When a user leaves your company but keeps their email active, you must have a license with GoDaddy.
• In Microsoft 365 “Shared mailboxes” do not require a license to maintain email in them.

3. Inventory Your Teams Accounts

If your company has GoDaddy Business Premium or GoDaddy Premium Security, there is an excellent chance that you are also using Microsoft Teams. We will not sugarcoat this, but migrating Teams is not easy. It’s similar to moving and combining several storage units into a new house. Organization is key!

Gather this information to ensure a smoother transition

• Create a list of all Standard Teams Channels (available and visible to everyone),
• Create another list of all Private Teams Channels (focused private conversations with a specific audience),
• Identify how much storage is used by every channel.

With this information in hand, you can reestablish your Team’s structure without losing important data.

4. Identify Which GoDaddy 365 Service You need to Cancel

VERY IMPORTANT: As you prepare to cancel your services with GoDaddy, make sure you clearly identify which GoDaddy service you will cancel. Have this information ready to share with your Microsoft migration partner.

If you need to migrate other GoDaddy services, you must wait until your email migration is complete. If you fail to do this in the correct order, you risk losing all of your company email data. GoDaddy will delete your company data (including email) if you cancel your domain or website hosting.

5. Speed the Process with a Microsoft Partner

Migrating to a better email platform doesn’t have to be a painful process. A qualified Microsoft Partner can efficiently guide you through the steps and ensure that every critical email and Teams communication is preserved for posterity.

Migration Services

sa.global specializes in this type of migration. We’ve seen the GoDaddy headache pop up so frequently that helping customers migrate from GoDaddy to Microsoft 365 has become one of the regular service offerings our company offers.

Once we’ve completed your email and Teams migration, we can also help with team training and preparation. On the surface, Microsoft 365 users may not see a big difference from the GoDaddy platform. But, you will have access to many new features to enhance your business. Microsoft Teams, Planner, Microsoft Lists, SharePoint, and OneDrive, are powerful tools for collaboration and efficiency. Like every power tool, these programs work best when you have a solid plan for utilizing them and basic training for each team member. A little guidance goes a long way to reduce helpdesk calls as users explore new tools and features.