University of Bristol and CloudM

University of Bristol is one of the most popular and successful universities in the UK and was ranked within the top 5% of universities in the world in the QS World University Rankings 2019.

The University has had a reputation for innovation since its founding in 1876. They have a strong research team and tackle some of the world’s most pressing issues in areas as diverse as human rights, climate change, cryptography and information security.

Attracting students from all over the world, University of Bristol pride themselves on ensuring their students get the most out of their experience, both personally and academically, making them a very sought-after and respectable university.

Previously on Google Workspace, the team at the University of Bristol made the decision to migrate to Microsoft 365 to further enhance collaboration across their staff and students.

Dr Carla Hill, Senior Project Manager at Bristol University explains; “Our decision to migrate to Microsoft 365 came from wanting our staff, students and users to have the whole integrated experience that Microsoft 365 offers.

Dr Hill continued; “With access to everything in one suite, they will be using the tool to the best ability. For us, Microsoft 365 will further improve collaboration, communication and connectivity.

”Their project is to migrate around 24.14 TB of data and 36,000 of staff and student users across from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365.

The University of Bristol started with a POC and had a set criteria of what they expected from a migration tool. This included a combination of what the tool could migrate over, permission settings, access rights and the speed of the migration.

Whilst exploring options, the team at the University of Bristol went to IT Systems integrator, Bechtle, who came forward with the offering of CloudM’s world-leading migration solution. Ajay Arithoppah, UK Head of Business Solutions at Bechtle explains; “We’ve been working with the team at the University of Bristol throughout the project ensuring everything goes to plan. The decision to work with CloudM was an easy one – the tool is extremely seamless. And their team has been great throughout the project.

”After this exhaustive process CloudM was chosen as the preferred migration tool due to quality of data migrated and speed of data transfer. CloudM also being listed on the G-Cloud Framework allowed for a smooth procurement process. Dr Carla Hills said; “Bechtle and CloudM matched all of our requirements, and more. The scalability, flexibility and speed of the platform was impressive – it was an easy decision for us to go with them.

The first stage of the migration started with their staff, and moving their mail and calendar to Outlook. The migration was complex but successful due to the maneuverability of CloudM. Arithoppah explains “In the preparation stage there were some challenges with calendar attachments, but due to the customisation and flexibility the tool brings, coupled with the agile CloudM development team, we were able to overcome this, and parts of the tool were customised to get attachments across.

”The next stage of the migration was to include students and begin the migration of their emails and calendars. Arithoppah added; “we were excited to start migrating the students as this is where things get real, it can be tricky if you think about all of the attachments.

”CloudM built-in reporting allowed them to see exactly what was happening to every item before the final cut-over, giving them peace of mind that no data and items were missed during the migration.

Arithoppah explains; “CloudM’s Migrate (Self-Hosted) is easy to use. Within the product you can see what items are being migrated and when – it’s useful knowing where the migrations are up to. It also helped that being a CloudM partner, we have access to their account management team to help at any time.”

The University of Bristol have completed their migration and have moved around 24.14 TB of data and 36,000 staff/student users, emails and calendars to Microsoft 365.

Bechtle and the team at the University are happy with the results and migration so far, especially that students and working life went ahead as usual with no interruptions, even during the migration process – with no user downtime.

The teams are excited for the potential of what Microsoft 365 can bring once they are fully migrated. Dr Hill said “The CloudM team have been great to work with – they’re always there to help if any issues arise and I have complete trust in them that the entire project will be successful.

”Ajay Arithoppah said; “CloudM have been a great partner to work with. CloudM is one of the best migration tools around.”

“With the help of CloudM, our staff and students have migrated all mail, calendar, and attachments over to Microsoft 365. Migrating to Microsoft 365 has already improved the university’s way of working – CloudM is a very powerful and useful tool. The team at CloudM could not have been more helpful. The migration was successful, and we now look forward to the exciting changes this will bring to the University, thanks to CloudM.

”Dr Carla Hills, Senior Project Manager, University of Bristol, UK

“After reviewing several migration solutions, we found CloudM matched all of our requirements and more. The scalability, flexibility and speed of the tool was impressive – it was an easy decision for us to go with them. And having the support from the CloudM team was a huge bonus.

”Dr Carla Hills, Senior Project Manager, University of Bristol, UK

“Working with the CloudM team is great, they are always there to help and will always come up with solutions for you. They make complex migrations seem easy and the reporting aspects, pricing, and detailed logging are really useful. CloudM is one of the best migration tools around.”

Ajay Arithoppah, UK Head of Business Solutions, Bechtle, UK“

CloudM seemed to be the best overall migration tool for the project. The scalability, flexibility and speed of the CloudM’s Migrate (Self-Hosted) tool was impressive. I would recommend to anyone planning a complex migration, the tool and the team behind it make it easy for you.”

Ajay Arithoppah, UK Head of Business Solutions, Bechtle, UK