How to Migrate from GroupWise to Google Workspace?

GroupWise is a messaging and collaboration platform that has exchanged ownership multiple times since 2014 and is currently owned and offered by OpenText as of 2023. It is a secure and reliable platform with the capabilities to satisfy the needs of small and medium-sized business organizations. Despite its coverage of all basic services – ranging from email and messaging to task and document management – the OpenText service struggles to compete with modern productivity solutions like Google Workspace/ Gmail that does everything GroupWise can, and then some more.

The evolution and widespread adoption of cloud solutions have pushed organizations to reconsider their current technological systems and make the switch to a more modern, flexible, and agile solution like Google Workspace. With Workspace’s seamless integration of powerful tools like Docs, Drive, and Meet, the Google service not only enhances communication but also streamlines workflows and boosts efficiency.

The upcoming sections of this guide will walk you through the essential pre-migration tasks, the manual method to migrating email data from GroupWise to Google Workspace, and the necessary post-migration checklist. Understanding the steps involved in migrating your data between two services is the first step to maximizing the benefits of your new collaboration on the Google Workspace platform.

What Advantages Does Google Workspace Offer Over GroupWise?

Successful businesses tend to grow the more they adopt new and transformative technologies. As organizations grow, their requirements become more elaborate and Google Workspace provides a modern solution designed to meet the demands of today’s dynamic work environments, offering significant advantages over traditional platforms like GroupWise. The following points highlight the many ways in which Google Workspace/ Gmail is often the preferred office productivity platform for businesses seeking solutions that enhance communication and optimize business operations.

Productivity Tools: Google Workspace delivers an integrated suite of cloud-based applications, including Gmail, Google Docs, Meet, and Calendar. These tools enable real-time collaboration, allowing multiple users to work on the same document simultaneously, regardless of their location. This functionality eliminates the need to send files back and forth for edits, streamlining processes and enhancing productivity.

Scalability and Flexibility: Google Workspace offers a variety of flexible plans designed to accommodate businesses of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises. Its services are easily scalable, allowing organizations to expand their usage as they grow. This flexibility is crucial for businesses looking to adapt their collaboration tools to meet evolving demands, making Google Workspace a smart choice for future-proofing your operations.

Security and Compliance: It includes advanced features such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), data loss prevention (DLP), and encryption for emails and files, ensuring that sensitive information is well-protected from unauthorized access. Furthermore, Google Workspace complies with major industry standards like HIPAA and GDPR, making it a reliable option for organizations that must adhere to strict data regulations.

Storage and File Sharing: Google Workspace includes Google Drive, providing extensive cloud storage options. Depending on the chosen plan, users can access up to 5 TB of storage, allowing employees to save, share, and retrieve files from anywhere. This accessibility is vital for maintaining productivity in a remote work environment.

Integration with Other Services: Google Workspace Marketplace offers extensive integration options with a wide range of third-party applications, enhancing the functionality of your workspace. This integration capability allows businesses to customize their productivity environment to suit their unique needs, providing a level of versatility that is beneficial for diverse teams.

Cost-Effectiveness: While Google Workspace may not be the cheapest option initially, it offers tiered plans that provide excellent value for the investment. The comprehensive features and robust support included in Google Workspace make it a cost-effective solution for businesses looking to enhance their productivity and collaboration capabilities over time.

Pre-Migration Activities for Your Groupwise to Google Workspace Transition

The following points outline the key pre-migration prerequisites for organizations migrating from GroupWise to Google Workspace.

• Identify the amount of data to be migrated

  Assessing the quantity of the data to be migrated is essential in creating an approximate migration timeline and provides a basic layout of the files and folders that must be migrated from GroupWise to Google Workspace.

• Double-check your Google Workspace subscription

  The number of Google Workspace plans can be confusing to navigate. Ensure that the plan you have selected meets all your requirements and does not include any irrelevant or unnecessary service that may add to your IT budget without providing any returns.

• Save a backup of your GroupWise data for quick recovery

  Backing up data is a generally smart practice to follow and becomes much more important when executing data migrations. We recommend users to create a copy of all existing GroupWise data and store it securely in case of any disruptions in the transition process.

• Create the required Workspace accounts

  Data Migration requires a destination service, Google Workspace in this case, and it is essential to create the relevant accounts for all users within the organization that are migrating from GroupWise to Google Workspace.

How to Migrate Email Data from GroupWise to Google Workspace?

Having gone over the essential pre-migration prerequisites, it is now time to start the email data migration from GroupWise to Google Workspace. Start by enabling IMAP access for your GroupWise email service.

Enabling IMAP4 for GroupWise Email Service

To enable IMAP4 in GroupWise, follow these steps:

• Open the GroupWise Administration Console and select the GWIA (GroupWise Internet Agent).
• Go to the POP3/IMAP4 tab, enable the IMAP4 Service, and adjust the settings for the number of threads (connections and secure connections) and items to read per download as needed.
• Click Save, then Close to apply the changes.

This configuration enables IMAP4 access for GroupWise emails over the Internet. Next, configure the migration settings in the Google Admin Console.

Follow these steps to migrate emails from Novell GroupWise to Google Workspace using the IMAP-based migration method:

Set Up the Migration Parameters

• Sign in using an account with super administrator privileges.
• In the Admin Console, go to Menu > Data > Data import & export > Data migration.
• Click Set up data migration and select Other IMAP Server as the migration source. Ensure that email is chosen as the data type.
• Choose IMAP and enter the IMAP server URI. Enter the email address and password for the role account, then click x. If the connection fails, verify the role account details and protocol settings, then click Start again.
• Select a Migration Start Date or keep the default. Adjust any additional Migration Options if needed.

Migrate the Email Data from GroupWise to Google Workspace

• Click Bulk upload with CSV and attach a properly formatted CSV file with source and target email addresses.
• After uploading, click Upload and Start Migration.
• If any errors occur, you can cancel to fix the file or ignore the errors to proceed.
• Once complete, click Exit migration under More.

Note that the above steps primarily focus on the migration of email data from GroupWise to Google Workspace. To migrate all your OpenText Groupwise data to Google Workspace consider partnering with a professional cloud hosting provider experienced with migrations, like Apps4Rent.

Contact Apps4Rent for Professional GroupWise to Google Workspace Migrations

Migrating from OpenText GroupWise to Google Workspace is a technically challenging process that requires intimate knowledge of both the services, as well as the ability to troubleshoot any issues that pop up. Although manually migrating data offers users a greater level of control over the process, it is also quite tedious and often results in errors that have the potential to cause extended business downtimes. Using Apps4Rent’s Google Workspace migration services solves both these problems.

Apps4Rent is a Google Cloud Partner that has helped countless businesses optimize their IT stacks and streamline digital workflows. Our Google Workspace migration experts can safely transfer all your GroupWise data to Google Workspace with minimal operational downtimes. By choosing App4Rent, you benefit from 24/7 availability through phone, chat, or mail, ensuring that expert technical assistance is always at your fingertips. Contact us today to learn more about how we can streamline your GroupWise to Google Workspace migration.