By Sharon Stewart |
March 13, 2026
Modernising information and records management beyond lift and shift
Content migration can be the ideal catalyst for improved information and records management.
In fact, content migrations can present the perfect opportunity to shine a light on your organisation’s information and records management practices and improve areas that misalign with your strategic organisational goals.
In practice, migration decisions are often made under time and budget pressures, which can have longer-term implications for information and records management. Consequently, target destinations such as SharePoint Online, can inherit issues from the current environment including duplication and version control issues, permission challenges, confusion around ownership, and large volumes of redundant, obsolete, and trivial (ROT) content, to name a few.
If the vision for your organisation includes, among other things, increasing efficiency, reducing information risk, or supporting more collaborative ways of working, those aims will be significantly hampered where information and data environments operate like the Wild West.
Analyse and understand the current landscape
Investing the time to analyse and understand the current landscape can pay dividends post-migration and into BAU, providing a stronger foundation for decisions around governance, structure, and ongoing information management.
The insight gained through analysis and discovery can also be used to inform the choice of migration approach and tooling, supporting decisions that reflect the organisation’s specific context.
In many organisations, the current state has evolved organically. Structures reflect historical needs rather than current ones, and permissions are shaped by past decisions that are no longer well understood. Users compensate by creating local workarounds, duplicating information, or keeping personal copies, not because they want to, but because it is the most reliable way to get work done. Confidence in what is found or shared is low, and managing information becomes something people work around rather than work with. As AI enabled tools are introduced, these issues become harder to ignore, particularly around ROT and permission models.
By understanding what is not currently working, it becomes possible to map a clear and deliberate path towards a future desired state. One where information is placed with intent, ownership is clearer, and decisions about access, retention, and reuse are easier to make. In this environment, users spend less time navigating complexity and more time using information with confidence. Collaboration is simpler, duplication reduces naturally, and information and records management supports day to day workflows.
A strategic approach to content migration
Migration creates a window in which long standing information issues can be surfaced and addressed. Managed well, a migration can be transformative, supporting lasting improvements in how information is managed across the organisation.
