In this interview, Richard Tubb speaks to Colin Hogg, the Vice President of Sales for Couchdrop. They have an amazing migration solution for MSPs called Movebot. It makes it much easier to do data migrations for MSPs’ clients.
An Interview With Colin Hogg
Watch the Video Interview With Colin Hogg
The MoveBot Migrations for MSPs Solution
The Movebot solution, Colin says, is the best tool for data migrations for MSPs: “MSPs have told us how much we help them. Because for the most part, migrations are so complex that they avoid doing them.
“And we know that it’s time-consuming and there’s a risk that the data doesn’t end up in the right place. So we built Movebot to address those issues and take the complexity out of migrations. It’s next-gen tech with a very modern architecture.
“Plus, we’re confident that we support more platforms than any other migration tool out there. So from an MSP perspective, we enable technicians at all levels to run migrations and be confident that the data will end up where they want it.”
How Movebot Have Developed a Rapid Response Process
As a company, Movebot are aware that vendors can sometimes go off track and invest in a new trend rather than paying attention to the platform they already have. “So, Michael (Lawson, the company founder) encourages us to go down the road less travelled.
“And what that means is we have built the best tool for migrations for MSPs. But we work to constantly make it better. The development team monitor migrations. They look for errors and correct them when they see them. If it’s within their control, they can deploy a fix.
“They also know if a problem happens to one customer, it’s probably happening to others, too. So they’re proactive with monitoring errors. But we are at the mercy of the idiosyncrasies of the platforms we connect with, so we have to mitigate those issues.”
How Movebot do the Most Common Migrations for MSPs
With Movebot, moving emails, contacts and calendars is a straightforward process. And it starts, says Colin, with the discovery stage. “First, you can run a scan to give an overview of data size, how many files and folders. And most importantly, are there going to be any issues?
“So we can see that right at the beginning, and it helps the MSP decide how and when they’ll do the data move. They might decide to segment all the different types out, and move some data before others, such as older data.
“Or, we may run it separately, and archive older data instead. Second, once the scan has been done, we can map the data to the appropriate destination. Thirdly, we’ll run the actual transfer. You can monitor it in real time, and we can give you an estimated timeframe for completion.”
How Movebot Support MSPs When Things go Wrong
Movebot want their product to be easy and straightforward to use, but sometimes things go wrong. So they have global support, with the customer success team on hand as soon as there’s an issue.
Colin explains: “Within the product, we have a chat function you can use to get in touch. And it’s a person, not a robot. If you want, we can do a call, screen share and walk through the issues.
“Plus there’s a premium support option for MSPs on our partner plan, with a ‘break glass’ option. We want to make ourselves available to help MSPs and alleviate the pains. We want them to feel comfortable, happy and confident with the tool.”
Advice on Email Migrations for MSPs
Firstly, Colin says, don’t do a full weekend cut over of email migrations. “Because the API calls with both Google and Microsoft can be really limited. We do our best to work around that, but give yourself some time so you’re well ahead of schedule.
“With email migrations, you don’t need to run a scan. Instead, you can decide to move data older than three months. And simply seed it into the destination platform, so it moves over in plenty of time.
“Then you pick a cut over delta and get it moved. Once that’s done, do a post-migration cut over to make sure the last emails are done. Give yourself as much time as you can. We’re going to be introducing a mapping process option to make it even easier for MSPs.”
How Couchdrop Stay Up-to-date With Platform Changes
When it comes to understanding the technical aspects, it’s relatively straightforward. But keeping up to date with API changes is like a game of whack a mole, says Colin! You don’t know when Google or Microsoft will decide to do something new, he adds.
“So you have to reverse engineer some aspects to overcome the problems. And that’s what our team does. They look at the problem and work out whether or not they’re documented.
“We have a saying in the office: ‘we’re developing painkillers, not vitamins.’ Because the users aren’t taking their vitamins (checking for changes). But they DO want their problems solved (painkillers). So that’s what we give them.”
How to Connect With Colin Hogg
- Movebot.io
- Follow Movebot on LinkedIn
- Connect with Colin on LinkedIn
- Follow Couchdrop (Movebot’s parent company) on Twitter
- Like Movebot on Facebook
How to Connect With Me
- Subscribe to TubbTalk RSS feed
- Subscribe, rate, and review TubbTalk on iTunes
- Subscribe and rate TubbTalk on Spotify
- Follow TubbTalk on iHeartRadio
- Follow @tubblog on Twitter
Mentioned in This Interview
- Podcast interview with Michael Lawson
- Video walkthrough demo of Movebot
- Free trial of Movebot
- Movebot’s parent company and SFTP solution: Couchdrop
- Multi-tier storage: Apache Ignite
- Microsoft collaboration tool: SharePoint
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Richard Tubb is one of the best-known experts within the global IT Managed Service Provider (MSP) community. He launched and sold his own MSP business before creating a leading MSP media and consultancy practice. Richard helps IT business owner’s take back control by freeing up their time and building a business that can run without them. He’s the author of the book “The IT Business Owner’s Survival Guide” and writer of the award-winning blog www.tubblog.co.uk
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