What is our primary use case?
We utilize Quest On Demand Migration for transferring directories, emails, and computer configurations seamlessly between environments. Our primary focus lies in enterprise migrations, with a significant emphasis on Active Directory. These projects typically involve migrations from on-premises to on-premises setups or from on-premises environments to Office 365 on Azure.
How has it helped my organization?
The solution seamlessly supports various workloads such as Teams, Exchange, SharePoint, and OneDrive, all within a single platform. It serves as an all-in-one solution that continues to enhance its capabilities.
The solution's overall user-friendliness, particularly its dashboard, stands out as highly intuitive. While it comprises two components with slightly different user interfaces, both are exceptionally easy to navigate and use.
It provides very good security. I've never had an issue where there was any data leak or anything like that.
The benefits we've experienced include the fact that it's a SaaS product, eliminating the need for installation within the customer's environment. This streamlines deployment significantly, making it faster and easier. While certain components may interact with the environment, the overall solution is primarily SaaS-based, which tends to provide customers with a greater sense of reassurance.
It's crucial for us that the solution facilitates the migration of Microsoft Teams, encompassing team chats, as this is the primary mode of communication and collaboration for our customers. During mergers or acquisitions, preserving this capability and retaining historical data is paramount to ensure uninterrupted collaboration for our users.
Concerning Teams, the solution ensures the seamless transfer of all necessary elements to maintain collaboration among our users.
Quest On Demand Migration helped us overcome several challenges, particularly regarding its SaaS nature. Previously, many customers faced difficulties rolling out new servers promptly, which hindered email migration. This posed a significant challenge as project timelines relied on customers preparing everything beforehand. Any delays meant project start delays. However, the fast deployment of this solution proved instrumental in overcoming such obstacles.
The solution's comprehensive nature, encompassing various functionalities within a single platform, has significantly saved time. Previously, managing different workloads might have necessitated multiple engineers. However, with this solution, one engineer can efficiently oversee the entire migration project, covering tasks such as email, Active Directory, computer migration, domain moves, and other operations within the scope of Active Directory.
The success rate of migrations using Quest is determined by the number of support cases IT had to address as a result of the migration, which has been very low, indicating a high level of success.
The user experience during migration varies depending on the workload. For computer migrations, the process is typically seamless. Users leave for the day, and we migrate their computers overnight. When they return in the morning, they sign in as usual, often unaware of the migration due to its smoothness.
However, migrations involving Teams and SharePoint present a different scenario. During a period of coexistence, where some users operate in the new environment while others remain in the legacy one, there's a noticeable adjustment for end users. While collaboration remains possible, users need to adapt their contact methods. Instead of simply entering a contact name, they must now input the entire email address to reach users in external organizations. This adjustment has presented a learning curve for end users.
What is most valuable?
The greatest asset is its nature as a SaaS product, offering exceptional scalability and flexibility, which are invaluable to us.
The standout features of the solution that proved most advantageous during our migration process were its robustness and the capability for coexistence within the same product. This was particularly beneficial for our phased migration approach, as it ensured smooth transitions and accommodated our long-term project requirements effectively.
The security features of the solution effectively fulfilled our data protection requirements. Quest prioritizes security, offering a comprehensive security guide that addresses any concerns customers may have. This resource helps clarify how all aspects of security are managed within the tool, reassuring our clients about the safety of their data.
What needs improvement?
One significant issue that often elicited complaints during domain migration was the need to set the primary UPN for objects once they were migrated to the target. Previously, customers had to handle this using PowerShell or other means independently, as the tool lacked this capability. However, it now includes the functionality to address this requirement.
If it weren't for the limitation imposed by the size of their environment, leading them to opt for an on-premises solution, I believe utilizing On Demand for all our customers would truly highlight the strengths of the product.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been working with it for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In its early stages, like any product, it faced some challenges during development and maturation. However, through iterative improvements and adherence to best practices, the product has become highly stable and reliable. I would rate it ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The size of our clients' businesses varies significantly. The smallest migration I've handled involved seventy users, while the largest migration comprised over two hundred thousand users globally. If I were to rate scalability on a scale of one to ten, I'd give it a ten with Quest. The SQL aspect of the product is managed by Quest, ensuring smooth scalability. However, there may be a threshold, as evidenced by a recent customer with approximately seven thousand users opting for an on-premises solution over ODM. While I'm unsure of the exact limitations, adding new environments to ODM has generally been straightforward compared to deploying server agents for each environment in the on-premises solution.
How are customer service and support?
The support provided is excellent. Response times are typically within the hour, and the support team is highly knowledgeable. They consist of Quest support engineers who possess deep expertise in the product. If necessary, escalations are directed to the development team, who have an intricate understanding of the product and can swiftly resolve issues, including reconfiguring the tool to suit the customer's environment if needed. Overall, they are very responsive and professional, and I would rate them ten out of ten.
We utilize Premier Support within our organization, which grants me access to all resources and ensures rapid responses. Similarly, when our customers contact Quest support, they often report receiving prompt responses as well.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
For the better part of my career, the primary tools I've been working with were Binary Tree and Quest. Recently, Quest acquired Binary Tree, leading to the integration of the two tools into On Demand Migration. This merger effectively combined the strengths of both tools into a single solution. Previously, each tool had its own advantages and disadvantages, but their consolidation has resulted in a highly effective and beneficial solution. My primary focus revolves around On Demand, specifically utilizing Migration Pro for AD, the on-prem solution, as well as Migration Pro for Exchange, and Migration Manager for Notes. The role of these solutions in pre and post-migration success is highly significant. They boast excellent reporting capabilities, which contribute greatly to the overall success of the migration process. Additionally, the Quest engineers' approach involves thorough discovery and planning phases before deploying the tool, ensuring a comprehensive and well-executed migration strategy.
When comparing the workload supported by Quest to Microsoft's native migration tools, there's a notable difference in capabilities. Unlike Microsoft's native tools, Quest's solutions offer superior functionality. With On Demand Migration, multiple workloads can be managed simultaneously within a single platform, providing greater efficiency. While Microsoft's native tools are suitable for smaller migrations, they lack scalability for larger organizations with over seven thousand accounts or users.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup can be categorized as medium difficulty. While there are a few aspects that are not particularly intuitive, they do not present significant or overly problematic challenges.
What about the implementation team?
The deployment time varies depending on the complexity of the environment. Typically, for a standard environment, it takes approximately three to four hours to configure and deploy once I have a thorough understanding of the customer's expectations, requirements, and overall goals. The deployment team typically comprises a Quest engineer alongside the project team from the customer's side. This usually includes a project manager, an AD admin or an Office 365 admin, and a security admin. Additionally, there is a project manager from our side involved in the process.
Occasionally, upgrades are necessary, although it's uncommon for customers to upgrade amid their migration project unless it spans six months to a year. Typically, we complete the project using the same deployment version.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I find the pricing to be cost-efficient for what you receive with the Quest product. Alongside the product itself, you also gain access to professional services, which include a robust methodology crafted by experienced Quest engineers and professional services architects. Their extensive expertise in migration, accumulated over years of experience, proves invaluable, especially when unforeseen issues arise in complex environments. With a dedicated support team behind them, navigating through challenges becomes quicker and more efficient. Essentially, by investing in a Quest product, you're not just acquiring a migration solution; you're also tapping into a wealth of support, resources, knowledge, and a well-defined methodology to guide your migration planning.
What other advice do I have?
I would highly recommend Quest's migration solution, but it's crucial to conduct a thorough discovery session with someone experienced in migrations. Many of my customers embark on their first migration journey, and while they may have subject matter experts in areas like active directory administration and security, they often lack expertise in migrations. Therefore, organizations need to collaborate with consultants or experts in migrations, even if they don't ultimately choose Quest's tools. It's vital to gain insights from professionals who regularly handle migration projects. Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.
*Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
