IT Tips & Tricks

7 Benefits of Having a SharePoint Migration Consultant on Your Side

And 5 Key Areas Where Consultants Excel

By Ed Clark

Published 2 July 2025

Updated 9 February 2026

Do you have an upcoming SharePoint^® migration looming like a digital Everest? Trying to decide whether to DIY or bring in outside help? Worried that doing it yourself feels like facing a dragon armed with a toothpick? Those are, admittedly, not great odds.

Well, here’s a question worth considering: Would you attempt a complicated legal battle without a lawyer? Of course not. So, why risk your valuable data during a complex SharePoint migration when specialists can handle the job and relieve you of the stress at the same time?

Let’s face it: SharePoint migrations are notoriously difficult and often fraught with pitfalls. Even the most capable IT department can potentially be derailed by a SharePoint migration.

Doing it yourself feels like facing a dragon armed with a toothpick.

If my years in the industry have taught me anything, it’s that the risks are plentiful, from complex customizations and data loss to downtime, performance issues and frustrated users. If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a fire-breathing failed data migration, you probably already suspect that hiring a professional migration consultant could have prevented disaster. And you’d be right.

Migration Math: Can You Beat the Odds?

$Don’t want your data migration to go up in flames? One word: Consultant.$

Don’t want your data migration to go up in flames? One word: Consultant.

According to a study by global tech and business research and advisory firm Forrester, a successful migration to SharePoint Online can deliver a staggering 301% return on investment (ROI) over three years. Cost savings, increased productivity and improved collaboration all contribute to that impressive figure — music to any business owner’s ears.

However, there’s another statistic you shouldn’t ignore. Tech research giant Gartner estimates that 83% of data migrations fail. With those odds, how likely is your organization to see that juicy ROI anytime soon?

While you’re pondering that, here are seven great reasons to toss the toothpick and hire a migration consultant who can significantly (possibly dramatically) improve your chances of success.

7 Reasons You Should Consider a Consultant

A SharePoint migration consultant brings the wisdom and experience of Gandalf the Grey to your project, armed not with a wizard’s staff, but with practical knowledge, expertise and a strategy for your success.

1. Relevant Expertise: A migration consultant brings deep, hands-on knowledge of SharePoint’s workings, including its various versions, features, limitations and best practices, to your project. Your consultant understands the intricacies of a complex SharePoint migration, content management and effective user adoption strategies, and they know how to resolve issues before they escalate. A top-notch migration consultant eats these challenges for breakfast.

Your consultant can help you customize SharePoint and integrate it with other systems and applications.

2. Proven Methodologies: An experienced consultant doesn’t play fast and loose with your data. They rely on proven migration methodologies in order to ensure a structured, efficient approach that minimizes risk, reduces errors and keeps your project firmly on track.

3. Risk Mitigation: Because consultants already know where migrations tend to go wrong, they can help you sidestep common traps. Using thorough assessments, data analysis and comprehensive planning, they significantly reduce the risk of downtime and data loss. And if something unexpected does arise, it can be resolved faster and with far less disruption.

Catastrophe vs confidence? An experienced migration consultant makes all the difference.

4. Access to Best Practices: Consultants bring a wealth of experience from previous projects. Combined with their knowledge of industry standards and best practices, this experience helps you get the maximum value from your new SharePoint environment and achieve your business goals more efficiently. Who’s the hero now? (Hint: It’s you.)

5. Improved User Experience: Consultants prioritize the end-user experience throughout the migration. Their goal is a smooth transition that minimizes disruption and maximizes productivity, which means fewer complaints, fewer support tickets and less handholding for your IT team.

6. Enhanced Migration Security: Data security is non-negotiable. Your SharePoint migration consultant knows how to protect sensitive information during the migration process, an increasingly critical concern in today’s threat landscape.

7. Cost-Effectiveness: Although hiring a consultant may seem like an added expense, it often saves significant money in the long run. By minimizing costly mistakes, reducing downtime and making efficient use of internal resources, consultants help ensure a successful transition.

A consultant can keep the you-know-what from hitting the fan.

5 Key Areas Where Consultants Excel (So That You Don’t Have To!)

Just as a good lawyer plans his legal strategy for a successful outcome, a migration consultant’s expertise delivers value in several key areas:

1. Planning and Assessment

Your migration consultant will thoroughly evaluate your existing SharePoint environment, including data volume, content types, user needs and business requirements. From there, they develop a detailed, customized migration plan that accurately outlines your project’s scope, timeline and budget. This gives you a reassuring sense of predictability, without the heavy lifting.

2. Data Migration

This is arguably the riskiest stage of the process. A consultant ensures that extraction, transformation and loading (ETL) processes are accurate and efficient, minimizing data loss and downtime while preserving data integrity. Let’s put it this way: They help keep the you-know-what from hitting the fan.

Your migration consultant knows exactly how to seamlessly shift your data from point A to point B, which means reduced stress for you and the IT department.

3. Testing and Quality Assurance

Rigorous testing is essential before go-live. Your consultant knows exactly where to look for potential issues and conducts thorough testing to resolve them early.

4. User Training and Adoption

A successful migration isn’t just about moving data. It’s also about ensuring employees can use the new system effectively. Your consultant will provide tailored training, support documentation and adoption strategies to help your users make the transition more easily.

5. Post-Migration Support

Support doesn’t end at go-live. Your SharePoint consultant can provide ongoing assistance to help you:

Address any post-migration issues.
Optimize your SharePoint performance.
Implement best practices for long-term scalability.

A consultant knows how to protect sensitive information during the migration process.

Choosing the Right Consultant

When evaluating migration consultants, look for:

Clear Communication and Collaboration. Responsiveness and a willingness to work closely with your team are essential.
Transparent Pricing. Understand the cost structure upfront and avoid hidden fees.
Alignment With Business Goals: The right consultant understands your objectives and aligns the migration accordingly.

Beyond the Basics

A skilled consultant offers additional value beyond the core migration:

You can easily track the data being migrated using SharePoint's built-in “Progress Status” pane.

Cloud Considerations. Guidance on SharePoint Online migrations, including security, compliance and integration with other cloud services.
Customization and Integration. A consultant can help you customize SharePoint to meet your specific business needs and integrate it with CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems and other applications.
Change Management. Helping manage user expectations, reduce resistance and maximize adoption.

Not everyone responds well to change, but with a skilled consultant to help pave the road, change doesn’t have to be hard.

In a Reddit thread specifically about cloud migration, one contributor pointed out that “Migrations fail because of wrong expectations and lack of right skills.” With an experienced consultant on your side, you can massively improve your odds of avoiding both.

When Policy Impedes Profit

We often hear from teams already deep into a troubled migration, saying, “We’re in the middle of our migration and we’ve got a problem with such and such, but we don’t know how to get around it because of an internal policy. What do we do?” Oh, boy. Constraints that limit external support can be tough to overcome.

The consequences include situations such as prolonged downtime, data loss, frustrated employees and lost productivity. What seems cost-effective at first can ultimately hinder efficiency and delay growth.

Want to significantly reduce the risk of downtime and data loss?

Key points to raise when advocating for a consultant include:

Project Delays caused by unforeseen roadblocks and delays.
Increased Risk of data loss and system instability.
Higher Costs from downtime and rework.
Reduced Efficiency that limits SharePoint’s potential.
Missed Opportunities to enjoy SharePoint’s benefits sooner.

Each of these carries a financial impact, an argument that often resonates strongly with executives.

A consultant minimizes data loss and downtime while preserving data integrity.

Per CIO Dive, common symptoms of cloud migration failure include unexpected cost overruns, operational inefficiencies, new security vulnerabilities and skills gaps. A migration consultant helps minimize all of them.

The Bottom Line: A SharePoint Migration Consultant Is an Investment in Success

Migrating to SharePoint is a complex and often costly process that requires meticulous planning and execution. “Winging it” puts you squarely in the window of that 83% failure rate.

“Winging it” puts you squarely in the window of that 83% failure rate.

An experienced SharePoint migration consultant removes much of the (potentially expensive) guesswork and charts a predictable, navigable course to success.

By minimizing downtime, avoiding costly mistakes and ensuring a smooth transition, consultants help organizations realize the full value of their investment.

In Conclusion

Navigating a SharePoint migration may always be challenging, but with a skilled consultant in your corner, it doesn’t have to be painful.

While nobody can guarantee a 301% ROI, the right consultant can dramatically improve your odds.

As writer and broadcaster Miles Kington famously said, “Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.”

Partner wisely … and keep the tomatoes out of the fruit salad.

Happy users mean no losers. Win-Win!

Ed Clark

LinkTek COO

View Bio

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