Author Archive: Lisa Hendrickson

That’s all the information I know folks, this article was a lot of work and I hope you learned plenty from it!

Reminder: I am not a paid partner of either company GoDaddy or Microsoft btw. I’ve been working in IT for 30 years and have owned my own business since 2007. I’m a Microsoft Outlook Expert/365 Consultant and recently awarded MVP from Microsoft. I’m just telling you what I know based on my 19 years of experience supporting clients with email, Hosted Exchange, Exchange online and Microsoft 365 and of course, GoDaddy throughout the years. I have used AI for some of this article. I always tell my readers so they know they are not reading a long AI generated article. Enjoy and I hope this helps!

If you want to talk to my rep about transferring your GoDaddy acccount to Microsoft, or need my help with your transition, please use the form below. A 10-min consult with me will help give you more information before you start your journey.

If you have more than a few users, rely heavily on email, use Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, or OneDrive, or simply don’t want to risk making a mistake, hiring myself or a qualified Microsoft 365 consultant can be money well spent. What we do is help review your existing setup, explain your options, coordinate with your chosen vendor, answer questions during the process, and make sure you understand what is changing and what is staying the same. Many business owners don’t necessarily need someone to “do the work.” Sometimes they simply need someone in their corner who can translate the technical jargon, review recommendations, and make sure they’re making the right decisions for their business.

You should strongly consider hiring a consultant if:

• You aren’t sure whether you should stay with GoDaddy or leave.
• You have multiple users who rely on email every day.
• Your business uses Teams, SharePoint, or OneDrive extensively.
• You don’t know who currently has administrator access to your Microsoft 365 account.
• You have concerns about downtime.
• You want someone to review your licensing before making changes.
• You don’t have an internal IT department.
• You simply want peace of mind during the process.

One thing that surprises people is that sometimes the best advice I give is, “Don’t leave GoDaddy.” If you’re a small business with one to four users and you’re happy with the support you’re receiving, paying a little extra for what I call “tech insurance” may be worth it. GoDaddy’s simplified support model can be a good fit for businesses that don’t need advanced Microsoft 365 features. Other times, moving away from GoDaddy is absolutely the right decision, especially if you’ve outgrown their limitations and need full control over your Microsoft 365 environment.

The key is understanding why you’re moving and making sure the benefits outweigh the risks. I also tell clients this all the time: just because you can do something yourself doesn’t mean you should. I’ve worked with Outlook and Microsoft 365 clients for decades, and I can usually tell within a few minutes whether someone should tackle a project on their own, work with a specialized vendor, or simply leave things exactly as they are. The goal isn’t to convince you to leave GoDaddy. The goal is to help you make the decision that’s right for your business. If all you need is someone to review your options, explain what’s changing, and answer your questions before you move forward, that’s often enough to save you time, stress, and costly mistakes.

• How many mailboxes are being managed by GoDaddy
• How many have the business apps license?
• Are there any other licenses I need to know about?
• Will ProofPoint be shut off after the transition
• How long do you hold my backup for (if you paid for backup)
• Is my domain registration staying at GoDaddy?

These below are just generic questions that you can ask anyone after you transition. Once your account has left GoDaddy, they no longer control the account (from what I have been told from past clients). They don’t assist with logins, or temp passwords, etc. That’s all in your court now or your vendor/MSP/CSP.

• Will any DNS records need to be updated?
• Who will manage my Microsoft 365 licenses going forward?
• Will my website hosting remain the same?
• Who should I contact if I need support after the transition?
• Can you get a refund on the services you have prepaid?
• Is my domain registration staying at GoDaddy, or are we moving that too?
• Will any DNS records need to be updated, and who is handling them?
• Who will manage my Microsoft 365 licenses after the transition?
• Will my website, forms, or other services keep working exactly as they do today?
• Who do I call if something doesn’t work after the migration is complete?
• Will my email address stay the same, or do I need to tell my customers about a change?
• Will I lose any email, contacts, calendars, OneDrive files, or shared mailboxes?
• Do I know who currently has admin access to my Microsoft 365 account?
• Do I have the right replacement licenses purchased before the transition starts?
• What happens if we get locked out of the admin account?
• Will my employees know how to sign in when the process is finished?
• How much downtime should I realistically expect?
• Am I comfortable doing this myself, or would I rather have someone who’s done this many times guide me through it?

Quick Answer: In most cases, absolutely nothing. Just because you leave GoDaddy for Microsoft 365 doesn’t mean you’re leaving GoDaddy for everything.

Leaving GoDaddy’s Microsoft 365 services does not require you to move your domain registration. Your website address and email domain can stay exactly where they are. You can continue registering your domain through GoDaddy while purchasing your Microsoft 365 licensing elsewhere. Many businesses choose this option because they’re perfectly happy using GoDaddy as their domain registrar but want more flexibility and control over their Microsoft 365 environment.

For example, you might have:

• Your domain registered at GoDaddy.
• Your website hosted with another company.
• Your Microsoft 365 licensing purchased through Microsoft directly.
• A CSP or MSP helping manage your Microsoft 365 account.

All of these services can work together without being with the same provider. One thing I always recommend is asking your technician exactly what is changing. Sometimes clients hear the phrase, “We’re moving you away from GoDaddy,” and assume that means their website, domain name, DNS, and email are all moving to different companies. Most of the time, that’s simply not true. In a typical GoDaddy defederation, the only thing changing is who manages your Microsoft 365 tenant. Your domain registration usually stays right where it is.

That said, your DNS settings may need to be reviewed during the transition to make sure your Microsoft 365 records are correct. This doesn’t mean your domain is moving, it just means someone is verifying that your email-related settings continue to point to the right place. I always tell clients to think of their domain name like the deed to their house. Just because you hire a new property manager doesn’t mean you’re selling the house. You’re simply deciding who helps manage certain services connected to it. So if your biggest fear is losing your website address or having to transfer your domain out of GoDaddy, take a deep breath. For most businesses, leaving GoDaddy’s Microsoft 365 services has little to no impact on the domain registration itself.

Quick Answer: There are a few ways. Once the transition is complete, many business owners ask me, “How do I know I’m really off GoDaddy?” Fortunately, there are a few simple ways to verify that everything was completed properly. The first place to check is the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. Look under the Partner Relationships area of your admin portal and see who is listed as your managing partner. If you moved to Microsoft directly, Microsoft should now be the managing provider. If you chose another MSP or CSP, their information should appear instead.

You may still see some remnants of GoDaddy’s old “netorg” relationship, especially in the URL of your OneDrive/SharePoint directories. That doesn’t necessarily mean something is wrong. In some cases, those references can remain even after the transition has been completed. If you’re unsure, ask your technician or vendor to explain exactly what you’re seeing. Another important thing to verify is that you have Global Administrator access to your Microsoft 365 Admin Center. This is one of the biggest reasons many businesses decide to leave GoDaddy in the first place. You should be able to log in and have full administrative control over your own Microsoft 365 environment.

A few additional things you may want to confirm include:

• You can sign in to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center successfully.
• Your Microsoft 365 licenses appear correctly.
• Your users and mailboxes are visible.
• Outlook and mobile devices continue to send and receive email normally.
• OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint remain accessible.
• Multi-factor authentication settings are working as expected.
• Your new CSP or MSP appears as your partner if you chose one.

I always tell clients that just because the migration is finished doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take five minutes to kick the tires. Send a few test emails, open Teams, check OneDrive, and make sure everything looks normal. Think of it like buying a used car. You don’t just drive it off the lot and hope for the best. You test the headlights, check the mirrors, and make sure all the buttons work before you call the job complete. If you’re working with a qualified vendor, they’ll usually walk through these checks with you before considering the project finished. And if something doesn’t look right, it’s much easier to address it immediately rather than discovering it weeks later.

Quick Answer: Typically not many, but the chance of “seamless” are words technicians and migration experts never use. Anything can happen but it’s chosing the right person/company who can help resolve problems if they happen. This is why you are learning right now. The more you know, the better!

The good news is that I haven’t seen many major problems when a GoDaddy transition is handled by someone who understands the process. Vendors who specialize in GoDaddy defederations do these projects every day, and with proper planning, the transition is usually very smooth. The bigger issues tend to happen when business owners try to do it themselves after finding instructions online and assuming it’s just a few button clicks. These are often the calls I receive from new clients. They’re halfway through the process, stuck in a sea of unfamiliar terminology and button clicking, and unsure what to do next. At that point, a call to Microsoft is often required, and depending on the situation, the wait for support can range from frustrating to very long.

Some of the more common problems include:

• Losing access to the administrator account.
• Not knowing who actually has Global Administrator access.
• Purchasing the wrong Microsoft 365 licenses before the transition.
• DNS confusion and uncertainty about which records should or shouldn’t be changed.
• MFA (multi-factor authentication) complications.
• User login confusion after the transition.
• Users being prompted to sign back into Outlook, Teams, and other Microsoft applications.
• Accidentally removing the wrong partner relationship.
• Uncertainty about who is managing the Microsoft 365 tenant after GoDaddy is removed.
• Starting the process too close to a renewal date, business deadline, or major company event.
• Delays while waiting for Microsoft support.
• Confusion caused by Microsoft’s terminology and documentation.

The good news is that most of these problems are completely preventable. In my experience, the actual defederation isn’t usually the difficult part. The challenge is knowing what Microsoft’s terminology means, understanding which buttons not to click, and having a plan before you begin. I always tell clients that leaving GoDaddy isn’t impossible—it’s just not something most business owners do every day.

• Could you do it yourself? Maybe.
• Should you do it yourself? That’s a different question.

If your business relies heavily on email, calendars, Teams, OneDrive, or SharePoint, it’s worth asking how much risk you’re comfortable taking. I’ve had clients spend hours reading Microsoft’s instructions, watching videos, and trying to piece everything together, only to call for help after getting stuck halfway through the process. Sometimes paying someone who already knows exactly where the buttons are is far less expensive than losing an entire weekend trying to figure them out yourself.

The important thing to remember is this: a GoDaddy migration shouldn’t be scary. It just needs a plan. With the right preparation and the right people involved, most businesses transition with little to no downtime and wonder afterward why they worried so much in the first place.