Migrating from Meta Workplace to Slack

In May 2024, Meta announced the unexpected shutdown of its Workplace platform. The collaboration interface is scheduled to become read-only by August 2025 and completely deactivated by June 2026. Workplace functions similarly to Facebook and is used by many companies to keep their employees engaged and collaborating internally.

• For years, Meta has been reducing jobs and investing heavily in AI and metaverse technologies they say will fundamentally change the way companies work. For the users of Workplace, this discontinuation means several decisions need to be made.
• What current data needs to be preserved and stored?
• What workflows that rely on Workplace will need to be reconsidered?
• Do the current communications needs of the organizations require a 1-to-1 platform match, or are there better tools that can streamline processes and data retention?
• Is the expense of a new platform comparable or is there a cost savings to be had?

How to Migrate from Meta Workplace to Slack

With the announcement, many organizations have immediately begun to consider which tools for collaboration and communication may be a good fit for their workforce. One of the most popular collaboration tools on the market is Slack. It’s the collaboration tool of choice for 77% of the Fortune 100. While it’s not a 1-to-1 migration solution from Workplace, it provides much of the same messaging, file sharing, workflow automation, and integration capabilities Workplace offered. It connects well with other tools, like Zoom, Google, Microsoft 365, and other heavy hitters in the business world, and is relatively easy for users to pick up.

Slack’s scalability makes it a front-running choice to fill the void Workplace will leave behind. Proper planning can help smooth the transition between platforms and make the switch as easy as possible. The following are steps to consider for migrating Meta Workplace to Slack.

Evaluate your needs

Assess your company’s communication and collaboration needs. What features and functionality do you use most in Workplace? Does Slack meet or exceed those needs? This is the key question to answer for whether or not Slack is the right move for your organization. Slack offers several subscription levels from free to Enterprise Grid to cover organizations of all sizes and requirements.

Prepare your team

Migrating collaboration tools is a process for any workforce. Giving your team training resources so they can familiarize themselves with the Slack interface and features will provide them with the opportunity to begin working with the new tool quickly. Encouraging early adoption is key for seamless integration.

Set up Slack

Sign up for Slack at the subscription level and configuration that best fits your organization’s structure. Create the Slack channels you need, set up permissions, and integrate any required third-party apps or services. There is no import tool for data from Workplace at this time, so setting up user data should be planned to be as streamlined as you can make it.

Migrate data and content

There is no migration tool available at the moment to seamlessly move data from Workplace to another collaboration platform. Data transfers are all manual. This is where exploring third-party solutions, some using API methods, can help you move data like files and docs, onboarding data, integrations, and project information to Slack. Prioritize the most crucial content to ensure business continuity.

Test and pilot

Before rolling Slack out to your entire organization, test and run a pilot program for a more localized group. The smaller group can identify any questions, concerns, or gaps they may experience in Slack before it becomes a company-wide issue. Once you’re ready, begin the full-scale roll-out.

Launch and support

Go live once all the questions and concerns from the test phase have been answered. Provide support and ongoing training resources wherever possible to ensure a smooth transition from Workplace to Slack and encourage users to leverage Slack’s features to expand their collaboration and productivity.

Switching to a new platform can be challenging at any time. With the right planning and support, transitioning to Slack due to the unexpected closure of Meta Workplace can be a new opportunity.

Meta Workplace vs Slack

Workplace and Slack have several similarities users will find familiar. Both platforms offer these core collaboration features:

• Messaging and file sharing
• Mobile access
• Video and audio calling
• Third-party app integrations
• Organizational directory and user profiles

However, Slack outstrips Workplace in terms of administrative controls and compliance features, which put it at an advantage in the marketplace as organizations consider where to migrate after Meta’s closure announcement.

Slack has the following robust administrative content controls:

1. Controlled content access: Admins oversee which public channels, files, and conversations are accessed by which user groups. This is a key feature for data governance and security.
2. Data retention policies: Admins can set data retention policies to automatically delete messages and files after a specified period for storage management and compliance. Not only does this keep data in check, but it also keeps data storage costs from getting out of hand.
3. Centralized administration tools: Slack offers centralized admin tools to manage user provisioning, permissions, integrations, and workspace settings from a single location to cover the entire organization.
4. Compliance exports: Admins can export all data from public and private channels, direct messages, and files for auditing, eDiscovery, and compliance purposes.

Organizations switching to Slack after working with Workplace may find this robust control over their content and data to be a welcome change.

Meta Workplace to Slack migration challenges

There may be challenges that organizations encounter when switching from Meta Workplace to Slack. These challenges fall in three areas—compliance, security, and data retention.

Compliance

• Regulatory requirements vary by industry or region, so organizations that must comply with specific data governance need to understand how Slack’s compliance features compare to Workplace’s. These details may require changes to a company’s policies and procedures.
• Content retention controls differ between Slack and Workplace, allowing admins to set different periods for saving and purging messages and files. Admins should ensure these policies align with their compliance and legal obligations.
• Compliance exports in Slack differ in format from those of Workplace. Admins should understand and make adjustments to workflows to ensure the exports contain the information they require.

Security

• Access controls give administrators the capability to manage permissions and content access at a granular level. Transitioning from Workplace to Slack may require configuring user roles and permissions.
• Both Slack and Meta Workplace encrypt data in transit and at rest. They also enable BYOK, Slack through Enterprise Key Management (EKM) and Workplace via third-party key management systems such as AWS. Neither service currently offers end-to-end encryption, although Meta’s consumer products do have this feature. Admins should consider their data encryption needs, particularly if they want to use their own encryption keys, as this may require integrating with other solutions.
• Slack contains an extensive third-party integration ecosystem, which opens many opportunities for performance and procedure enhancements. However, organizations should fully review all integrations to ensure they do not introduce security gaps.

Data retention

• Retention settings, as mentioned, may differ between Slack and Workplace, so organizations need to review Slack’s default settings carefully to ensure policies created with the transition align with legal and compliance requirements.
• Data migration tools to move from Meta Workplace to Slack (or any other collaboration platform) are not available at the moment, so moving data to Slack must be handled manually. As such, there are risks of data loss and formatting issues. Organizations should plan for potential gaps and minimize issues as best they can to ensure business continuity.
• Switching from Workplace to Slack is a key moment to consider archiving and backup processes and procedures for data management. Are they efficient and comprehensive? Have requirements changed regarding what data is being backed up and archived? Are retention periods adequate? Are there adjustments that can make the process more efficient?

These challenges need not be frustrating. Organizations can take the opportunity to ensure they’re preserving the correct data for the correct lengths of time. Working closely with Slack’s support and third-party vendors to seamlessly transition between platforms can significantly reduce stress and ensure companies maintain compliance.

How to safely move data from Meta Workplace to Slack

Because there’s not a 1-to-1 migration tool for moving from Meta Workplace to any other platform, including Slack, the process for data migration is not as straightforward as companies may like.

Moving data from Workplace to Slack

Slack has provided a guide to moving data using a CSV or text file, but it does pose some challenges. Once the CSV or text file is created, someone must go through the data to cross-reference the structures between Workplace and the Slack app to line them up.

• The main feed for Workplace can be lined up with Slack’s #general channel.
• Workplace’s groups can be equated with individual Slack channels
• Then users can be migrated to Slack as users.

There will, however, be gaps in the data and how messages, files, and other types of data flow between the platforms that won’t be a seamless fit, for example Slack does not have a newsfeed feature like Workplace does.

Security considerations

Some of what constitutes a security concern doesn’t lie with the platform, but with the user and what they’re sharing. Aware research has shown that a piece of sensitive information appears in 1 out of every 3 messages.

Sensitive information can be:

• Personally identifying information (PII), such as driver’s license numbers, SSNs, addresses, birthdates, etc.
• Payment card industry data (PCI), like credit cards, account holder names, CVVs, etc.
• Protected health information (PHI), including appointment details, test results, medications, diagnoses, etc.

These types of sensitive data are highly regulated by HIPAA, PCI DSS, the FTC and various state laws, GDPR, and other regulatory agencies. The fines for violations can be quite steep and are applied per instance.

The challenge is ensuring employees understand where these sensitive pieces of information can and cannot be shared. Employees consider platforms endorsed by their employers a safe and secure place to share this data. Data mishandling isn’t always a malicious or intentional attempt to subvert security. Most events are accidental because employees thought where they were sharing was secure in the work-provided tool.

For organizations migrating to Slack from Workplace, the challenge will be setting up protocols where protected information that may have been safely shared in Workplace won’t be at risk in Slack. IT and Compliance teams should be asking:

• Is it possible to secure sensitive information to a set group of users?
• Does the tool enable role-based access controls (RBAC)?
• Can granular retention policies be set for different user groups based on regulatory requirements?
• Are notifications available to surface violations in real time and prevent improper sharing?

Like with any new app, educating employees will be a crucial step for integration and improving the user experience.

Slack has robust third-party integration capabilities that can mitigate many of these concerns.

How Mimecast helps companies migrate from Meta Workplace to Slack safely

As one of Workplace’s approved partners, Aware has the knowledge and experience to help you assess your migration needs and seamlessly transition your data from Workplace into Slack or another collaboration platform. A majority of Workplace users are familiar with Aware because we already integrate with them for data security, discovery, and management. We are an important partner in helping Workplace clients maintain a standard of security and compliance so they can transition to other platforms like Slack, Viva Engage, Workvivo, or Microsoft Teams.

Aware can:

• Help your company evaluate your Workplace data and export it into a search-ready archive.
• Empower leaders across your organization to identify and isolate the most important data from Workplace and preserve what’s most valuable for the move.
• Reduce the costs associated with storing and managing entire archives as organizations take this opportunity to evaluate what’s in their data and what’s necessary to migrate.
• Provide a centralized location where Aware clients can administer granular control over their data across their collaboration ecosystem for a unified approach to information security.
• Surface sensitive information sharing, noncompliance, and acceptable use incidents with fewer false positives using AI-powered real-time alerts that give admins control over data handling.

Contact us today to learn how Mimecast can help you evaluate and download your data, explore your migration options, and transition to your next collaboration platform.