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- Anne-Sophie Duport
- June 5, 2025
Migrating from Meta Workplace: best practices and common pitfalls
On August 31, 2025, Workplace from Meta will be permanently shut down. From this date until May 31, 2026, companies will have read-only access to their content and will still be able to download existing data. After this date, the service will be completely discontinued, and all Workplace instances will be deleted. The countdown has begun!
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This announcement has raised concerns for many organizations: how to retrieve and preserve their data? How to support teams through this change, while ensuring business continuity?
The shutdown of Workplace is certainly disruptive, but it also presents a unique opportunity to rethink your digital workplace. For some time now, Workplace had stagnated—limited customization, weak integrations, and no long-term product vision. Now is the perfect time to review your usage, reassess your needs, and adopt a more modern, sustainable, and user-focused solution.
This article walks you through the key steps, best practices, and pitfalls to avoid for a successful migration from Workplace from Meta. Most importantly, it offers a positive perspective on this change—because a well-managed migration is a strategic opportunity to transform collaboration and communication in your organization.
1. Diagnostic: assess your current needs
Before jumping into the migration, start with a comprehensive assessment of how you currently use Workplace. This diagnostic will help define your needs, expectations, and priorities to ensure a smooth and efficient transition—without data loss.
Ask yourself the following questions to map out how Workplace is used:
- Groups: Which communities or groups are the most active? Which are obsolete, and why?
- Shared files: Where are your files stored? Are they accessible via another tool?
- Conversations & content: Which posts, discussions, and types of content drive engagement? Which information is critical to keep (news, events, HR announcements, etc.)?
- Tools & features: Activity feeds, chat, video calls, polls, document sharing, third-party apps… What tools are most used daily?
The most effective way to perform this audit is to export your Workplace data for both quantitative and qualitative analysis.
Also gather feedback from users to better understand their expectations.
Migration is a collaborative project involving your entire organization:
- Executive team: The project sponsor, providing support and organizational alignment.
- Communications/HR teams: Typically in charge of the project. They ensure business needs are reflected and validate deliverables across phases.
- User ambassadors: Key players who drive adoption. They should be involved from the start and throughout the process.
- Business units: To identify and map key use cases.
- Technical team: For platform deployment and security.
Involving these stakeholders early on helps build a solution that fits your organization, removes barriers, and anticipates needs.
Not all data or features are equally important. Ask yourself:
- What are the essentials?
- What can be dropped or reimagined?
- What improvements do you expect from your next solution? More customization? Better governance? Deeper integrations?…
This often-overlooked step is critical for success. A clear diagnostic serves as a compass for choosing the most relevant collaborative platform.
2. Choosing the right alternative
The shutdown of Workplace forces you to choose an alternative. But this is your chance to move beyond simple replacement and toward real improvement.
Ease of use, rich set of features, data security, interoperability, scalability, and cost—what matters most for your organization? You’re not looking for a clone of Workplace, but a platform that meets both your current and future needs.
Start by aligning your evaluation with your strategic priorities. Key criteria include:
- Features: Does the platform support the core use cases you identified earlier?
- User experience: Is the interface intuitive and mobile-friendly? Is mobile access smooth? A great UX is key to adoption.
- Interoperability: Is the platform open source? Can it integrate with your business tools? Does it offer app hubs or connectors?
- Customization: Can you customize the platform (branding, navigation, access rights) without technical skills?
- Hosting & security: Is your data stored securely? Are safety requirements complied with? Can it be hosted in the cloud or on-premise?
- Independence & sustainability: Is the vendor open source? Do they have a long-term vision (accessibility, eco-design, etc.)?
Once you’ve shortlisted your options, set up a pilot group to try them out in real conditions and collect feedback.
Avoid going with the “closest replacement” to Workplace. This is your chance to:
- Leverage missing features you’ve been wanting: knowledge centralization, modern mobile apps, document management, better UX…
- Introduce new practices, such as contribution programs, peer recognition, or more personalized internal communications.
Choosing a new platform in a rush is rarely a good idea. You need a solution that can grow with your organization:
- Will you scale or go international?
- Do you want to expand into new use cases (employee portal, enterprise social network, knowledge hub)?
- Will you need onboarding support?
- Are custom developments required?
Choose a platform that’s open, scalable, and future-proof.
3. Key steps for a smooth migration
A successful migration is built on thorough planning and structure. Here are the key steps to ensure a seamless transition.
Use this opportunity to archive or delete outdated content, and organize the relevant data for your new platform.
Depending on volume and complexity, you can choose:
- Automated migration using APIs, import/export tools, or migration services.
- Manual migration for low-priority content.
Most commonly transferred data includes:
- User profiles (details, photos, roles)
- Groups/spaces (structure, members, permissions)
- Posts and interactions (comments, likes)
- Files and shared documents
Best practices to facilitate your migration:
- Clean up data before migration
- Test on a small group before full deployment
- Keep an accessible archive of any non-migrated content
Take advantage of the transition to rethink your workspace organization:
- Which spaces should be kept or created?
- What is the most intuitive navigation for users?
- What kind of experience do you want to provide?
- Would standardized templates help deployment (projects, communities, internal comms)?
Some platforms offer:
- Custom homepages
- Thematic space templates
- Granular user permissions
These features can save time during migration.
For larger organizations, or those with multiple entities, a phased deployment is more effective:
- Start with a pilot group to validate configuration
- Engage your user ambassadors early
- Define a clear roadmap: migration, setup, testing, training, go-live, support
To facilitate the project adoption, provide a launch kit with tutorials, FAQs, internal announcements, videos, etc.
Quality support is essential for success. A strong migration partner will help you:
- Configure the platform to your needs
- Develop or adapt migration tools
- Lead the change management strategy and drive user adoption
4. Pitfalls to avoid
Even with solid planning and a powerful tool, migration can go sideways. Here are common pitfalls to watch out for:
Workplace shuts down on August 31, 2025. Don’t let the pressure dictate rushed decisions. Plan early to compare, test, and mobilize teams properly.
Bulk-transferring all your historical data without cleanup can lead to:
- Longer, more expensive migrations
- Importing outdated or useless content
- Cluttering your new platform unnecessarily
Take time to filter, prioritize, and structure what really matters.
Data transfer is critical—but user adoption is everything. A successful migration is one that your people embrace.
Without proper onboarding and communication:
- Users don’t understand the change
- Adoption rates are low
- ROI suffers
Don’t overlook UX and user champions—they’ll breathe life into the platform.
In a rush, you might opt for a fast-deploy, all-in-one tool that’s ultimately closed and limiting.
Risks include:
- Integration challenges with your business tools
- Vendor lock-in
- Minimal customization or evolution
Go for open-source, flexible, and secure solutions that prioritize transparency and freedom.
Migration is a strategic moment. Don’t let it pass unnoticed—make it a teamwide transformation.
Use this time to:
- Unite teams around a shared goal
- Strengthen company culture
- Build a sense of ownership and progress
Make the project inspiring and purposeful.
5. What if the end of Workplace was a strategic opportunity?
At first glance, Workplace’s shutdown might feel like a constraint. In reality, it could be the spark that ignites your organization’s digital transformation.
Rather than settling for a default replacement, use this as a chance to rethink your collaborative model.
Replacing Workplace is your chance to:
- Deliver a smoother, more personalized, mobile-friendly user experience
- Improve internal communications with more visual, engaging, and targeted content
- Introduce innovative features, like gamification tools or onboarding programs
A sustainable solution helps you:
- Reduce your digital carbon footprint
- Foster eco-designed, accessible platforms
- Promote ethical, open-source, and collaborative models
Migrating from Workplace also means creating a collaborative environment tailored to your culture. You can:
- Customize spaces, pages, and sites as needed
- Embrace platform evolution and expand your use cases
- Unite your teams around a tool that strengthens your identity
By taking time to assess your needs, choose the right platform, plan your migration, and support your users, you can turn this challenge into a strategic lever for improving collaboration, engagement, and internal performance.
With the right partner and the right platform, you have the opportunity to build a digital workplace that’s: more secure, more sustainable, more engaging.
Ready to take action and avoid last-minute stress?
Contact us to see how eXo Platform can support your migration and help you design the collaborative platform of the future.
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- Tags: Digital workplace, Tips & Tricks
I am the communication manager at eXo Platform. I found myself in communications a bit by chance, but this field brings together everything that pationates me: creativity, energy, meetings, collaborative work, sharing and exchanges of good practices. I need to give meaning to what I do and put people at the center of all my actions.
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