SharePoint Migration: Boost Your CKMI Score & AI Readiness

Hey folks, if you caught my post last week on the Company Knowledge Maturity Index (CKMI), you know it’s our straight-up scorecard. It shows where your company’s knowledge actually lives across six key areas: Employees, File Servers, Cloud Tools, Automation, AI, and the cool stuff we call Agentic. We talked about how even a small CKMI boost can stop those “where’s that file?” headaches. If you missed it, check it out here—it’s our starting line.

A file server between clouds by Jaime López using Designer

Here’s the deal: talking CKMI is one thing, but doing it is another. Most teams I work with are stuck because their people’s brains and dusty old file servers hold too much knowledge—50-70% of the pie. We saw those Spanish banks with an average CKMI of 59, and a huge chunk of that was dead file storage. Good for keeping records, yes, but useless when you need fast answers. That’s why we’re talking about moving from file servers to SharePoint Online. It’s the easiest way to push your score higher, grow that Cloud Tools slice, and unlock everything else.

Why File Servers Are CKMI’s Silent Killer

Quick recap: CKMI measures how your company saves, shares, finds, reuses, protects, and automates knowledge. File servers only do one thing well: store files. They make everything else a pain. Those old PDFs and spreadsheets buried in shared drives? More tomb than treasure. It’s no surprise that companies relying on files are stuck in the low 50s—they’re digital, but they don’t flow.

SharePoint changes that. It doesn’t just store; it activates your knowledge across all six CKMI areas. It’s a huge shift that feels immediate, like finally getting fiber internet.

1. Search: From Folder Mess to “Found It” Fast

File servers are a mess of old files. Unless you remember the exact folder path from 2012, good luck. That’s pure CKMI drag, wasting your people’s time because they email IT instead of searching.

SharePoint uses tags, file types, version history, and Microsoft Search to tear through your data. Files pop up fast, with the right permissions. It’s a huge morale boost. Teams spend less time hunting, more time working—your CKMI score climbs. One client saw an 8-point jump just because search got better.

2. Sharing: Easy, But Safe

Tired of VPN login fails just to share a file? That’s file server life, creating stress and keeping knowledge hidden in emails.

With SharePoint, it’s “link sent”. You can add date limits, sensitivity labels, and uniform access rules. Sharing feels safe, not scary. Your team works together without the worry. CKMI loves this: less friction means knowledge moves, protection improves, and you’re setting up Automation without trying hard.

3. Fresh Files Beat Duplicates

Send a file from the server, and you instantly create a copy. Then you get versions in a dozen places. Copies cause chaos, leading to meeting fights over which version is correct.

SharePoint fixes that with live editing, auto-versions, and smart alerts. One single source of truth, always updated. This isn’t just neatness; it’s culture. Reuse goes up, duplicates go down, and your CKMI looks much better.

4. Reuse: Making Hidden Stuff Company Gold

That great how-to document lost on a shared drive? It’s gold for one team, but forgotten by everyone else. File servers hide things; they don’t share them easily.

SharePoint uses hubs, templates, and smart search. Teams stop rebuilding things from scratch and start building on others’ work. This boosts reuse and governance, moving you from “digital but slow” to “fast and automated”. One company cut their new hire training time from weeks to days—a big CKMI win.

5. Getting Ready for AI and Automation

AI and Agentic tools start at zero for most companies because they only find messy, unstructured data. File servers are a bad meal for a bot.

SharePoint feeds them right: structured, organized, and searchable data. This powers Power Automate, Syntex smarts, and Copilot. Moving to SharePoint lights up those advanced areas. Your CKMI score can jump from a “tribal” 50s score to an “automated” 60s, where decisions happen without people having to babysit everything.

6. Governance: From Messy to Controlled

File server “control”? It usually means: “Don’t touch that folder.” It’s reactive, meaning you only fix problems after they happen.

SharePoint gives you real control: set retention rules, track access, add labels, and run reports. You stop chaos before it starts. This improves protection and sets up your entire CKMI ladder.

Prep Like a Pro: Don’t Just Move the Mess—Clean It

Convinced? Great. But here’s the key: the real CKMI gain comes from cleaning your files, not just moving them. If you rush, you just take the mess with you.

Before you start any tool, pause. I’ve been there: rushing means you move the junk with the good stuff. This is deep cleaning—it saves time, cuts costs, and sets SharePoint up for success. You must involve the people who own the data—they know what’s junk.

• Cleanup: Find copies, near-copies, and old junk like “backup_of_backup.zip.” Try to cut 20-40% of your files. Pro Tip: If a file hasn’t been used in 2 years, review it!

• Permissions Check: File servers often have messy access rules. Map out who has access. Clean up old accounts and plan for SharePoint’s simple role-based access. Test this first! Bad permissions after the move cause instant security problems.

• Metadata Strategy: Don’t just copy folders over. Think about what a file is: Project? Department? Status? Using Content Types and columns gives you super search power.

• Check Limits: SharePoint is powerful, but it has limits: files over 250 GB are too big, and watch out for path names that are too long. Check for bad characters (like # or %). If you have huge file libraries, plan to split them.

• Apps & Integrations: Your file server is likely connected to old apps, scanners, or custom scripts. List every single tool that touches the file server. Will they work with SharePoint? Test this carefully—downtime kills trust.

• Extra Must-Do Steps:

  • Pilot a Small Group: Move one department’s files first. Test everything. Fix the problems before the main move.

  • Backup the Old Server: Always keep a copy of your source data. Things go wrong.

  • Train Your People: Show them the good changes (faster finds!). User training equals better adoption, which means CKMI gains.

Do this prep work, and the move will be easy. Your CKMI will thank you.

How to Actually Pull Off the Migration: Tools That Work

We’ve covered the why, now, the how. The right tool saves you stress and keeps your CKMI bump on track.

• Microsoft’s Own Tools (Free and Ready): Start with the SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT). It handles permissions and file names. For pure file server moves, Migration Manager in the SharePoint Admin Center is your best friend: it runs agents on your servers and manages the whole move centrally.

• Pro Tools Like ShareGate: If your job is huge or complicated (like moving data after a merger), ShareGate is the easy button. It’s a simple desktop tool that keeps all your metadata and versions intact. It’s faster and great for complex moves. It costs money, but for big projects, it saves weeks of headaches.

The simple advice? For easy file moves, use the free Microsoft tools. For hard, complex moves, pay for a pro tool. No matter what, test a small batch first.

Conclusion

Your CKMI score shows you the truth: file servers are holding you back from using modern cloud tools. Moving to SharePoint isn’t a boring file move—it’s a switch from dead storage to a living knowledge system.

You are upgrading from:

• Folder fog to clear tags

• Copycat clutter to working together easily

• Out of control files to smart controls

• Local hunts to company-wide finds

• “Lost again?” to “Nailed it.”

If you want that 10-point CKMI jump—less panic, faster work, time for smart planning—SharePoint is your first step. Everything after (like starting with AI) gets much easier.

What’s your biggest CKMI sticking point today—file server fossils or something sneakier? Drop a comment below.

If you found this post helpful, please share it with a colleague who is about to face a migration headache.

References

• The Knowledge Management Maturity Index: https://intranetfromthetrenches.substack.com/p/the-knowledge-management-maturity-index

• Overview of the SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointmigration/introducing-the-sharepoint-migration-tool

• Overview: Migrate your file shares to Microsoft 365: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointmigration/mm-get-started

• ShareGate: The most powerful SharePoint migration tool: https://sharegate.com/sharepoint-migration