Kohl’s Moves 50 Million+ Slack Messages to Google Chat with CloudFuze

Kohl’s, one of the largest department store retailers in the U.S., migrated 11,000+ users and 50 million+ Slack messages to Google Chat with CloudFuze as its migration partner. The project also included a rebuild of 15 custom Slack bots, and the workspace cutover took place as planned.

This customer success story covers why Kohl’s made the move, the challenges its team worked through, and how CloudFuze delivered a successful Slack to Google Chat migration at an enterprise scale.

Key Takeaways:

  • 11,000+ users and 50 million+ messages moved from Slack to Google Chat.
  • 15 custom Slack bots rebuilt to run in Google Chat.
  • Channels, threads, direct messages, attachments, emojis, and mentions carried over.
  • A fully managed engagement with a dedicated project manager.
  • Card conversions, testing, and cutover all landed on the plan timeline.

    • About Kohl’s

    Kohl’s is a U.S. department store retailer founded in 1962 and headquartered in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. The publicly traded company operates more than 1,000 stores nationwide, alongside a large e-commerce business, and employs tens of thousands of people.

    What was Kohl’s Slack to Google Chat Migration?

    This was an enterprise chat migration with an automation rebuild layered on top. The scope covered:

  • Public and private channels, with message history and channel members.
  • Threads, direct messages, attachments, emojis, and user mentions.
  • Message attribution, so every message still shows who posted it.
  • 15 custom Slack bots, rebuilt for Google Chat.

    • Why Did Kohl’s Move from Slack to Google Chat?

    Kohl’s set out to make Google Chat its collaboration platform. It wanted the move to feel seamless for 11,000+ users, so the goals were clear:

  • Conversation history: Years of Slack messages had to be available in Google Chat from day one.
  • Workflow continuity: The custom bots teams use daily had to keep working after cutover.
  • A structured rollout: Testing, and validation had to finish before the workspace switch.

    • Migration Challenges Kohl’s Faced

    A project with this much history and automation has several moving parts. Kohl’s IT team planned for these:

    1. Rebuilding 15 Custom Slack Bots

    Slack apps do not run in Google Chat as they are. Every bot needed reworked scripts, updated endpoints, and a fresh round of testing.

    2. Card Conversion and Syntax Issues

    Message cards behave differently in Google Chat. Variable syntax issues surfaced during validation, and each one had to be resolved before testing could move forward.

    3. Hardcoded Channel IDs in Jarvis

    Kohl’s internal Jarvis system referenced hard-coded Slack channel IDs. Those had to be updated to ensure the integration kept pointing to the right place.

    4. Bot Setup in New Google Chat Spaces

    Without a clear process, adding bots to every new space could turn into manual space-by-space work. The more spaces involved, the bigger that risk gets.

    5. Coordinating a Large Multi-Team Project

    Status, blockers, and next steps needed constant visibility across teams. That necessitated regular meetings.

    Running custom Slack bots your teams need?

    Get a free migration assessment and see which bots, channels, and integrations need attention before you set a timeline.

    Contact us

    How Did CloudFuze Handle Kohl’s Slack to Google Chat Migration?

    CloudFuze ran the project as a fully managed migration, with both migration technology and hands-on engineering support.

    CloudFuze’s Approach Description
    Pre-migration analysis A clear view of Kohl’s Slack environment and bot dependencies before migrating.
    Dedicated project manager A single point of contact who handled the migration project across all stages.
    Bot rebuild All 15 custom Slack bots with 3000+ Slack block kit messages converted to Google Cards v2.
    Endpoint and Jarvis support Updated endpoints, Jarvis reintegration, and updated hard-coded channel IDs.
    Channel to space mapping A managed mapping database tracking each Slack channel to its Google Chat space
    Validation and standups Regular sessions to test functionality, review converted cards, and close open items.
    Go-live and post-migration support Support for Kohl’s team as bots were deployed to spaces, along with data reconciliation.
    Dedicated infrastructure Five extra-large dedicated instances were allocated to handle the enterprise migration scale.

    Need your Slack channels mapped to Google Chat spaces?

    Talk to a CloudFuze migration engineer about how we plan channel mapping and bot deployment for large Slack workspaces.

    Get in touch today

    What Were the Migration Results?

    The migration was completed successfully, and each milestone landed as planned.

  • 11,000+ users migrated from Slack to Google Chat.
  • 50 million+ messages migrated. Public channels, private channels, threads, and direct messages moved over.
  • Attachments, emojis, user mentions, channel members, and message attribution carried across.
  • 15 custom Slack bot rebuilt and running in Google Chat.
  • Card conversions finished by the end of July.
  • Testing followed and cutover happened in mid-August.

    • Why Do U.S. Enterprises Trust CloudFuze for Chat Migrations?

    Moving a workspace the size of Kohl’s is not just about using a proper migration tool. It’s also about choosing a migration team that has handled the messy parts before, and that experience shows up in a few places.

  • U.S.-based and enterprise-tested: CloudFuze is headquartered in North Carolina, and supports migrations across 40+ cloud platforms, including Slack to Google Chat and Slack to Teams migration. Enterprises such as Exact Sciences, Estée Lauder, Warner Bros. Discovery, Boston Medical Center, and REHAU have trusted us with their migrations.
  • Hands-on managed migration service: Every enterprise project gets a dedicated project manager and migration engineers who handhold your IT team from pre-migration analysis to post-migration support.
  • Custom bot expertise: As Kohl’s project showed, bots and integrations often decide how smooth a chat migration feels. Our professional services team rebuilds them for the target platform.
  • Full-fidelity migrations: Our platform preserves files, folders, permissions, versions, timestamps, embedded links, external shares, shared links, and in-line comments in content migrations. In chat migrations, it carries over channels, threads, direct messages, attachments, emojis, mentions, and message attribution.
  • Security and compliance: CloudFuze is SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, and GDPR compliant, which gives IT and security teams the assurance they need before approving a migration.

    • Planning to Migrate to Google Chat?

    Is your organization planning to migrate to Google Chat from Slack or Microsoft Teams? Get help in scoping the project from our experienced migration consultants. Book a free consultation today.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    1. Can custom Slack bots be migrated to Google Chat?

    Bots are rebuilt for Google Chat. For Kohl’s, CloudFuze’s professional services team rebuilt all 15 custom Slack apps and supported their deployment at go-live.

    2. Are direct messages and private channels included?

    Yes. Public channels, private channels, threads, and direct messages are part of the migration, along with attachments, emojis, and mentions.

    3. How long does a large Slack to Google Chat migration take?

    It depends on user count, message volume, and how many bots need rebuilding. Kohl’s migration involved 11,000+ users, 50 million+ messages, and phased testing before cutover.

    4. How do Slack channels map to Google Chat spaces?

    Each Slack channel is mapped to a Google Chat space. For Kohl’s, CloudFuze managed that mapping database through the migration.