Migration
Cloud & Microsoft 365 Migration
Move email, files and servers to the cloud without losing data, access or a week of productivity.
You might need this if
- You are on an aging on-premises server and the renewal quote just landed.
- Email is scattered across personal accounts, POP mailboxes and a legacy host.
- Files live on a NAS in a closet with no offsite backup and no version history.
- A previous migration attempt left you half-moved, paying for both.
The part most migrations get wrong
The file copy is the easy part. What breaks a migration is everything attached to the old system: the shared mailbox nobody documented, the scanner that emails PDFs through an unauthenticated relay, the line-of-business app that authenticates against the local domain controller, the shared drive letter hard-coded into a decade of spreadsheet links.
Discovering those on cutover weekend is how a migration turns into an outage. Finding them in week one is a scheduling detail.
How the work is sequenced
It starts with an inventory: every mailbox, every share, every application that touches identity, every device that sends mail. That inventory is the deliverable that makes the rest predictable, and you keep it whether or not I run the migration.
Then a pilot group moves first — usually the people most able to tolerate a hiccup and most likely to notice one. Their issues get fixed before the rest of the company is anywhere near the change. Full cutover happens on a schedule chosen around your business, with mail flow, authentication and file access verified before anyone is asked to work in the new environment.
Licensing gets right-sized as part of the move. Most small businesses I look at are paying for a tier above what they use, or paying per-user for something bundled in a plan they already own.
What I work with
Microsoft 365 (Exchange Online, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, Entra ID) and Google Workspace, including migrations between them. On-premises Exchange and Windows file server decommissioning. Tenant-to-tenant migrations following an acquisition. Backup and retention configuration, because cloud platforms are not backups by default — a point most businesses discover at the worst moment.
What you get
- Full inventory of mailboxes, shares, identities and mail-sending devices
- Migration plan with pilot group, cutover window and rollback triggers
- Licensing review with right-sized recommendations and projected savings
- Configured backup and retention — separate from the platform itself
- End-user guide covering what changes on their machine
- Post-cutover support window and a documented final state
A good fit when
You are moving off aging infrastructure, consolidating after growth or an acquisition, or cleaning up a migration that stalled partway.
Not a fit when
You want a bare mailbox export with no discovery. Any migration vendor can do that cheaply, and for very small moves that may genuinely be the right call.
Common questions
How much downtime should we expect?
For a well-planned Microsoft 365 migration, effectively none for email — mail flow is cut over with delivery continuity. File access typically has a defined read-only window, usually a weekend, communicated well in advance.
Do you resell Microsoft licensing?
No. I have no reseller agreements and take no commissions, which is exactly why I can tell you when a cheaper tier is enough. You buy licensing directly or through whichever partner you prefer.
Can you fix a migration someone else started?
Yes, and it is a common request. The first step is an honest assessment of the current state, which occasionally concludes that finishing the existing path costs less than restarting it.
Have a project you need to get right?
Book a free 15-minute call. No pitch, no jargon — just a straight read on whether I can help and what it would take.
Or email ryan@rmitcs.com