Business Technology · Adelaide, SA
Cloud that costs what it should.
The cloud was supposed to be cheaper. For a lot of businesses it became a bill nobody understands, running servers nobody can turn off. We move things properly, size them correctly, and put a number against every line.
Cloud migration
Getting off the server in the cupboard.
That server is usually five to ten years old, holds everything, and is backed up to a drive somebody was meant to take home. It works until the day it does not, and then the business stops while parts are sourced.
Moving to the cloud removes that single point of failure. Done badly, it just relocates it and adds a monthly bill. The difference is in the planning: knowing what actually depends on that machine before you switch it off.
01
Audit
What runs on it, who uses it, what depends on it, and which of those things are genuinely still needed.
02
Plan
What moves, what gets replaced by a service, what gets retired, and what it will cost per month afterwards.
03
Migrate
Moved in stages with the old system still available, out of hours where it affects trading.
04
Decommission
Only once the new setup has run cleanly for a period and backups have been restored successfully at least once.
What we move
Most small business infrastructure fits one of these.
File servers
Shared drives into SharePoint or a managed cloud file service, with permissions rebuilt properly rather than copied across.
Line-of-business applications
Accounting, practice management or industry software moved to its hosted version, or run on cloud infrastructure where no hosted version exists.
Email and collaboration
Off an old Exchange server or a hosting-company mailbox onto Microsoft 365.
Databases
Onto managed database services, with backups and recovery that are actually tested.
Websites and applications
Onto hosting that scales and does not fall over the week you get busy.
Backups
Offsite, encrypted, versioned, and restorable — which is the only property that matters.
Cloud cost review
The bill is usually 20 to 40 percent larger than it needs to be.
Cloud costs grow quietly. Something gets spun up for a project and never turned off. Storage tiers stay on the expensive default. Instances are sized for a peak that happened once, two years ago.
A cost review is a fixed piece of work with a measurable outcome: we look at what you are paying for, identify what is unused or oversized, and give you a list with dollar figures next to each item.
- Every running resource identified and attributed to a purpose
- Unused and orphaned resources found and listed
- Right-sizing recommendations with the saving quantified
- Storage tiers and retention reviewed
- Reserved and committed pricing where usage is predictable
- Budget alerts, so the next surprise arrives as a warning
We have seen a one-day architecture review pay for itself inside the first month. That is not always the case, but the review tells you either way, and you keep the findings regardless.
After the migration
Cloud is not maintenance-free. It is different maintenance.
The hardware stops being your problem. Patching, access control, backup verification, capacity and cost do not. If nobody owns those, a cloud setup degrades in the same way a server room does, just less visibly.
- Monitoring on the things that would stop your business
- Patching and updates applied on a schedule
- Backup restores tested, not assumed
- Access reviewed as staff join and leave
- Monthly cost and usage reporting
- A documented recovery plan you could actually follow
Questions
Before you ask us.
Which cloud do you use?
Mostly Microsoft 365 and Azure for business workloads, and AWS where the application calls for it. The right answer depends on what you are running and what you already pay for, not on which one we prefer.
Will the cloud be cheaper than our server?
Sometimes, and it depends what you are comparing. The monthly bill is often similar to the amortised cost of a server, but you stop buying hardware every five years, you stop losing days to failures, and you can recover from a disaster in hours instead of weeks. We will model your actual numbers rather than promise a saving.
How long does a migration take?
A small file server and email migration is typically a few weeks including planning. A business running line-of-business applications takes longer, because the testing matters more than the copying.
Will we have downtime?
We plan migrations so the disruptive parts happen outside trading hours, and we keep the old system available until the new one is proven. Some brief downtime is occasionally unavoidable, but you will know when and for how long in advance.
What if our internet drops?
That is a fair concern and it is why we look at your connection before recommending a move. For most Adelaide businesses a reliable NBN connection is sufficient, and where uptime genuinely matters we would talk about a backup connection.
Can you take over a cloud setup someone else built?
Yes, and that is a common starting point. We audit what exists, document it, and give you a prioritised list of what needs fixing before we touch anything.
Related services
Often needed alongside this.
Next step
Tell us what you need.
You do not need to know what to call it. Describe the problem in your own words and we will tell you what it takes to fix — and what it costs — before you commit to anything.
Adelaide-based · Replies within one business day · No obligation