Take it with you
8 chapters · about 22 minutes · 1,336 words. Free, no sign-up.
The cloud sounds grander than it is. Stripped of the marketing, it means running your systems on someone else's data centre instead of a server humming away in a cupboard.
Done well, that is a genuine upgrade. Done badly, a rushed move can lose data or tie you to a supplier who holds your domain. None of that is the cloud's fault. It is the fault of a migration done without a plan and without a way back.
Chapter 1
Deciding what to move and what to leave
Not everything should move. The goal is for each system to sit wherever it works best, costs least to run safely, and causes you the least grief.
List what you actually run, then for each ask: does this need to be reachable from anywhere, and would it hurt the business if that machine died tomorrow? The things scoring high on both are your best candidates.
Be wary of anyone who says move all of it. A sensible design is usually a mix.
Quick checklist
- Write down every system you run, from email to that old machine in the corner
- Mark which ones need to be reachable from anywhere
- Mark which ones would stop the business if their hardware failed
- Decide what to move first, what later, and what to leave or replace
Chapter 2
Getting email and files across without losing anything
For most businesses the first real move is email and files, usually to Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. Either is a fine home. The important part is that nothing falls down the gap.
A proper move copies the full mailbox history, not just new mail from the switch-over date. Before you trust it, open a few accounts and check that last year's emails are genuinely there.
Keep the old copy untouched until you are certain the new one is complete.
Quick checklist
- Choose Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace on fit, not fashion
- Confirm the full mailbox history is moving, not just recent mail
- Tidy shared files before the move and agree who owns each folder
- Spot-check real accounts afterwards to confirm nothing is missing
- Keep the old copy until the new one is proven
Chapter 3
The migration itself, done safely
Test on a copy first. A careful migration builds the new environment alongside the old, so you find surprises on a test run rather than in front of the whole team on go-live day.
Cut over out of hours, at a quiet time, and tell everyone what to expect so a different login screen does not become a flood of worried calls.
Always keep a fallback. Until the new setup has proven itself over real working days, the old one should still exist and still be reachable.
Quick checklist
- Insist the move is tested on a copy before anything real is switched
- Schedule the cut-over out of hours
- Tell your team when it is happening and what will look different
- Keep the old system live and reachable until the new one is proven
- Agree in advance how you would step back
Chapter 4
Getting the domain and accounts into your own name
This chapter saves the most pain and has nothing to do with technology. Your domain and the top-level account behind your cloud services are the keys to your business online. They must be in your name.
It happens more than it should: a provider sets everything up under their own account to make it easy, and years later you cannot move your own email because you were never really the owner.
Ask the plain question and expect a plain answer: if we parted ways tomorrow, what would I already own and be able to log into?
Quick checklist
- Confirm your domain is registered to your business, with you holding the login
- Make sure the top-level cloud account is owned by the business
- Give suppliers access as helpers rather than owners
- Keep your own record of the key logins somewhere safe
Chapter 5
Security on day one
Security is cheapest and easiest to get right at the moment you move, when everything is being set up fresh anyway.
Turn on multi-factor authentication for everyone from the start. It is the single most effective thing a small business can do, it costs nothing extra, and it stops the great majority of account break-ins.
Get joiners and leavers straight, and set sensible sharing so a whole folder is not accidentally shared with the world.
Quick checklist
- Switch on multi-factor authentication for every account before go-live
- Give each person the access they need for their role, and no more
- Create a routine to close leavers' accounts promptly
- Agree what can and cannot be shared outside the business
- Review folder sharing now and then
Chapter 6
Backing up your cloud data
Here is the assumption that catches everyone. Because your email and files now live with Microsoft or Google, you feel they must be backed up. They are not, at least not in the way you imagine.
The providers keep the platform running, secure and available. Your actual data remains your responsibility. They protect their infrastructure from failing. They do not protect you from a deletion, or from ransomware encrypting your files.
Retention is a short grace period, not a safety net. A real backup is a separate, independent copy you can restore from even if the original is gone, and it only counts once someone has tested it.
Quick checklist
- Accept that Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are not backing up your data for you
- Learn the difference between retention and a real backup
- Put an independent backup of your cloud email and files in place
- Test that the backup actually restores, not just that it runs
Chapter 7
Costs and avoiding surprise bills
The same flexibility that lets you add a service in minutes makes it easy to leave things running that nobody uses.
Understand how you are charged, usually per user per month plus extras. Size it to what you need, not to what looks impressive on a feature list.
Model what it should cost before you commit, write that number down, and compare the first few bills against it. The commonest causes of drift are licences for people who have left and add-ons switched on during setup.
Quick checklist
- Understand exactly how each service charges you
- Choose the plan that fits your needs, not the richest on offer
- Work out the expected monthly cost before committing
- Check real bills against that figure and investigate any gap
- Give someone the job of tidying leavers and unused licences each month
Chapter 8
Your migration plan, on one page
A safe move is not about clever technology. It is about doing a handful of unglamorous things in the right order and not skipping any of them.
Use the checklist below whether you run the move yourself, hand it to your existing IT people, or ask us. If a supplier cannot happily walk you through each point, that tells you how careful the move is likely to be.
Quick checklist
- Decide what moves, and what stays or gets replaced
- Own your keys: domain and top-level account in your business's name
- Tidy first, then test the whole thing on a copy
- Move the full history, not just recent items
- Cut over out of hours, with everyone told what to expect
- Keep a fallback until the new setup is proven
- Secure day one: MFA, sensible access, joiners and leavers
- Put a real, tested backup of the cloud data in place
- Model the bill, check it monthly, tidy unused licences
Talk to us when you are ready
Moving to the cloud safely is not complicated, but it does reward doing it properly. Tested on a copy, cut over quietly, with your own name on the keys, it becomes the quiet upgrade it should be.
If you would like a hand, we can run the migration with a way back at every step, or simply take an honest look and tell you what is worth doing, including when the answer is that you are already fine.
This guide is general information, not advice tailored to your business. For a recommendation matched to your situation, speak to us or another qualified professional.