Microsoft 365 only starts working when your people come along
Mailboxes and files move across in a controlled order, every account gets a second factor at sign-in, and your people find out where things will live from now on.
Book an intro callLook over someone's shoulder for a moment. The quotation template arrives as an email attachment, gets saved locally, edited and sent back. Three versions later, nobody knows which one counts. Meanwhile you are paying for a licence that includes SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams. What actually gets used is the inbox. The rest sits in the menu and nobody touches it, because nobody ever explained it.
We start by taking stock: which mailboxes exist, where the files actually sit, who is carrying which licence. Then comes the migration, usually over a weekend, so that on Monday everyone finds their mail. After that, the security work: multi-factor authentication on every account, sharing links tidied up, laptops and company phones managed centrally. And then we sit down with each department and show people where the filing will live from now on.
What is included.
Mailbox migration
Mailboxes, calendars and public folders are carried over from the old system, folder structure and signatures included. The move runs in stages, department by department. On cutover day we stay available for as long as Outlook is still playing up for individual users.
Securing accounts
Every account gets multi-factor authentication, usually through an app on the company phone. Old administrator accounts are closed, forwarding to outside addresses is blocked, and sign-ins are refused from countries where you have nobody working.
Filing instead of attachments
The drive structure is not lifted into SharePoint exactly as it stands. First we work out which folders anyone still opens, who may access what, and what belongs in OneDrive because it concerns one person only.
Devices under control
Laptops and company phones are managed through Intune. A new laptop goes from the supplier straight to the person who will use it and sets itself up at first sign-in. If a phone goes missing, the company data on it can be wiped remotely.
Showing people how it works
Training happens in small groups, on your own files rather than sample data. One hour per group, then a second session once the first questions have come up. The accounts department needs different answers from sales.
Reviewing licences
Before the migration we count up who needs which licence. Full versions often run for accounts that need nothing more than a mailbox, or for people who left the business long ago. Both can be corrected at the next contract renewal date.
How we work.
Taking stock
We look at what is running today: mail server or existing tenant, file server, licence agreements, devices. Plus a few conversations with people from the departments, because the filing system in someone's head often looks different from the folder tree.
Target picture and schedule
You get it on a few pages: what moves where, which licences stay, when the cutover happens and what is needed from your side on the day. Without jargon you have to look up first. Then you decide.
Cutover
The data syncs in the background beforehand, and the final pass runs outside working hours. On the first working day afterwards we are on site or on call, set up Outlook on the machines and answer the questions that come up.
After the move
The environment does not stand still. Microsoft changes settings, new colleagues join, devices get replaced. If you want to handle that yourself, you get the documentation and a briefing. If you would rather hand it over, the ongoing care goes into a maintenance agreement.
Common questions.
Our mail still sits on our own server in the basement. Will anything be lost in the changeover?
As a rule no, because the old server keeps running throughout the migration. Data is copied, not moved: mailboxes are mirrored, checked, and only then switched over. If something does turn out to be missing afterwards, the original is still there. We shut the old server down only once you have worked without it for a few weeks.
We have had Microsoft 365 for years. What is a review supposed to turn up now?
In environments that have grown over time we regularly find the same handful of things. Accounts without multi-factor authentication. Sharing links that anyone on the internet can open. Licences for people who left long ago. If we find none of that at your place, we will say so and you save yourself the project.
Are we not making ourselves dependent by going with a small provider?
The dependency stays small, because everything that matters is in your name. The tenant sits on your contract with Microsoft, not on ours. The global administrator account belongs to you, and we work with our own logins that you can withdraw at any time. The documentation stays in your building. If you terminate, whoever comes next can carry on without having to call us.
Can Teams replace our phone system?
Often yes, though not in every business, and sometimes we advise against it. Your numbers can usually come with you, and calls then run from the computer, the mobile or a desk phone. If you have a switchboard with nested queues, door intercoms or an alarm system on the line, it gets a good deal more complicated. We work that through beforehand rather than overlook it.
My people struggle with changes. How much will this ask of them?
For most people, two sessions of an hour each, plus one extra sign-in step in the morning. Outlook looks the same the day after as it did before, and that is the part that settles people down. It gets more demanding where files move from the network drive into SharePoint. We stay with those departments through the first few weeks.
A look first, then a conversation about migration
How many mailboxes are there, where do the files sit today, which licences are running, is there already a tenant. The answers show whether the move is worth it and where the awkward parts will be.
Book an intro call