Cloud Services & Migration for Northern Indiana Businesses

Probably not everything, and anyone who says yes before looking at your business is selling something. Email, files and collaboration belong in Microsoft 365 for almost every business. Line-of-business applications depend on the vendor. A machine on the plant floor that talks to a local controller, a dental imaging server, or a workload that would cost more monthly in the cloud than the server it replaces should often stay on-site. We tell you which is which, with numbers.

Sometimes. A cloud server you pay for every month can cost more over five years than the hardware it replaced, and cloud bills creep as things get added. What the cloud buys is no hardware to fail, no server closet, easier remote access, and capacity you can change. We put the five-year cost of each option side by side before recommending one.

It is copied ahead of time while the old system keeps running, verified, then switched over at a scheduled time — usually after hours — with the old system kept intact until everyone has confirmed the new one works. Nothing is deleted on cutover day, and a full backup is taken before anything moves.

The provider secures the data center; you are responsible for who can log in, what they can reach, and whether the data is backed up. Most cloud breaches are stolen credentials, not broken data centers. So MFA, conditional access, least-privilege permissions and a separate backup are not optional extras — they are the cloud security plan.

Microsoft keeps it available; it does not keep a backup you control. Deleted-item retention is limited and a compromised account can empty a mailbox or a SharePoint library. We back up Microsoft 365 to separate storage so you can recover anything, months later.

That is one of the main reasons to move. With files and apps in the cloud, staff reach them from any managed device with MFA, and nothing sensitive sits on a laptop in a kitchen. We configure device management so a lost laptop is wiped and a departed employee's access is disabled as soon as you tell us.

Cloud platforms can satisfy both, but configuration matters and some data has rules about where it lives. PHI needs a Business Associate Agreement with the provider (Microsoft offers one) and the right settings. Controlled defense data generally requires Microsoft 365 GCC or GCC High rather than the commercial cloud. We design for your compliance obligations from the start.

Assessments and migrations are fixed-price projects with the scope in writing. Ongoing management of your cloud environment is part of a managed IT agreement. Cloud subscriptions — Microsoft 365, Azure, backup storage — are pass-through costs billed at the provider's price, and we review them quarterly so the bill doesn't creep.