Moving to the cloud: a checklist for small businesses

Moving to the cloud usually means taking systems that run on a server in your office, or on someone’s computer, and running them on infrastructure you rent instead. Done well, it removes a single point of failure and makes backups and remote access easier. Done in a rush, it can break things that quietly depended on the old setup.

This checklist covers the steps that keep a move uneventful.

Before the move: take an inventory

• List every system, application and shared folder on the current server, and who uses each one.
• Note what depends on what: a database used by two applications, a scheduled job, a printer or scanner that saves to a shared folder.
• Find out where the licences, logins and support contracts for each system are.
• Check how much data there is and how fast it grows.
• Confirm what your backups actually contain, and test restoring one before anything moves.

Plan the move

• Decide what moves, what gets replaced by a cloud product, and what can be retired.
• Estimate the monthly running cost before you commit, including storage and backups.
• Move in stages, starting with something low-risk, rather than everything in one weekend.
• Write down a way back for each stage, in case something doesn’t work.
• Pick a cut-over time that suits your business, and tell staff what will change and when.

Security and access

• Give each person their own login, and only the access their role needs.
• Turn on multi-factor authentication for every account that supports it.
• Make sure someone at the business, not only an outside provider, holds the administrator access.

After the move

• Check that the data arrived complete, and that each system works for the people who use it.
• Set up monitoring and alerts so problems are noticed before staff report them.
• Confirm automated backups are running, then test a restore.
• Review the first few monthly bills against the estimate.
• Keep the old server for a short, agreed period before switching it off for good.

Most of the risk in a migration comes from dependencies nobody wrote down, which is why the inventory matters more than the move itself. If you’d like a second pair of eyes on your setup before you start, a free assessment is a good place to begin.