Cloud & Microsoft 365 Services
Work from anywhere. Safely.
Cloud and Microsoft 365 services means happier IT sets up, secures and runs the online tools your team works in, email, files, Teams, identity and servers, for Canadian organizations of roughly 15 to 200 people. That covers choosing the right licences, moving your data without losing the permissions, and keeping it tidy afterwards.
Who it's for
Four versions of the same conversation.
Almost nobody calls because they want cloud. They call because something specific has become awkward.
The file server is getting old. It still works, but the warranty is gone, and half the team reaches it from home through a remote connection nobody enjoys.
Microsoft 365 was set up in a hurry. Someone signed up during a busy month and added people as they joined. Files now live in three places, and there are Teams nobody remembers making.
The licence bill keeps growing. Nobody can say what each licence does, whether its holder still works here, or why you pay separately for something Microsoft includes.
A client or an insurer has asked where the data is. The questions are about residency and access, and nobody has checked in a while.
What cloud does not fix
Moving to the cloud does not fix bad internet, a slow application, or messy file permissions. It makes permissions more visible, which is not the same as fixing them.
Nor does it remove your responsibility for backup and disaster recovery.
What's included
What happier IT actually does here.
Some of this is a project with an end date. Some is the ongoing work of keeping a tenant tidy.
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Licence right-sizing, first
We list every Microsoft licence you pay for, who holds it and what it does. Most organizations find seats held by people who left, or a tier nobody uses.
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Tenant set-up and clean-up
Your tenant is your organization’s Microsoft environment. We separate admin roles from daily accounts, set sharing defaults deliberately, review guest access, and turn off settings nobody knew were on.
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Entra ID identity and sign-in
Entra ID is Microsoft’s identity service, formerly Azure Active Directory. We configure single sign-on, MFA (multi-factor authentication: a second check, usually on a phone, before a login is accepted) and conditional access.
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SharePoint and Teams structure that holds up
Every Team creates a SharePoint site behind it, which is how a tidy company reaches ninety sites in two years. We design the structure first, and grant permissions to groups, not individuals.
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Migration from an on-premise file server
Moving an S: drive into SharePoint is not a copy-and-paste. Deep folder trees hit SharePoint’s URL length limit, decade-old permissions come along for the ride, and some files should not go at all.
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Azure and private cloud servers
Some applications will not move into Microsoft 365 and should not be forced. Those go onto a cloud server, in Microsoft Azure or hosted privately, sized honestly, an oversized one bills every month.
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Ongoing administration
New starters set up before their first day. Leavers removed the same day, sessions included. Licences reclaimed, mailboxes and permissions maintained rather than accumulated.
How it works
How a move actually runs.
The disruptive migrations skip the first step.
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Map what you have
Every file share, mailbox, licence, application and permission group, written down. Finding which files are genuinely live usually halves the migration on its own. You keep that document whatever you decide next.
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Design, then pilot
We agree the SharePoint and Teams structure, the licence mix and the sign-in rules, then run one department through it. A pilot surfaces the awkward things while they are still cheap to fix.
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Move, then tidy
Data moves in stages, usually with a final sync over a weekend so nobody loses a day. Then the part that gets skipped: retiring the old shares and showing people where things now live.
What it costs
Two numbers, and they are not the same number.
Cloud costs split into what Microsoft charges and what happier IT charges. A single blended figure hides one of them.
Microsoft licences are billed per user, per month, at prices Microsoft publishes. Which plan you need is worth ten minutes:
- Business Premium is capped at 300 users and bundles the security tooling most organizations your size need, device management, endpoint protection and conditional access.
- E3 removes the seat cap and adds data-governance tooling, though its advanced threat protection is an add-on. It earns its place past 300 people, or when a requirement names an E3-only feature.
- E5 adds the top security stack plus telephony. Plenty of organizations pay for E5 seats whose holders use none of it, and plans can be mixed within one tenant.
happier IT’s fee Migration is fixed-price, quoted after the mapping step and never before. See our guide to managed IT pricing in Canada.
The saving people do not expect
The licence review often pays for a chunk of the migration by itself, which is what happens when licences get added one at a time over five years.
We will also say when your licensing is already fine.
Go deeper
Specialisms under this service
Each of these is a distinct piece of work with its own page. Most clients need some of them, not all of them.
Microsoft 365 Management
Tidy tenant, smaller bill.
Ongoing Microsoft 365 administration for Canadian organizations: licence right-sizing, tenant hygiene, SharePoint and Teams sprawl, and guest access.
Cloud & Data Centre Services
Servers, somewhere sensible.
Canadian hosting, colocation, virtual servers and hybrid setups for organizations of 15 to 200 people, which systems to move, and which to leave alone.
Why us for this
The people watching your Microsoft 365 tenant work for happier IT.
Microsoft 365 is where most organizations keep everything that matters. happier IT runs its own security operations centre, the team that reviews unusual activity, such as a sign-in from a country your staff have never visited, staffed by our own employees, in Canada.
A cloud environment is only as safe as the identities reaching into it, and the people who set your sign-in rules are the ones who notice when something looks off. Our staffed hours are 24/7, with the Surrey office on Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Pacific, and our Microsoft certifications are listed on our awards and certifications page.
Go deeper
- Microsoft 365 services Licensing, migration and administration in detail.
- Microsoft 365 security Hardening the tenant, not just filling it.
- Data centre and private cloud For applications that will not move.
Questions
What people ask before they sign anything.
Should we move our file server to SharePoint?
Usually yes, but not all of it and not as a straight copy. SharePoint and OneDrive suit documents people edit and share. They are a poor fit for databases several people open at once, large CAD files with linked references, and application data folders, those belong on a cloud server.
What is the difference between Microsoft 365 Business Premium and E3?
Business Premium is capped at 300 users and includes security and device management in the price. E3 has no seat cap and carries more data-governance features, but its advanced threat protection is an add-on. For most organizations of 15 to 200 people, Business Premium covers more for less.
Is our data stored in Canada if we use Microsoft 365?
Yes, if your tenant was created with Canada as its country. Microsoft stores data at rest for its main services, email, files, Teams, in its Canadian regions for tenants provisioned that way. Not every service follows the same rule, so where a contract turns on the answer we check your tenant and confirm in writing.
How long does a Microsoft 365 migration take?
For 15 to 200 people, plan for weeks rather than days, with most of that spent mapping and designing rather than moving. What drives it is how much data you hold, how tangled the permissions are, and how many applications touch your files. You get a date range after mapping, not before.
Does Microsoft back up our Microsoft 365 data?
Not in the way most people picture. Microsoft keeps the service running and holds short-term recovery options, deleted SharePoint and OneDrive items sit in a recycle bin for 93 days by default. That is retention, and Microsoft’s own agreement recommends keeping your own copy as well. See backup and disaster recovery.
Are we paying for licences we do not need?
Very possibly, and it is quick to check. Three findings come up repeatedly: seats still assigned to people who have left, a tier bought for one feature nobody used, and paid subscriptions for file sync, video meetings or e-signature that Microsoft already covers.
Do we still need a server in the office?
Sometimes, and it is fine if you do. An application that only runs locally, a machine controlling equipment, or a site with unreliable internet are all good reasons. The goal is not to eliminate servers for their own sake, but to be deliberate about which ones earn their place.
Related
Where to go next.
Want to know what this would look like for you?
A 30-minute call. No slides, no audit fee, no obligation. We ask what is breaking and tell you honestly whether we are the right fit.