Cloud Solutions for New Zealand Business
Move off ageing servers onto a platform hosted in New Zealand, with Microsoft 365 properly set up around it. Migrated and supported by a local team.
Supporting New Zealand businesses since 1989
What are cloud solutions?
Cloud solutions means running your business systems on infrastructure someone else owns, maintains and secures, reached over the internet, instead of on a server sitting in your building. You rent capacity and capability rather than buying, housing and replacing the hardware. Cloud services and cloud computing describe the same thing, and the words get used interchangeably.
In practice it covers three different things that often get bundled under one word: the productivity tools your staff use every day, the line-of-business applications and files that used to live on a server in the comms room, and the platform underneath both. Moving to cloud usually means deciding which of those goes where, and in what order.
The server in the comms room is a deadline nobody set
On-premises servers do not fail politely. They run for years, then reach an operating system that stops receiving security updates, or a disk fails on a Friday, and suddenly a decision that could have been planned over months has to be made in a week.
Meanwhile the data has been quietly spreading. Some of it is on the server, some in Microsoft 365, some in a cloud app a department signed up for, and some on a laptop. Nobody can answer where a given file lives, who can reach it, or whether it is backed up.
Moving to cloud is not really a technology project. It is the point where somebody finally decides what runs where.
What we do
The three parts of a move to cloud
Most engagements involve all three, in this order.
A platform hosted in New Zealand
Our own hosted platform keeps applications and data inside New Zealand, under New Zealand privacy law, with no offshore transfer to explain to a client or an auditor. It also means lower latency for New Zealand users, which matters more than people expect for anything database-driven.
Microsoft 365, configured properly
Licensing, tenant setup, security configuration, and the parts most businesses never turn on. Outlook, Teams, SharePoint and the Office apps are the easy bit. Conditional access, retention and sharing rules are where the value and the risk actually sit. See Microsoft 365.
The migration itself
Assessment, sequencing, data transfer, reconfiguration and getting staff working on the other side. Downtime is a scheduling question more than a technical one, so cutovers are planned around when the business is not using the system.
Where things go
Not everything belongs in the same place
The useful question is not whether to move to cloud. It is which of your systems goes where, and there are three honest answers.
Microsoft 365 and SaaS
Email, files, collaboration and the applications you buy as a subscription.
- Fits anything standard that every business runs the same way
- You get scale, constant updates and no infrastructure to own
- Watch for where the data physically sits, and what your obligations say about that
Hosted in New Zealand
Line-of-business applications and data on infrastructure we run, inside the country.
- Fits systems with data sovereignty or residency obligations, and latency-sensitive databases
- You get New Zealand jurisdiction, local support, and a named team that knows your build
- Watch for the applications that genuinely need it, rather than moving everything
On-premises, for now
Equipment or applications that are not worth moving yet.
- Fits plant systems, specialist hardware, and software the vendor has not modernised
- You get to avoid paying to move something twice
- Watch for the support end date, which is the real deadline. See Windows Server end of life
Most New Zealand businesses end up with a mix, and that is the right answer rather than a compromise. What matters is that the split is deliberate and written down, not the residue of decisions nobody revisited. See hybrid cloud for how the mixed model works in practice.
Cost
What do cloud solutions cost in New Zealand?
Cloud changes the shape of the spend before it changes the size of it. A capital purchase every five years becomes a monthly operating cost, which is easier to budget and harder to ignore.
What you pay monthly
Microsoft 365 licensing per user, hosting for whatever sits on our platform, and management. It scales with people and with what you actually run, so it moves when the business does rather than staying fixed until the next capital round.
What you pay once
The migration. Assessment, planning, data transfer, reconfiguration and staff onboarding, quoted as a fixed figure before the work starts so it does not turn into an open-ended project.
What moves the number:
- How many users need licensing, and which Microsoft 365 plan actually fits them, since most businesses are on the wrong one in at least one direction
- How much sits on the server today and how much of it is still needed, because migrations are a good moment to stop paying to move data nobody has opened in six years
- Whether applications need hosting or can move to a subscription version
- How tangled the current setup is, which is the factor that surprises people most
- Whether your internet connection is up to it, since everything you move becomes dependent on it. See business internet
The honest position is that cloud is not always cheaper on a spreadsheet. It is more predictable, it removes the replacement cycle, and it usually buys back time. Where the numbers do not support moving something, we will say so.
The process
How a cloud migration actually runs
Find out what you actually have
Every migration starts with an inventory nobody has done before: applications, data volumes, dependencies, licensing, and which systems talk to which. This is where the surprises live, and finding them now is considerably cheaper than finding them mid-cutover.
Decide what goes where
Each system gets a destination and a reason: Microsoft 365, our hosted platform, or staying put. Written down, so the decision survives the person who made it.
Sequence it
Order matters more than speed. Things that other systems depend on move first, the riskiest cutover gets the most rehearsal, and anything tied to a month end waits for the right week.
Move and verify
Data transfers, systems get reconfigured and tested, and the old environment stays available until the new one is proven. Cutovers are scheduled for when the business is not using the system, so any disruption is planned rather than discovered.
Tidy up behind it
The old server gets decommissioned and securely wiped rather than left humming in a cupboard, and the documentation gets updated so the next person inherits a map. See secure IT disposal.
Your data stays in the country, and so does the support
- Data sovereignty, not just hosting. Our platform keeps applications and data onshore, under New Zealand privacy law and New Zealand jurisdiction. When a client or an auditor asks where the data lives and whose law governs it, the answer is short.
- Lower latency for New Zealand users. Distance is physics. Anything database-driven feels different when the server is in the same country as the people using it.
- We run the network too. Cloud performance problems are usually connection problems. There is nobody to hand that to, because we already look after it.
- We will tell you not to move something. Some systems are not worth migrating yet, and saying so is cheaper for you than a project that has to be undone.
- Local teams. Christchurch and Dunedin, on site for the cutover rather than on a call from another time zone.
- Since 1989. More than 35 years of New Zealand business technology, through every platform shift so far.
Go deeper
The detail behind each of these
Everything above is covered at length elsewhere on the site. Start wherever your question sits.
Platforms and models
Getting there
Where we work
Cloud solutions in Christchurch and Dunedin
On site when it counts
Teams based in Christchurch since 2009 and Dunedin since 1989. Migrations are mostly remote work, but somebody is in the building for the cutover and the morning after, because that is when the questions arrive.
Nationwide remotely
For businesses elsewhere in New Zealand we run the same process remotely. The hosted platform does not care where your offices are, and neither does the support.
Questions
Cloud solutions FAQs
What do cloud solutions cost in New Zealand?
There are two parts: an ongoing monthly cost covering Microsoft 365 licensing per user, hosting for anything on our platform, and management; and a one-off migration cost quoted as a fixed figure before the work starts. What moves the number is how many users need licensing and which plan fits them, how much data is on the server today, whether applications need hosting or have a subscription version, how tangled the current setup is, and whether the internet connection needs work first.
Is our data still in New Zealand?
On the Exodesk hosted platform, yes. Applications and data stay onshore, subject to New Zealand privacy law, with no offshore transfer. Microsoft 365 is a separate question with its own data residency answer, and we will tell you plainly which of your systems sit where, because that is what an auditor or a client will eventually ask.
Do we have to move everything at once?
No, and you generally should not. Migrations are sequenced so that dependencies move first and the riskiest cutover gets the most rehearsal. Most businesses end up with a mix of cloud and on-premises for a period, and some stay that way permanently because it is the right answer for their systems.
How much downtime should we expect during a cloud migration?
Downtime is planned rather than left to chance. Cutovers happen outside working hours, the old environment stays available until the new one is proven, and anything tied to a month end waits for the right week. You get the expected window for your systems before the work starts.
Is cloud actually cheaper than a server?
Not always, once you compare the full picture honestly. What it changes is the shape of the spend: a capital purchase every few years becomes a predictable monthly cost, the replacement cycle disappears, and the time your team spends nursing hardware goes back into other work. Where the numbers do not support moving something, we say so.
What happens to our old server?
It is decommissioned properly rather than left running in a cupboard. Drives are securely wiped to recognised standards before disposal or redeployment, with documentation, because a retired server is one of the most common places business data quietly survives.
What if our internet goes down?
It becomes a bigger deal than it was, which is why we assess the connection before quoting rather than after. For most businesses the answer is a suitable connection with a failover path. It is a solvable problem, but it is not one to discover after the migration.
Can you help if we are already in the cloud but it is a mess?
Yes, and it is a common engagement. Tenants that grew organically usually have licensing nobody has reviewed, sharing settings nobody configured, and data in three places. Tidying an existing environment is often better value than any new migration.
Which Microsoft 365 plan do we need?
It depends on how your people work and what security and compliance obligations you carry. Most businesses we assess are on the wrong plan in at least one direction, either paying for capability nobody uses or missing controls they assumed were included. It is worth checking before renewal rather than after.
Does moving to cloud make us more secure?
It changes the risks rather than removing them. Patching and physical security stop being your problem, and identity becomes the main thing worth protecting. A migration is a good moment to fix access control properly. See cyber security services.
Do you support businesses with no internal IT?
That is most of who we work with. The migration is run end to end, and afterwards the environment is managed rather than handed over with a document and good wishes. See managed IT services.
Not sure what should move and what should stay?
That is the actual question, and it is the one we start with. Tell us what you are running now and we will tell you what is worth moving, in what order, and what is not.
Christchurch 03 343 3124 · Dunedin 03 479 2941 · Nationwide 0800 396 3375
About us
Cloud and IT from one team in Christchurch & Dunedin
Originally formed in 1989 as Willis White & Co, Exodesk was established in Dunedin by Chris Willis and Andrew White. We expanded to Christchurch in 2009, growing into one of New Zealand’s most established IT providers. Today we deliver cloud solutions, managed IT services, business phone systems and cyber security to businesses across Christchurch, Dunedin and beyond.
Contact us
For a cloud assessment or a scoped migration quote