Move your IT environment to the cloud – then optimise it for lower costs, better security, and greater scalability.
years in business
clients
professionals
I want to move away from on-premises servers.
I want to cut my cloud-related costs.
I want to scale my organisation without hardware roadblocks.
Run your organisation’s IT in a public, private or hybrid cloud for scalable, right-sized computing.
Moving to the cloud shouldn’t be a lift-and-shift. Migrate in a way that helps you take advantage of the cloud’s many benefits.
Take advantage of Microsoft offerings like SharePoint, Intune, and Active Directory by hosting your IT in Azure.
Host your cloud privately on our Brisbane-based servers for better optimisation and full data sovereignty.
Cloud should never compromise security. Architect your environment to meet government standards like the Essential Eight and the Blueprint for Secure Cloud.
Keep your data confidential, intact and accessible at all times with automated point-in-time backups. Even if your security is compromised, your business’s operations won’t be.
Matt Harrison
Service Desk Manager
VS
Have the option of hosting your cloud on our Brisbane servers – full data sovereignty that complies with Australian laws.
| N+1 UPS | Our centre always has at least one extra uninterruptible power supply device for redundancy. |
|---|---|
| N+1 cooling capacity | Our centre’s cooling system always has at least one extra component for redundancy. |
| Dual VESDA fire detection, FM200 fire suppression, Co2 extinguishers | VESDA is a leading-edge detection system that detects fires early – which can be extinguished with FM200, a clean agent that doesn’t affect server components. |
| GE challenger security system | Our centre is protected by an integrated security system that blends everything from smart video surveillance to population tracking. |
|---|---|
| Underfloor power and data cable trays | Raised floors simplify cable cooling and management. |
| 234 square metres of non-technical space | An above-standard floor height improves air flow and prevents cables from forming ‘heat dams’. |
| NOC manned from 7 am to 8:30 pm from Monday to Friday, with 24/7 on-call staffing | Offices, amenities, and a network operation centre (NOC) are all located on-site. |
| Located above BCC’s 100-year flood lines | Staffing during peak periods helps ensure near-continuous uptime. |
Talk through your business’s current IT with one of our IT change consultants.
They’ll explain the benefits you can expect when you switch to IT Leaders.
One of our technicians audits your current IT system.
We’ll then put together a proposal that includes every product and service you need in one monthly invoice.
Changing IT providers isn’t like it used to be.
Most of our clients switch to us with fewer than 5 minutes of downtime.
Change can be that easy.
Helping Queensland brands take control
since 2003.
A cloud environment is, at its most basic, a computing environment that’s accessible through a wide area network (WAN). Your data is stored in a server and retrieved through a WAN like the internet.
Most cloud computing uses a technology called virtualisation. Rather than data being stored directly on a physical server (which is known as ‘bare metal’), a software layer called a hypervisor creates multiple virtual machines (VMs) using one or more server’s resources. Because a VM is virtual, its computing capacity can be easily scaled up or down as needed. (It’s also much easier to restore a VM if there’s a major outage.)
That means Company A, Company B, and Company C could all have their own cloud environments running on the same physical server. Without cloud computing, each company would need its own server – even though it would only use a third of the server’s capacity.
A cloud environment is different to an on-premises environment, where data is stored in an onsite server and retrieved through a local area network (LAN). In other words, if the internet went down, you could still access all your on-premises data as long as you had power.
No, the cloud isn’t inherently less secure than a traditional on-premises environment. As long as your MSP sets up your cyber security properly, the cloud is often more resilient. You don’t need to physically secure on-prem servers, for example, or worry about ongoing management.
Cloud security issues often arise when users have excessive permissions or bypass governance controls. For example, if your staff have the ability to deploy workloads on their own, those workloads may not be visible to your MSP – and even the best providers can’t secure what they can’t see. To mitigate this risk, centralise cloud governance and ensure all deployments go through approved channels. This allows your MSP to maintain visibility, enforce security policies, and respond to threats effectively.
The first step in any migration is master planning – assessing the business case, probable ROI, and technical feasibility of moving to the cloud. (Your MSP can help you accurately map out the true cost of a migration and the payback period.)
If master planning reveals that your organisation could benefit from moving to the cloud, the next step is to compose a cloud strategy. For example, what apps and data will be moved to the cloud? What kind of cloud environment will suit you best? How long will the transition take, how much will it cost, and who will be involved? What will your cloud security look like? Architecting a full strategy can seem like a lot of work, but it’s much cheaper (and faster) than a botched migration.
After your strategy is finalised, your MSP will work with you to implement the migration. The average SMB can expect their cloud transition to take around a month to execute properly.
Cloud architecture refers to how your cloud is organised and structured. All clouds are made up of 3 components:
You don’t typically need to understand the technical details to host your business in the cloud. Your MSP will handle those aspects for you. The main takeaway is that cloud architecture is quite different to on-premises architecture – if you ask your MSP to do a lift-and-shift migration, things might break. Instead, give them the budget and time to properly rearchitect your apps and services so they run optimally in a cloud environment.
It depends on your organisation’s current IT environment. For example, if you’re carrying the cost of an on-premises deployment – the servers, the space they require, the technicians who have to maintain them, the productivity losses from outdated infrastructure – you’ll probably see fairly strong savings by switching to a modern cloud environment.
Exactly how much those savings are will vary. The simplest way to find out is to ask your MSP to perform a cost analysis that compares on-prem to cloud over the lifespan of the proposed cloud contract.
