Move off aging servers, file shares, and self-hosted apps into Microsoft Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud — properly, securely, and with a clear plan. Or build something new in the cloud from day one.
Move servers, file shares, and apps from on-premises to Microsoft Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud. Planned, tested, and executed without business interruption.
Design new cloud environments from scratch — networks, virtual machines, storage, identity, backups, and monitoring set up the way they should be.
Keep some things on-premises, move others to the cloud — and connect them cleanly. Often the right answer for businesses with specific local needs.
The most common small-business cloud move — get rid of the file server in the closet and put everything in OneDrive and SharePoint properly.
Already in the cloud and the bill keeps growing? We audit your usage, right-size your resources, and cut waste. Most clients see meaningful monthly savings.
For healthcare, First Nations organizations, and businesses with data sovereignty requirements — we configure workloads to stay in Canadian data centres.
If your business still has a server humming away in a back room or a closet, you’re paying for that server in ways that aren’t obvious — hardware that needs replacing every five years, power and cooling, a spot it needs to sit, a backup system, IT time spent maintaining it, and the very real risk of losing your data when it eventually dies on a Friday night.
Cloud trades all of that for a predictable monthly subscription. Your data lives in a professional data centre with redundancy, backup, and security at a scale no small business can match. Updates happen automatically. Failure of any single piece of hardware is invisible. And you can access everything from anywhere, on any device.
There are exceptions. If you have terabytes of files you touch daily and your internet is unreliable, cloud will be frustrating. If you have specific compliance requirements that mandate on-premises hosting, you need to stay on-premises — see our server setup & virtualization page if that’s you. We’ll tell you honestly which side of the line your business sits on instead of just selling you the migration.
Need broader technology strategy advice, not just a cloud move? See our IT consulting & fractional CTO services. Need Canadian data residency for your website or business email too? See our website hosting and business email pages.
Microsoft Azure is usually the natural choice for businesses already on Microsoft 365 — it integrates cleanly with your existing identity, Active Directory, and Office apps. Strong fit for small and mid-sized businesses doing standard infrastructure work.
AWS is the broadest and most mature cloud platform. Best for custom-built applications, complex architecture, and anything where breadth of services matters. We use AWS for web app hosting and bigger custom software projects.
Google Cloud is strong for data analytics, AI workloads, and businesses already on Google Workspace. We deploy here when it’s the right fit, but it’s not our default recommendation for general infrastructure work.
We pick the platform based on what fits your business, not what we’d prefer to sell. If you tell us you want to be on a specific one, we’ll work with that — and if you don’t have a preference, we’ll recommend the one that makes sense.
For most small businesses, yes — the maintenance, security, and hardware refresh costs of running your own servers usually exceed what you’d pay in cloud subscription fees. The exceptions are businesses with very high data volumes, strict on-premises compliance requirements, or unreliable internet. We’ll tell you honestly which group you’re in.
Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud Platform for infrastructure work. Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace for productivity. We’re platform-agnostic — we recommend whichever fits your needs and budget rather than pushing one vendor.
Migration projects vary widely — a simple file server to OneDrive or SharePoint move might be $1,500. A full lift-and-shift of an on-premises server to Azure or AWS, with proper backup and monitoring, runs $3,000–$10,000+ depending on complexity. We scope and quote flat rate before any work begins.
Usually less when you count everything — hardware replacement every 5 years, power and cooling, server-room space, backup systems, IT time, and downtime when something breaks. Cloud trades a big lumpy capital cost for a predictable monthly subscription. For most small businesses the total cost of ownership is lower.
Yes. Microsoft Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud all have Canadian data centres. We configure your workloads to stay in Canada when that’s a legal or contractual requirement — especially relevant for healthcare, First Nations organizations, and businesses with government contracts.
Yes. Hybrid cloud is often the right answer — keep specific things on-premises (high-bandwidth file servers, equipment that talks to local hardware) and move everything else to the cloud. We design hybrid setups that connect cleanly and back up properly.
Tell us what you're working on — we'll have an honest conversation about how we can help. No obligation.
hello@rainylaketech.ca