#36375 Cloud computing needs and cost

Created from Lead: https://artichoke.shield.syncromsp.com/leads/36169059/convert

Hi Peet,

We are in the latter stages of researching the programs we are going to make the switch to. Will you please let us know what you would recommend for moving to the cloud? The equipment we’ll need as well as the cost involved?

Thanks,

Tammy

Tammy Nabozney

Big Sky Brewing Company – Accounting

(406)529-2226

Hi Tammy, Bjorn, and Joe,

Sorry it’s taken a bit for me to put this together. I had a programming project run into some thorny issues. I wanted to get you a clear overview of what Artichoke Managed Services includes, and what the path forward looks like as BSB moves forward with the new ERP and a more modern infrastructure.

Before we move into the modernization work, the first step is getting BSB onto Managed Services so I have full visibility into the environment and can begin managing everything proactively. As part of onboarding, I’ll go through a complete inventory of systems, accounts, and any remaining legacy dependencies. Some of the migration timelines will depend on what stays in place for the new ERP and whether any older systems need to be maintained or rebuilt. From there, there are several clear modernization steps we can work through ahead of the ERP migration:

· Migrating away from on-premises infrastructure

· Retiring the existing Hyper-V environment

· Phasing out the local Active Directory domain (assuming the ERP supports cloud identity)

· Moving fully into a cloud-based workflow using modern identity and security controls

· Implementing Conditional Access and zero-trust policies to better support and secure remote access

Post-ERP, we should be able to turn down everything except a legacy/archival instance of GP and CounterPoint.

The goals are to remove single points of failure in the current stack and position BSB for a cleaner, more secure foundation as operations continue to grow. To support that transition, here’s the high-level view of what Artichoke Managed Services includes:

Artichoke Managed Services ($150/FTE/month):

· Day-to-day IT support for users (login issues, email, Teams/Office, printing, workstation problems)

· Remote troubleshooting and workstation maintenance

· Security baselines, patching, and full endpoint protection with continuous behavioral threat monitoring

· Round-the-clock detection of malicious activity, persistence attempts, or anything unusual happening on a device

· Human-reviewed threat investigation and coordinated response whenever something looks off

· Automatic device isolation in the event of a confirmed threat to prevent spread

· Microsoft 365 administration (accounts, MFA, access, licensing, Conditional Access policies, etc.)

· Monitoring of Microsoft 365 for suspicious mailbox rules, unauthorized access attempts, and risky sign-in patterns

· Email and cloud security monitoring, including detection of phishing attempts or malicious app connections

· Wi-Fi, VPN, and network troubleshooting

· Basic adjustments to DNS, DHCP, and firewall settings

· Vendor coordination when issues involve ERP, ISP, or other third parties

· Ongoing guidance on security posture and best practices

Included Services and Additional Work:

Included Services: The items above are the day-to-day support and management tasks covered under Managed Services — for example, helping someone who can’t log in, fixing an email issue, or tuning Microsoft Defender anti-spam or antimalware settings.

Additional Work: Anything outside those items — such as project work, migrations, system changes, or one-off needs — is billed at the standard rates of $120/hr remote and $150/hr onsite. This includes efforts like preparing for the ERP migration or moving your on-premises file server into Microsoft SharePoint.

We can tackle migrating and retiring your on-premises storage and identity management (user logins) either hourly or as a fixed-price project. We’ll need to discuss plans and expectations to get to a solid estimate, but migrating your file server data to SharePoint should be straightforward, and the same goes for moving your workstations to Microsoft Entra for logins, access controls, and management — though Microsoft still has not provided an automated method for migrating a device.

Those two steps represent the bulk of your migration away from on-premises dependencies (outside of GP and CounterPoint), and based on what I know about your environment, should be manageable within 50 hours of project time. If everything goes smoothly and someone internally organizes the server data ahead of time, it could potentially come in closer to 30 hours.

Beyond project time, you will also need to move from your current Microsoft 365 Business Standard licensing to Microsoft 365 Business Premium. That shifts you from $15/user/month on your current month-to-month contract to $22/user/month with an annual agreement billed monthly. With your current user count, the increase should be under $175/month.

After a full audit of your infrastructure, I’ll know whether any local upgrades or modernization are needed. I’m confident you need a new router ($350) and likely two new switches ($1,300 each). Both are 10+ year investments. Depending on what needs to happen with the legacy or archival installations of GP and CounterPoint, we may also need to build a new solution to host them. There are many ways to handle that, so the final plan is still TBD.

Monthly Cost Summary

Right now, BSB is spending roughly $1,200/month across Microsoft licensing and various Artichoke add-on tools, without centralized management or the security foundation needed to support the new ERP and a cloud-first infrastructure. Under the new model, Artichoke Managed Services would be $3,000/month (20 FTE × $150), and Microsoft 365 Business Premium licensing (25 users) would be paid directly to Microsoft at about $550/month.

That puts your total monthly IT spend at roughly $3,550/month, and consolidates everything into a single, fully managed service. Instead of piecemeal tools and reactive fixes, you gain continuous monitoring, security oversight, identity protection, long-term planning, and a stable cloud environment that won’t require large one-off recoveries or rebuilds. It creates a predictable operational baseline, which should reduce the need for “big catch-up projects” and smooth out future costs.

I have attached a copy of the Framework Service Agreement and a list your licensed users for you to review. Once I have an accurate FTE count and everything looks good on your end, I can resend it for e-signature. If you need any changes or want to talk through any details before moving forward, I am happy to chat anytime.

Cheers.Peet

Hi Peet,

Thanks for putting this together. We are looking at a few accounting products. If we stay with Microsoft 365, Craig and I would be the only users with full access and we would have 2 or 3 people with limited, viewing access. Would this change your numbers?

Tammy Nabozney

Big Sky Brewing Company – Accounting

(406)529-2226

From: Artichoke Support - Peet <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, November 14, 2025 7:06 PM
To: Tammy Nabozney <[email protected]>
Cc: Bjorn Nabozney <[email protected]>; Joe Petrilli <[email protected]>
Subject: Cloud computing needs and cost (message id: 101429240)

Tammy,

No, it would not change the numbers in any substantial way, but we will need to put together a clear plan for how you want to access the old data going forward. You answered one important part of that puzzle, only you and Craig would need access to the application and data. That means Dynamics and Counterpoint still need to stay running and online in some fashion, and we cannot just migrate everything to a single workstation and call it good.

The second piece is how long the Dynamics and CounterPoint data needs to remain live and accessible. We will keep backups of everything, of course, but if the systems need to stay online for a year or two, or longer, it makes more sense to move them off the current servers and onto a newer virtual host or a small dedicated machine. That gives you stable long term access without keeping the whole legacy environment alive out of nostalgia.

If you let me know your expected timeline for historical access, I can put together a couple of options that fit both cost and sanity.

Thanks.Peet

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