Palisades case study
Met a prospective client's security requirements and won the partnership.
Client success storiesAccounting
Regency Partners switches off its office server 18 days after the first PC moves to the cloud
Regency Partners is a Leederville accounting firm offering audit, tax, business advisory and corporate finance. When it moved its IT to us in mid 2024, the whole firm still ran on an ageing office server. We moved every PC to Entra ID and Microsoft 365, switched the server off 18 days after the first PC moved, then refreshed devices for Windows 11 and moved printing to the cloud.
- 18 daysFrom the first PC moved to the office server switched off
- 2 weeksTo move every staff PC to Entra ID
- 7New Windows 11 laptops built over one weekend
- 1 weekFrom approval to cloud printing live
01The challenge
Where Regency started
Regency's staff signed in to an office server that ran the domain, the file shares and remote desktop. It was short on disk space and had started dropping offline. The firm wanted to stop maintaining a server altogether, but it couldn't afford a messy cutover in the middle of client work, and its document management system plugs straight into Outlook.
A server near the end of its life
One ageing host ran the domain controller, the file shares and remote desktop. Disk space was running out and the servers had started dropping offline.
Software that had to keep working
Regency relies on FYI for document management inside Outlook, along with Xero Practice Manager and other cloud tools. None of it could break while staff moved across.
Licences that didn't fit
Some staff were on Microsoft 365 E3 licences that were really only paying for mailbox space.
02What we did
Off the server, onto Microsoft 365
We took over the account in mid 2024, stabilised what was there, then planned the move with Regency's client services manager so each group of staff knew when their PC would change.
/01
Every PC joined to Entra ID
One automated job moved each user's profile and joined the PC to Entra ID in a single step. We tested it on a virtual machine before touching a real PC.
/02
Files out of the office
Staff moved their home drives to OneDrive before cutover and shared files moved to SharePoint, with guidance on sharing documents with clients.
/03
The server switched off
DHCP and DNS moved to the firewall, a final backup was taken, and the domain controller was shut down on 1 November 2024.
/04
Windows 11 on new hardware
In August 2025 we audited every machine, then built ten new devices through the same automated process, seven of them over one weekend.
/05
Cloud printing
Both office printers moved to cloud printing. A script removed the printers staff had added by hand, so every PC sees the same two.
/06
Security and backup
Email security, endpoint detection and response, Microsoft 365 monitoring, security awareness training and Microsoft 365 backup under one managed plan.
03How we delivered it
Test it, move in groups, then switch off
Step 1
Take over and assess
From June 2024 we put monitoring and email security in place, reviewed the server and matched licences to how people worked.
Step 2
Prove the process
The migration job was built and tested on a virtual machine, written up step by step, and the staff list split across two days.
Step 3
Move in groups
Migrations began on Monday 14 October 2024, with an engineer on site in the following days to sort out add ins and Outlook profiles.
Step 4
Switch off
Every active user and spare PC was done by 28 October. The server was backed up and shut down on 1 November.
Planned and delivered by our team in Subiaco, Perth.
Meet the teamEngineers, project leads and account managers
In their words
What Regency Partners says about working with us
“Everything appears to be running smoothly and I have had no reports of any issues since the server was shut down. Many thanks for all your help during the transition.”
Alicia SmithClient Services Manager, Regency Partners
04The results
The difference for Regency
What changed Results
- 01The office server switched off 18 days after the first PC moved
- 02Every staff PC on Entra ID and Microsoft 365, with FYI still working in Outlook
- 03Ten new Windows 11 devices in place before Windows 10 support ended
- 04Two printers every PC finds on its own, with no print server to look after
What made it work Approach
- 01Testing the migration on a virtual machine before touching a real PC
- 02Moving staff in groups, with an engineer on site afterwards
- 03Keeping the old server backed up until every user was confirmed
- 04One account manager across every project
Today
Regency now runs on Microsoft 365 and cloud software with no server to maintain in the office. Our service desk handles day to day support and new starters, and security monitoring runs around the clock on its computers and Microsoft 365 accounts.
05More client stories
More results from businesses like yours
Every story follows the same shape: the problem, what we changed and what happened next.
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Trinity United case study
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Stories from single offices through to national operations.
All client success stories06Next step
Talk to the team
behind this project.
Tell us what you are working on. A senior engineer will review your IT and security, then outline a plan you can act on, whether you work with us or not.
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Level 2, 541 Hay Street, Subiaco WA 6008
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