Microsoft 365 Migration for an 8-Person McLean Consulting Firm
A McLean consulting firm needed to move 8 users from a mix of personal Gmails and a janky shared Dropbox to a proper Microsoft 365 setup — without losing email history, breaking client folder permissions, or interrupting two active proposals.
The situation
An 8-person McLean consulting firm was running on a tangle: 5 founders on personal Gmail (using a paid domain forwarder), 3 contractors on Google Workspace from a previous engagement, a shared Dropbox folder with permissions no one fully understood, and zero MFA anywhere. They had two active client proposals due in the next two weeks and could not afford downtime.
What I did
Mapped every user, every shared resource, every external collaborator, and every recurring email forwarder. Documented the existing folder permission structure in Dropbox so I could replicate it in SharePoint.
Built the new Microsoft 365 Business Standard tenant. Created users, applied conditional access (MFA required, no legacy auth, country-restricted sign-ins). Configured shared mailboxes for sales@ and info@.
Migrated 12 months of email history via IMAP for each user. Updated DNS MX records on Friday evening; new mail flowed to M365 by Saturday morning. Old Gmails kept as read-only archives for 90 days as fallback.
Dropbox → SharePoint using a 1:1 folder structure. Preserved external client access by inviting client emails as guest users. Re-tested every share link manually.
90-minute hands-on session covering Outlook, OneDrive sync, SharePoint navigation, MFA setup, and what to do if MFA fails. Recorded the session for the two contractors who couldn't make it live.
The result
Zero email lost. Zero missed days on either active proposal. Two minor permission fixes needed in the first week (one external CFO needed extended guest access; one shared folder had inherited permissions that needed manual override). 90 days post-migration, the firm has had no security incidents, no data loss events, and the founders report saving roughly 4 hours/week not fighting with the old toolset.
At a glance
Names, identifying details, and timelines have been anonymized at the client's request. Anyone in a similar situation is welcome to call for a free 15-minute consult — I'll tell you honestly whether I can help.