The brief

The Engineering Network (TEN) connects the UK's machine builders, systems integrators and manufacturers through industry insight and events. The team behind it has well over a century of combined experience in engineering publishing and events.

We've looked after their IT since 2022. Over that time the brief has grown from fixing things when they broke to owning how their IT is set up, secured and supported. In early 2026 they signed off a bigger piece of work: get off Google Workspace, sort out the phones, and lock down every device.

What was broken

Their setup had grown one piece at a time. It worked, but it wasn't joined up.

  • Around 250GB of email and a 200GB shared drive on Google Workspace, while the industry they work in runs on Microsoft
  • No real phone system: everyone used mobiles, and the only landline rang on the MD's desk
  • 12 standalone laptops and PCs, each set up differently, with no central control
  • Third-party antivirus, renewed and checked machine by machine
  • No consistent way to push updates, enforce policies or see the health of the estate
  • A team that's regularly out running events, needing support wherever they are

What we did

We ran it as one joined-up project rather than a string of separate jobs. Sign-off was in January 2026 and the firm was fully live on Microsoft 365 in February. Three to four weeks, start to finish, with the team working normally throughout.

Microsoft 365 and Teams Phone first

We stood up the Microsoft 365 Business Premium tenant and got Teams Phone live straight away, working with our telephony partner. That gave the team an immediate win while the heavier migration work ran in the background.

Before this, TEN didn't really have a phone system. Staff used their mobiles, and the one landline rang on the MD's desk, which made the MD the switchboard. Now the business number rings across the team on laptops and mobiles, in the same app they use for chat and meetings. Calls get answered, transferred and picked up by whoever's free. The MD gets their desk back.

Email and data, seeded in the background

While the phones were going in, we started seeding email and files from Google Workspace into Microsoft 365. That's 19 mailboxes covering all 11 users plus the firm's shared mailboxes, around 250GB of email in total, with calendars and contacts intact. The 200GB shared drive was mapped into SharePoint sites, keeping the folder structure the team already knew, so nobody had to relearn where things lived.

Because the bulk of the data was already across by cutover, the final switch only had to pick up the last few days of changes. Quick, clean, and no weekend of people wondering where their email had gone.

From standalone machines to Intune

All 12 devices were brought under Microsoft Intune. Instead of a dozen individually configured machines, TEN now has one managed estate. Policies, updates, encryption and apps are set once and applied everywhere. A new starter's laptop arrives configured. A lost laptop gets locked or wiped remotely. No drama.

One security stack with Microsoft Defender

We stripped out the per-machine third-party antivirus and standardised on Microsoft Defender, included in Business Premium and managed alongside Intune. One security stack, one console, one view of every device's health. No separate renewals, and no wondering whether a machine's protection had quietly lapsed.

Business Premium was the right licence for all of this because it brings email, files, Teams, device management and proper security under one roof, without bolting on extra products.

Support at the office and on the road

Events are the heart of TEN's business, so support can't stop at the office door. Day-to-day support runs remotely, with regular onsite visits to keep on top of the kit and the people using it. On event days we're on remote standby, so a laptop, presentation or connection problem gets fixed before the audience notices.

The result

  • Teams Phone live first, giving the business a proper phone system from week one
  • 11 users and 19 mailboxes moved from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 Business Premium in 3 to 4 weeks
  • Around 450GB of email and files migrated, including a 200GB shared drive into SharePoint
  • Data seeded in the background, so cutover was quick and the team kept working throughout
  • All 12 devices centrally managed through Intune
  • Microsoft Defender protecting the whole estate, replacing per-machine antivirus
  • Remote support on event days, plus regular onsite visits
  • A long-term IT partner who knows the business, not a ticket queue

Need something similar?

If you're weighing up a move from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365, your business is still running on standalone machines and per-device antivirus, or your phones are just a collection of mobiles, we can help. See our Microsoft 365, M365 vs Workspace, Cyber Security and Kent IT support pages, or get in touch for a chat.

Looking for a different kind of project? Read about our Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 migration for a London advisory firm or our WiFi and LAN install at Istead Rise Community Centre.