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IT director warns of looming Microsoft 365 migration costs and staffing risks
Summary
County IT reported its on-premises email system is out of vendor support and estimated a first-year migration cost of roughly $50,000 and recurring licensing for about 400 users at roughly $250 per user per year (~$100,000). The IT director urged hiring and retention to preserve in-house capability.
The county’s IT director told the commissioners the current on-site email and server environment is no longer supported by Microsoft and that migration to a cloud-based Microsoft 365 environment is effectively required.
He estimated a first-year migration expense of roughly $50,000 for licensing and a separate migration/implementation cost in the tens of thousands, and said recurring annual licensing for about 400 county users averages roughly $250 per user per year (about $100,000 annually). He also flagged potential costs if state-supported cybersecurity products (CrowdStrike, etc.) are no longer provided and recommended building staff capacity to retain internal expertise rather than outsourcing all services.
The director recommended budgeting for recurring licensing and migration implementation now, noting the county’s email servers and other on-premises services are approaching end-of-life and that continuing to defer will increase security and operational risk.
