In 2022, Marco began evaluating a major shift: migrating its PSA (Professional Services Automation) system from an on-premises environment to the cloud-based ConnectWise PSA platform. The objectives were clear—reduce infrastructure overhead, improve security, and leverage advanced automation capabilities on the ConnectWise Asio platform. 

Setting the Stage: How IT Nation Kickstarted Marco’s PSA Migration Journey

The initial conversation began at IT Nation, where Marco and ConnectWise explored what it would take to migrate PSA to the cloud. IT Nation served as a catalyst, showcasing industry trends toward cloud-first strategies and highlighting the operational and security advantages of leaving on-prem infrastructure behind. 

At the time, Marco operated three mission-critical environments—development, testing, and production—plus unused sandboxes. Any disruption could have significant business impact, so the team knew a well-planned, low-risk migration was essential to protect continuity while unlocking long-term efficiency gains.

Laying the Groundwork: Comprehensive Planning and Validation for a Flawless Migration

For two years, the Marco team carefully evaluated risks and dependencies. As Amy Jahraus, Sr. Manager of IT Customer Experience, explained: “We took such care and such time, and resource capital was expended to make sure it was perfect.”

The first step was conducting a comprehensive inventory of all customizations and integrations. This included identifying and testing SQL scripts and SSIS packages for compatibility, evaluating API integrations for potential rewrites or adjustments, and checking third-party tools for cloud readiness.

With ConnectWise’s support, Marco set up a cloud production environment for testing. While the stock functionality worked immediately, custom components required thorough validation. Jahraus explained, “We treated the migration like an internal project. We assigned a project manager, built a Smartsheet plan, and involved every IT unit. We did months of testing and validating before pulling the trigger.”

Precision in Action: How Marco Delivered a Seamless Go-Live

When the team was ready, the actual cutover process was smooth and well-orchestrated. “The move from on-prem to ConnectWise cloud is very easy, very clear-cut, and well-defined. For smaller partners, it can feel like flipping a switch. For us, we staged it—dev first, then test, then production.” ConnectWise provided strong support throughout the go-live phase. “They were on the phone at 7:30 AM every day for a week and a half. We had three or four issues, all resolved quickly.” 

The success of the migration was best captured by Marco’s CTO, who messaged, ‘I thought we were moving to the cloud.’ When I told him the migration was complete, his response was, “Excellent job—I didn’t even hear about it.’ For me, that was the highest compliment that could be paid,” Jahraus emphasized.

Transformative Results: Cost Savings, Security, and Scalable Growth

Post-migration, Marco experienced immediate and measurable benefits that transformed both operations and financial outcomes. “Cost savings were recognizable, eliminating the need for on-premises hardware, dedicated maintenance staff, and costly lifecycle upgrades,” Jahraus said. “This shift freed up capital for strategic initiatives rather than infrastructure upkeep.”

Operational efficiency increased with automated updates, ensuring the PSA system was always running on the latest version—without manual intervention or downtime. This not only reduced administrative overhead but also accelerated innovation cycles.

Security posture improved dramatically, with vulnerabilities minimized through enterprise-grade cloud hosting and proactive threat management. Compliance became easier to maintain, and risk exposure dropped significantly. Performance remained consistently high for end users, delivering a seamless experience across all environments. As Jahraus summarized: “From a cost perspective, it’s great. From a performance perspective, it’s the same.”

Beyond these immediate wins, the migration positioned Marco for long-term scalability and resilience, enabling faster onboarding of new services, simplified disaster recovery, and a future-proof architecture aligned with modern MSP best practices. “The biggest risk isn’t the cloud—it’s your own environment. There’s no reason not to move to the cloud as long as you have your ducks in a row.”