Santa Clarita in the Cloud
Moving to the cloud solves some problems and quietly creates others. The account that used to be reachable only from the office is now reachable from anywhere, and the data you assume is backed up usually is not. This page sets out what we run, the one assumption that costs practices the most, and how a migration is actually sequenced.
What we run, and how.
Both major platforms, managed the same way, with no reseller incentive pointing you at either.
Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace
Administration, security configuration, user and licensing management, and day-to-day support. You buy licensing direct at vendor rate and hold the tenant, so there is no markup on the line and nothing to unwind if you leave.
Identity and access
The real perimeter once the files leave the building. Multi-factor authentication, least-privilege roles, conditional access where the platform supports it, and a joiner and leaver process so a departure closes the account the same day rather than the same quarter.
Hybrid environments
Most practices are not all cloud and never will be. An imaging server, a practice-management database, or a piece of clinical software with a licence tied to hardware stays on site, and the job is making the two halves behave as one environment.
Remote and shared access
Secure remote access for the people who need it, scoped to what they need rather than to the whole network, and monitored the same way everything else is under cybersecurity.
Why the cloud is not a backup.
The most expensive belief in small-business IT, and it is built into how the platforms are sold.
Shared responsibility, in plain words
Microsoft and Google guarantee the availability of the service. You remain responsible for the data inside it. Their retention windows exist to recover from an outage on their side, not from a mistake on yours.
It is written into the terms you already agreed to. Almost nobody reads that far, which is exactly why it keeps costing people.
What actually passes straight through
- A departing employee deleting files on the way out.
- A compromised account emptying a mailbox.
- Ransomware encrypting files that then sync, cleanly, to the cloud copy.
- An honest mistake found four months later, well past the retention window.
The fix is not complicated, it is just a separate service: backup of cloud workloads to encrypted, immutable, offsite storage, which is covered under disaster recovery. Immutable means a copy cannot be altered or deleted before its retention expires, including by us. Ask any provider whether cloud backup is included or extra, and get the answer in writing. That question, and seventeen more, are published free at Observe Adapt Protect.
What a migration actually looks like.
Sequenced so the old environment stays reachable until the new one is proven.
Map it
Mailboxes, files, shared drives, permissions, distribution lists, and the applications quietly depending on any of it. Surprises belong here, not on cutover weekend.
Secure first
The new tenant is configured with identity, MFA, and access control in place before data arrives, rather than hardened afterward once everyone is already working in it.
Copy, then verify
Data is copied rather than moved, checked against the source, and the old environment stays available until the new one is confirmed working.
Cut over and back up
Cutover, then the part most migrations skip: cloud backup configured, and a restore actually tested rather than assumed.
What it costs, and what you sign.
All of it is a promise until you can check it. The pricing calculator returns a firm number for your own environment before you speak to anyone, and all six agreements are published in full. Four clauses that matter once your data lives somewhere else:
Client keeps ownership of all Client data and Client-provided materials. Nothing in this Agreement transfers ownership of Client data to SecureLynx.
SecureLynx recommends hardware and third-party licensing but does not sell, resell, purchase, or mark up either. Client purchases directly, holds the vendor relationship, and owns what it buys outright.
SecureLynx will provide the Client with its environment documentation, administrative credentials, and Client data in standard, machine-readable formats within twenty-five (25) days.
Backup scope covers shared files, local and cloud; individual workstation contents and cloud-hosted applications backed up by their own vendors are outside backup scope unless expressly listed.
Read them in context rather than trusting the excerpt. The last one is a limit rather than a promise, and it is on the page for that reason: a cloud-hosted EHR backed up by its own vendor is not inside our backup scope unless it is written into Section 10, and you should know that before an incident rather than during one.
Regulated environments carry obligations unregulated ones do not, so we scope separately for medical and dental practices and accounting firms, where cloud storage of records runs straight into compliance. The daily work underneath is managed IT.
Modern Infrastructure Requires Modern Security.
Run your own numbers, read the agreements, then call. Serving the Santa Clarita Valley and Southern California.
Cloud, answered.
What cloud services do you support?
Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, cloud identity and access, migrations, hybrid setups where some systems stay on site, secure remote access, and collaboration tools, set up with security built in rather than added afterward. We manage both platforms the same way, with no incentive to push you toward either one.
Isn't our data already backed up because it is in the cloud?
No, and this is the most costly assumption in small-business IT. Microsoft and Google operate a shared responsibility model: they guarantee the availability of the service, and you remain responsible for your own data within it. Their retention windows are designed to recover from their outage, not from your mistake. A file deleted by a departing employee, a mailbox emptied by a compromised account, or ransomware encrypting synced files will pass straight through to the cloud copy, and once the retention window closes the data is gone. Backup for cloud workloads to encrypted, immutable, offsite storage is a separate service, and we say so rather than letting you assume otherwise.
Can you migrate us to Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace?
Yes. We plan and run migrations with identity, access control, and protection in place from the start, so the move improves how your team works without quietly widening your exposure. Mail, files, permissions, and shared resources are mapped before anything moves, and the old environment stays reachable until the new one is verified.
Who owns our data and our accounts?
You do, in writing. MSA Section 14 states that the Client keeps ownership of all Client data and Client-provided materials and that nothing in the agreement transfers ownership to SecureLynx. We also do not resell licensing: you purchase directly, hold the vendor relationship, and own the tenant. That means your Microsoft or Google tenant is yours to keep whether or not we are still your provider.
How quickly will you respond when something goes wrong?
Our SLA commits to a first response to remote service requests within twenty (20) minutes during Standard Business Hours (Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM PT), regardless of priority. A critical outage targets same-business-day resolution, degraded performance within 24 hours, routine requests within 48 hours. If a target is missed, Section 3 requires a documented resolution plan by the end of the next business day.
What areas do you serve?
SecureLynx serves the Santa Clarita Valley and the surrounding region: the full San Fernando Valley, Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank, Palmdale, Lancaster, Castaic, Ventura, and the communities in between. Cloud work is largely location independent, though on-site response is fastest in the Santa Clarita Valley; elsewhere in Southern California, on-site timing varies with distance and conditions.