Switching
What you are actually moving off.
Most firms our size are not moving from a competitor. They are moving from a spreadsheet, a shared drive and an inbox — three tools that are genuinely good at what they do, right up to the point where they stop. Here is where that point is, and what moving involves.
An honest comparison
Three tools, and what each one is actually good at.
We are not going to pretend these are bad. They are how most of this work gets done, and for a small enough operation they are the right answer.
The spreadsheet
What it is good at
It is fast, it is free, and it does exactly what the person who built it wanted. For a handful of loans or matters it is genuinely the right tool, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.
Where it stops
It breaks when a second person needs it open, when the person who built it leaves, and when someone has to prove what a figure was three months ago. There is no history, so a wrong number looks exactly like a right one.
The shared drive
What it is good at
Everything is in one place and everyone knows where. Files are real files, and nothing is locked inside a product you have to keep paying for.
Where it stops
A folder holds documents; it does not hold what they mean. Nothing links a document to a balance, a deadline or a person, so the state of a file lives in whoever last worked on it. Two people editing at once is a naming convention, not a system.
The inbox
What it is good at
It is where the work actually arrives, and it is a complete record of what was said and when. Search is good, and nobody needs training.
Where it stops
It is a record of correspondence pretending to be a record of the file. What was agreed is in one thread, what was paid is in another, and neither is visible to the person covering while you are away. When somebody leaves, the file leaves with their mailbox.
The pattern is the same in all three: they hold the work but not its state, so the state ends up in a person. That is fine until the person is away, or leaves, or is asked to prove something from six months ago.
The questions that decide it
Six things worth knowing before you move anything.
Can we get our data back out?
Yes, and it is in the terms rather than left to goodwill: if you stop using CloudVersa, ask us and we will give you a copy of your data in a reasonable format before it is removed. The information you put in stays yours throughout — we do not sell it, share it beyond the providers named in the privacy policy, or use your records to build anything for anyone else.
What about the data we already have?
Talk to us before you start. What a move involves depends entirely on what shape your records are in, and the honest answer for a spreadsheet is different from the honest answer for another system's export. We would rather tell you it is awkward than discover it together halfway through.
Where is it hosted, and is our data separate?
Vercel hosts the applications and Supabase provides the database and sign-in. One organisation's data is separated from another's, and our providers operate in more than one country, so information may be processed outside Canada. All of that is set out in full on the security page, including what we have not been assessed against.
What if we grow?
You add seats, and you pay for the ones you add. There is no tier that forces a renegotiation at a headcount, and no minimum. If your use goes well beyond what your seats would normally produce we come and talk to you, with 30 days' notice, rather than metering you quietly.
What if we only want one app?
Then install one. The organisation is free, an app you have not installed costs nothing and appears nowhere, and there is no bundle. The second app is there when you want it and invisible until then.
How long does it take?
Creating the organisation and getting people signed in is minutes. Getting your actual records in is the part that takes time, and how long depends on what you are bringing. Nobody can answer that from a web page, which is why this one does not pretend to.
The full detail on hosting, separation and what has not been assessed is on the security page, and what we commit to is in the terms of use.
What we will not tell you
Three things a switching page normally claims.
That it will be quick
Getting signed in is quick. Getting your records in is not, and how long it takes depends on what you are bringing. Anyone who quotes you a timeline before seeing your data is guessing.
That other firms have done it
We have no customer names, logos or case studies to show you, and we are not going to invent placeholder ones. When there are some, they will be real and they will be named.
That nothing will be lost
Some things do not survive a move — a formula nobody documented, a convention that only made sense to one person. Better to find those in a conversation at the start than in a reconciliation at the end.
Questions
Asked before every move
Do we have to move everything at once?
No. A common way to start is to run new files in the app while the old ones finish where they are. It is less satisfying than a clean cut-over, but it is far less risky and it does not need a quiet month to do it in.
Will you do the migration for us?
Talk to us about what you have. What is realistic depends on the shape your records are in, and we would rather agree that with you up front than promise it on a web page.
What happens to the people who do not need the app?
They can be in your organisation without being given a seat. You pay for the people you put into an app, so support staff who never open it cost nothing.
What if it turns out not to fit?
Every app starts with a 30-day trial of the whole app, with no card required to begin it. If you decide against it, do nothing: the trial ends, the app stops opening, and you are never charged. Ask us for a copy of what you put in and we will give you one before it is removed.
Start with the awkward conversation.
Tell us what you have now and what shape it is in. We will tell you what moving would involve, including the parts that would be painful — or that you are better off where you are.
Or email info@cloudversa.io — a person reads it.