Moving away from Swisscom BWS: plan the handover

An SME may want to move away from Swisscom BWS for several reasons: a contract reaching its term, new needs, or the wish to keep control of its own accounts and licenses. In every case, start by rereading your contract, then have your usual contact confirm in writing the end date, the services affected and the transfer arrangements. The handover may cover devices, identities, e-mail and support, depending on your contract.

Plan the handover as a project: identities, e-mail, devices, network, data and backups need to be transferred with checkpoints and an agreed schedule. It is also the time to define the support model your business needs.

Preparing day-to-day support

Before choosing your next arrangement, define how support should work: who receives requests, who handles them and how urgent issues are prioritized. Ask which support windows and response times will be written into the contract.

Check how documentation and the history of previous work will be shared among the people handling your account. These records help maintain continuity, whatever the size of the provider you choose.

What has to be taken over

• Inventory: devices, users, licenses, applications, administrator access.
• Identities and e-mail: where accounts and mailboxes will live (e.g. Microsoft 365), and who administers them.
• Network: firewall, Wi-Fi, VPN, access rules, any site-to-site links.
• Data and backups: where files live, how they are backed up, how restores work.
• Timeline: a realistic switchover date, with an overlap period if possible.

Classic pitfalls

• Waiting until the last weeks: allow time for notice periods, transfers, orders and testing as soon as the decision is made.
• Forgetting licenses and domains: who holds the subscriptions, the DNS, the tenant access?
• Not retrieving and documenting access while the current service still answers.
• Cutting the old service before testing the new one in real conditions.

How we run the takeover

At SysPros, a BWS handover starts with a documented assessment and a staged migration plan. We plan an overlap period where technical and contractual conditions allow it.

• Upfront assessment: we document what exists before any decision, with scope and cost stated before we start.
• A staged migration plan, in the order that limits risk: e-mail, devices, network, data.
• Tested switchover: we schedule the old service's shutdown after the new environment is verified, within the limits of your current contract's end date.
• Documentation kept up to date during the takeover, with a copy handed over on request: your accounts, tenant and data stay in your name.

Afterwards: a team that knows your environment

Once the takeover is done, day-to-day support changes in nature: your environment is documented in detail, every request is traced with a full history, and incidents are prioritized by business impact. If your file changes hands, the person taking over is fully briefed: the documentation and history follow, so you never re-explain everything from scratch.

Our support framework is built around an environment that is documented, monitored (alerts handled during business hours unless on-call cover is agreed) and maintained under written rules. Support windows, responsibilities and incident communication are agreed with you.