Move your database to the cloud.

When a client says "move our Access database to the cloud", it can mean three quite different projects, and quotes go wrong when nobody pins down which one. It cannot mean dropping the file into OneDrive and sharing the folder; file-sync platforms and Access's record locking don't mix, and that setup corrupts databases. The genuine options are hosting the whole environment, moving just the data, or replacing the front end as well. Each carries a different cost, timeline, and end result.

Hosting the environment is the least disruptive. Your database moves onto a cloud-hosted Windows machine, an Azure VM or a remote desktop service, and users log into that machine from anywhere. Access itself runs unchanged, on hardware that's professionally backed up and maintained instead of sitting under a desk. This suits teams who want the current system exactly as it is, just reachable from home, a second office, or the road, and it's often live within days.

Moving the data means the back-end tables migrate to a cloud database, typically Azure SQL, while your familiar Access forms and reports keep running locally, connected over an encrypted link. The data becomes centrally backed up and remotely reachable, and Access's 2 GB file ceiling stops mattering. The trade-off is that this is a genuine migration project: queries get reviewed and sometimes reworked so performance over an internet connection holds up. For most established teams, this is the right middle path.

The third option replaces the front end too: the database is rebuilt as a browser-based application, with the data cloud-hosted behind it. Nothing to install, works on phones and tablets, and outside users like clients or field staff can get scoped logins. It's the largest project of the three and the only one that changes what your team sees day to day, so it earns its keep when the desktop interface itself has become the limitation, not just where the file lives. When that's the situation, it usually surfaces in the first conversation.

The evaluation stage exists to choose among these honestly. I look at your user count, data size, how much VBA the system carries, what your organization already pays for (existing Microsoft 365 or AWS spend often settles the platform question by itself), and what your internet connection can realistically sustain. You get a recommendation with the reasoning attached, not a one-size answer.