If your firm runs on Thomson Reuters Virtual Office CS, you’ve likely already received the notice: Thomson Reuters is ending support for Microsoft 365 and Hosted Exchange email within the Virtual Office (VO) environment this August.
To be clear, Virtual Office CS itself isn’t going away — UltraTax CS, Practice CS, FileCabinet CS, and the rest of the CS Professional Suite will continue running as they do today. But the email and Office applications your staff uses inside VO every day will no longer be supported by Thomson Reuters, and your firm will need its own Microsoft 365 license and tenant in place before the deadline.
You don’t have to start over, and you don’t have to navigate this transition alone.
WHAT DOES “END OF SUPPORT” ACTUALLY MEAN FOR YOUR FIRM?
When Thomson Reuters ends support for Microsoft 365 within Virtual Office CS, the responsibility for your email environment shifts to your firm. That means:
- No more Thomson Reuters-managed Hosted Exchange email
- No technical support from Thomson Reuters for your Microsoft 365 tenant, mail routing, or Exchange configuration
- Your firm now owns mailbox administration, spam filtering, retention policies, and the DNS records that keep mail flowing
- Potential compliance exposure if the transition is mishandled or mailbox data is lost
For firms in regulated industries — accounting, legal, financial services — email is where client financial data lives. A poorly managed migration isn’t just an operational risk. It can put you out of compliance with frameworks such as HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA, IRS Publication 4557, and AICPA standards governing how client financial data must be protected.
August is closer than it feels.
WHAT THOMSON REUTERS IS RECOMMENDING
Thomson Reuters is offering a managed migration service to move your Hosted Exchange mailboxes into your firm’s own Microsoft 365 tenant. That covers the data move itself — but it doesn’t cover standing up and securing your tenant, configuring mail-flow and DNS records correctly, or administering the environment going forward. Thomson Reuters has stated it will not support the administration of your Microsoft 365 tenant. In plain terms, the mailbox data gets moved, and then your firm is on its own.
For many firms, this is also a natural moment to step back and look at the bigger picture. Performance issues, scalability limitations, and high costs have already prompted a significant shift among accounting firms away from Virtual Office CS toward third-party private cloud hosting for the CS Professional Suite — hosting that delivers better performance, greater flexibility, stronger support, and lower costs. The Microsoft 365 transition is accelerating a conversation many forward-looking firms were already having.
WHAT THIS TRANSITION ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE
The word “migration” can sound daunting, especially if your firm has years of customized workflows, integrations, and user configurations built into your current environment. A well-managed transition does not require you to rebuild from scratch.
CyberlinkASP specializes in hosting complex, customized application environments. Whether you’re moving your email to a properly configured Microsoft 365 tenant or relocating your entire CS Professional Suite environment to a private cloud, years of configuration, workflows, and integrations are preserved, eliminating the need to manage the underlying infrastructure.
The process typically involves:
- Environment Assessment — A thorough review of your current Thomson Reuters setup, including your Hosted Exchange usage, application versions, integrations, user access needs, and peak usage patterns.
- Migration Planning — A cutover playbook designed around your firm’s calendar, keeping tax season and critical deadlines in mind.
- Secure Data Migration — Your mailboxes, data, and application customizations are moved to the new environment with full integrity and zero loss.
- Go-Live & Validation — Staff access the new environment, tested for performance under real-world load, before full cutover.
- Ongoing Support — 24×7, US-based support from specialists who know the Thomson Reuters CS suite and Microsoft 365 administration — not just the underlying infrastructure.
WHY CYBERLINKASP FOR YOUR TRANSITION
CyberlinkASP is the trusted Advanced Solutions Provider for small and mid-size businesses, specializing in cloud and IT solutions with a commitment to data security, business continuity, and 24×7 US-based support.
CyberlinkASP delivers secure, high-performance cloud hosting for Thomson Reuters CS Professional Suite, Checkpoint, and practice management software — purpose-built for the performance demands and compliance requirements of accounting and law firms.
What sets CyberlinkASP apart:
- Deep CS Suite expertise — CyberlinkASP’s team understands the CS Professional Suite inside and out, not just generic cloud infrastructure.
- Microsoft 365 management — From tenant setup and DNS configuration to ongoing mailbox administration, CyberlinkASP handles the responsibilities Thomson Reuters is handing back to your firm.
- Security-first architecture — AES 256-bit encryption, data separation, intrusion-free ports, and a 99.99% uptime SLA backed by a money-back guarantee.
- Compliance alignment — Hosting environments meet the data security standards expected by AICPA, IRS Publication 4557, HIPAA, GDPR, and CCPA.
- 24×7 US-based support — When something goes wrong, you don’t want a ticket queue — you want answers. CyberlinkASP provides 24×7, US-based support from experienced IT professionals who understand your applications, your industry, and your urgency.
- Award-winning Citrix expertise — As a Citrix Preferred Partner, CyberlinkASP delivers expert architecture, deployment, and ongoing management for any Citrix use case.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Virtual Office CS will still be running in September — but Thomson Reuters-managed email won’t be. Firms that act now have time to plan a smooth, well-managed transition. Firms that wait until August will be scrambling to stand up a Microsoft 365 tenant with no support line to call.
If your firm relies on UltraTax CS, Practice CS, FileCabinet CS, Accounting CS, or any other CS Professional Suite application, now is the time to evaluate your options and get a plan in place.
CyberlinkASP is ready to help. Contact us today to learn more.