Most businesses put up with poor IT support far longer than they should, because switching sounds risky. It doesn’t have to be. Most of the risk comes from one thing: not knowing who controls your accounts, domains and licences. Sort that out first and the rest is a planned, fairly quiet handover. Here’s the checklist we work through when a business moves its IT to us.
Before you give notice
1. Read your contract
- What is the notice period, and when can you give it?
- Is there a minimum term, or an automatic renewal date?
- Are there exit or handover fees?
- Who owns any hardware supplied, such as firewalls, on a rental basis?
2. Find out who owns what
This is the most important step. Make sure your business, not the provider, owns and can access:
- Your domain name and the account where it’s registered.
- DNS hosting, which controls where your email and website point.
- Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, including a global administrator account in your name.
- Licences and subscriptions: who is the billing contact, and who are they bought through?
- Backups: where are they, and how long are they kept?
- Your website hosting, firewall, Wi-Fi and phone system admin logins.
If anything is registered in the provider’s name, ask for it to be transferred into the business’s name now, while the relationship is still friendly.
Warning signs it’s time to switch
- You chase them for updates, rather than the other way round.
- The same problems keep coming back, fixed the same way each time.
- Nobody can tell you, with evidence, that your backups work.
- You don’t have MFA on email, and nobody has suggested it.
- Invoices are unpredictable, or you’re charged for every small request.
- You’ve no idea who in their team knows your set-up.
Any one of these is worth a conversation. Two or three usually mean the relationship isn’t working for you.
Choosing the new provider
Ask every candidate the same questions: how they price (per device or per user), what’s included, how they handle onboarding, who you’ll actually speak to, and how they secure their own systems. Our article on what IT support costs in Kent gives you a checklist for comparing quotes.
The handover
3. Plan the overlap
Line up the start of the new provider before the old contract ends, so there is never a gap with nobody responsible. A short overlap of a week or two is ideal.
4. Collect access and documentation
Ask the outgoing provider for:
- admin credentials for every system, handed over securely (not by plain email);
- network diagrams, IP addresses and firewall settings;
- a list of devices, licences and renewal dates;
- details of any line-of-business software and its vendor contacts;
- backup locations and retention.
Your new provider should handle this conversation for you. We contact the outgoing provider directly and agree the handover so you don’t have to.
5. Install the new tools
The new provider deploys its monitoring, security and remote support tools to each device, usually in the background with no disruption. The old provider’s tools are then removed, so you aren’t running two sets of agents.
6. Change every shared password
Once access has been transferred, change the passwords on admin accounts and any shared logins the old provider knew, and remove their admin accounts. This isn’t about distrust. It’s basic security practice when anyone leaves.
7. Fix urgent gaps first
A good onboarding includes a review. Expect your new provider to tell you plainly what it found and fix anything urgent, such as missing MFA or failing backups, straight away.
After the switch
- Tell staff how to contact the new helpdesk: phone, email and portal.
- Check the first invoice matches the agreed price and device count.
- Agree a review date to go through the improvement plan together.
Switch with us
We handle the handover with your current provider, document everything as we go and keep your team working throughout. Find out how our managed IT support works, or book a free IT review to start with an honest look at where you are now.