How to switch IT providers without downtime
Most people stay with an IT provider they have outgrown because changing sounds like a week of chaos. It usually isn’t. Done properly the handover is quiet work in the background, your team keeps working, and the only thing most staff notice is a new number to ring.
Why switching feels risky
Three fears come up every single time.
Downtime. People picture email going down and the whole office standing around. In practice almost none of the work touches the user. Monitoring and security agents install remotely, tenant administration happens in the background, and nothing gets migrated unless you have actually asked for a migration.
Being held hostage. The worry that your current provider holds passwords you cannot get back. It does happen – which is exactly why you want to know who owns your Microsoft 365 tenant before you need to know.
The awkward conversation. This is New Zealand, so you probably know the person. You give notice under your contract, because that part has to come from you. We do the technical handover from there.
What you own, and what you get back
Start from the right principle: your IT is yours. A provider manages it, they don’t own it. Before you go anywhere, confirm you can get all of this back.
- Your Microsoft 365 tenant. It should be registered to your business, with a global administrator account in your name. If your provider is the only global admin, that is worth fixing whether you leave or not.
- Admin credentials for everything else – firewall, switches, wifi, server, remote access and your line-of-business applications.
- Your domain name and DNS control, held at the registrar in your business name.
- Your licences. Microsoft licences bought through a provider sit under their agreement. They can be transferred, so ask how and how long it takes.
- Documentation. Network diagram, IP addressing, what is backed up and where, and who holds what access.
- Your backup data, plus a straight answer on how long they keep it after you go.
Get that list agreed in writing when you give notice, not when you are chasing it three weeks later.
The 30-day handover, week by week
This is the same handover we run for every new client. Nothing about it needs your team to stop what they are doing.
Week 1 – We find out what you’ve actually got
We audit every device, user, licence, backup and security setting, and document it. Most businesses learn something here – old admin accounts nobody closed, licences being paid for by people who left, a backup that stopped running months ago. You keep that list whether you sign or not.
Week 2 – We take the keys
Our monitoring and security agents go onto every machine, usually remotely and without anyone stopping work. We take over the Microsoft 365 tenant, get MFA (multi-factor authentication) on everyone, and turn on Datto backup. Your outgoing provider gets a polite, professional handover request from us.
Week 3 – We fix the obvious stuff
Whatever the audit turned up gets sorted: patching brought current, Secure Score lifted, dead accounts closed, and backups proven by an actual test restore rather than a green tick on a dashboard.
Week 4 – We sit down with you
You get a written baseline: your Secure Score, where you stand against the 27 controls of SMB1001 Gold, what needs replacing in the next 12 months, and a budget for it. No surprises later.
By day 30 your team knows one number to call, and nobody lost a day getting there.
Red flags that say it's time to move
If you recognise more than a couple of these, the risk is in staying, not in leaving.
- MFA isn’t on for everyone. Multi-factor authentication is the single biggest control there is, and it belongs on every account, not just the boss’s.
- Nobody has ever tested a restore. A backup nobody has restored from is a hope, not a backup.
- You don’t know your Microsoft Secure Score – and neither do they.
- You are paying for licences belonging to people who left months ago.
- You notice problems first. Monitoring is supposed to mean they ring you.
- There is no documentation. If the one person who knows your network walked out tomorrow, nobody could pick it up.
- You can’t get a straight answer on who owns the tenant.
We handle the conversation with your old provider
You give notice under your contract. Everything after that is ours.
We send the handover request, chase the credentials and do the technical back and forth, so you are not stuck relaying messages between two IT companies. If the outgoing provider drags their feet, we work around it – a tenant owner can recover control of their own Microsoft 365 through Microsoft’s documented process, and network gear can be rebuilt from a documented configuration if it comes to that.
It is rarely that bad. Most handovers are professional and boring, which is exactly what you want.
Worth reading next: what’s actually included in managed IT support, how managed IT support is priced in NZ, and why businesses move to us.
Frequently asked questions
Will my team lose access to anything when we switch IT providers?
No. Almost all of the work is remote agent deployment and Microsoft 365 tenant admin that happens around your team rather than to them. Nobody loses email, files or logins. The only visible change for most staff is turning on MFA and learning a new number to ring.
Can my old IT provider refuse to hand over passwords?
They can drag their feet, but the accounts are yours. Your Microsoft 365 tenant, your domain, your licences and your admin credentials belong to your business, not to the provider. If they will not release them, Microsoft has a documented process for a tenant owner to recover control.
How long does switching IT providers take?
About 30 days end to end. Week one is the audit, week two is taking over monitoring, security and the tenant, week three is fixing what the audit found, and week four is a written baseline of where you stand.
Do I have to tell my current provider myself?
No. Once you have given notice under your contract, we send the handover request and deal with the technical back and forth. You do not have to sit in the middle of it.
What should I check before I sign with a new provider?
Ask who owns the Microsoft 365 tenant, what gets handed back if you leave, what is not included in the monthly fee, and whether they can show independent evidence of their own security. Get all of it in writing.
Thinking about making the move?
Start with the audit. We map every device, user, licence, backup and security gap and show you exactly what you have got. It costs nothing, there is no obligation, and the report is yours to keep – plenty of people have used it to go back to their current provider with better questions.
Email info@itlive.co.nz, or get in touch here.