Five signs it's time to switch IT providers

Most businesses don't leave their IT provider over one bad week. They leave after two years of small frustrations nobody wrote down. If you're reading this, you've probably had a few of those already.

I've been on both sides of this. I've taken over from providers who did good work and just got too busy, and from ones who left a mess. Here's what I'd look for, and how to make the move without drama if you decide to.

1. The same problems keep coming back

The printer in the back office drops off the network every few weeks. Outlook stops syncing for the same two people. Wi-Fi in the conference room is bad, again. Each ticket gets closed. Nothing changes.

Good IT support fixes the problem and then asks why it happened. If your provider resets the same thing over and over and never comes back with "here's the root cause, and here's what it'll take to stop it," you're paying for a reset button.

What to ask

"What are our top five recurring issues this year, and what's the plan for each?" A provider who tracks tickets properly can answer that in a day.

2. Nobody can tell you what you have

Ask for a list of every computer, server, firewall, and switch you own, with ages and warranty dates. Ask who your domain registrar is, where your DNS is hosted, and when the firewall subscription renews.

If that takes weeks, or the answer is "we'll get back to you," your provider is running your network out of one technician's memory. When that person leaves, so does your documentation.

You should have, in writing:

• A hardware and software inventory with purchase dates
• A network diagram, even a simple one
• A list of every vendor and license, with renewal dates
• Where backups go, and when they were last tested

3. You don't hold your own keys

This is the one that worries me most. Can you, the owner, log into your own Microsoft 365 admin center? Do you know who has the password to your domain registrar? Is the firewall admin account in your name or the provider's?

A good provider keeps credentials in a shared password vault that your business owns, or at least makes sure you can get to a break-glass admin account if they disappear. If your provider treats your passwords as theirs, that's control they shouldn't have. It also makes leaving much harder than it needs to be, which may be the point.

4. Every conversation is about a problem, never a plan

Say you run a 30-person manufacturer in Dover. Half your PCs are past five years old. Your server runs Windows Server 2016, which loses Microsoft security updates on January 12, 2027. Has anyone brought that up? Has anyone given you a number for next year's budget?

If the only time you talk to your IT provider is when something is broken, nobody is planning. You find out about a replacement when it fails, which is always the most expensive time to find out.

At a minimum, you should get a planning review once or twice a year: what's aging out, what's at risk, what it'll cost, and what can wait.

5. Security is a shrug

Ask three questions. Is multi-factor authentication on for every account, including admins? Are our PCs getting updates, and can you show me a report? If an employee's email got taken over tonight, what would you do first?

If you get hedging, you have a problem, especially if you handle client financial data, patient records, or anything covered by a state breach law. New Hampshire's notification law, RSA 359-C:20, applies to any business holding residents' personal information. "We think it's fine" won't help you if you ever have to send notification letters.

Not every IT provider is a security firm, and they don't have to be. But the basics should be done, and they should know when to bring in a specialist. That's why we work with our sister company, Red Sector Security, on assessments and incident response.

Before you switch: what to collect

Switching providers is a project, not a phone call. Do it in this order:

1. Read your contract. Find the notice period and the renewal date. Many IT contracts ask for 30 to 90 days' notice.
2. Secure your admin access first. Before you give notice, make sure someone in your business can log into Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, the domain registrar, the DNS host, and the firewall. Add your own admin account where you need to.
3. Ask for documentation in writing. Inventory, passwords, network notes, backup details, software license keys.
4. Overlap the handoff. The new provider should be in place and onboarded before the old one's tools come off your machines. Remote support agents and monitoring software need to be swapped, and backups shouldn't lapse for a single night.
5. Change shared passwords afterward. Once the handoff is done, rotate the passwords the old provider knew.

Most providers handle this professionally. If yours doesn't, step 2 is what protects you.

Questions people ask

Brady McNeill is the founder and CEO of Dreamline Technology. He has spent 12+ years running IT and security for small and mid-sized businesses across New England.