The MSP Switch Kit

Everything you should control before you change IT providers — and the questions that separate a real operation from a sales deck. Educational, not legal advice: your agreement governs the specifics of your situation. Use this with any provider, including one that isn't us.

Tip: print this page or save it as a PDF (Ctrl/Cmd+P) — it's formatted for paper.

The Provider Offboarding Checklist

Work through this quietly, before anyone gives notice. Each unchecked box is something to request — framed as routine housekeeping, not a resignation letter.

Identity & admin access

• We hold a Microsoft 365 / Azure global admin account that our provider does not control — and we've tested that it logs in.
• We have local admin credentials for our servers and a documented admin path for workstations.
• We have admin logins for network gear: firewall, switches, wireless controllers.
• We know which remote-management (RMM) agent is on our machines and that it's the provider's to remove at exit.

Domain & DNS

• Our domain is registered in our company's name, in an account we can log into — not the provider's personal account.
• We can view and change our DNS records, or know exactly who can.

Data & backups

• We know where backups live (platform, location) and have verified access without the provider's help.
• We know the last time a restore was actually tested — not just that "backups are running."
• We have an inventory of company data that lives in provider-controlled systems.

Licenses, hardware & documentation

• We have a license inventory: what we pay for, who owns each license, what transfers if we leave.
• We have a hardware ownership list: what's ours, what's the provider's, what's leased.
• We hold current network documentation: diagrams, IP scheme, configurations, vendor contacts.
• We have a copy (or export path) of our ticket history and asset records.

Contract

• We've found the termination clause and know what ending early costs.
• We've found the auto-renewal window and put the notice deadline on the calendar.
• We know the required notice period and who must receive written notice.
• We've read what the agreement says the provider must hand over at exit.

The 30/60/90 Transition Plan Template

A planning framework for holding any provider — including us — to a written sequence. The name is the format, not a promise: actual timelines depend on your environment, your contract's notice period, and how cooperative the outgoing provider is. Adjust the milestones to fit.

12 Questions to Ask a Replacement MSP

Ask every bidder the same twelve, write the answers down, and compare side by side. Vague answers are answers.

1. What does your offboarding process look like if we ever leave you?The single most revealing question. A good answer is specific, unbothered, and reflected in the agreement.
2. Who owns the licenses and hardware you supply — and what happens to them at exit?You want ownership or a clean transfer path in writing.
3. What exactly is included in the monthly fee, and what becomes a billable project?Get the inclusion list in writing. The spread between cheap bids usually hides here.
4. How do you prioritize tickets?Look for prioritization by business impact, with the specifics defined in the agreement — not marketing-page promises.
5. Who actually answers when we call — your staff or an outsourced desk?Either can work. Not knowing is the problem.
6. How many endpoints or clients per engineer do you run?Staffing density is why cheap providers feel slow. Hesitation here is information.
7. What security stack is included by default, and what's extra?Endpoint protection, email filtering, MFA enforcement, backup — find the line between included and add-on.
8. Where does our documentation live, and can we access all of it, any time?The right answer is yes, unconditionally. Documentation held hostage is how switching got hard the last time.
9. What do the first 90 days of onboarding cover?You're listening for a written process — discovery, parallel setup, cutover — not "we'll figure it out."
10. What contract term, auto-renewal, and notice window are you asking for?Shorter initial terms and honest renewal windows signal confidence. You just lived the alternative.
11. Which platforms are you deepest in?A provider concentrated on your stack (for most businesses, Microsoft 365 and Azure) beats a generalist spread across everything.
12. Can we talk to a client who switched to you from another provider?Not a reference they picked for being happy — one who lived the transition you're about to run.