You want to change companies, but the server password, domain account and firewall configuration are with the old one. A step-by-step hand-over checklist and the rule for never being dependent again.
Most businesses unhappy with their technical-service company keep working with it for a while longer. The reason is simple: passwords, licences, the domain account and the firewall rules are with the old company, and the fear that "the system stops if we leave" postpones leaving. Yet a hand-over, done in the right order, is a planned job of one or two weeks.
Inventory first
There is no hand-over without a list of what is to be handed over. The new company, or you, should draw up this list:
- Servers and virtual machines: operating-system administrator accounts
- Directory service (Active Directory) administrator account
- Firewall, switches, wireless controller: management logins and configuration backups
- Domain registration, DNS management, SSL certificates
- E-mail service administration panel
- Backup software, backup targets and encryption keys
- Antivirus/EDR console and licence account
- Camera recorders, UPS management, printer panels
- Software licences (office, accounting, ERP) and the e-mail address they are registered to
- Cloud accounts and payment details
- Documents: network diagram, IP plan, PLC programs, electrical drawings
The hand-over letter
Send the old company a written, dated hand-over request: access details, configuration backup and any documents for every item on the list. Be polite but clear; these are your assets. Most companies behave professionally. If you meet resistance, check the termination and delivery clauses of your service contract; even without a contract, the invoices you paid show the installed system belongs to you.
The new company's first week
- All administrator passwords are changed and stored in a password vault in your name; the main account is yours, the company gets a secondary one.
- The registrant of the domain, DNS, SSL and e-mail accounts is changed to your company details.
- Licences are moved to your e-mail address or purchased in your name at renewal.
- Firewall and switch configurations are backed up, the rules are read and unknown remote-access paths are closed.
- The backup is tested to see whether it really works; in most hand-overs the first surprise appears here.
- The network diagram is drawn or updated and handed to you.
The rule for never being dependent again
Add one clause to the new contract: "All accounts, licences, configuration backups and documents are registered in the customer's name and are delivered within five working days on request." A company that refuses this clause sees you as a hostage, not a customer.
SMB Teknoloji carries out hand-overs under contract or as a one-off job; at the end of the first week the password vault, the current diagram and the backup test report are delivered to you. We write the same clause into our own contracts: leaving us must be just as fast.