What do I actually own when I leave my IT provider?

You should own the Microsoft 365 or Google tenant itself, your domain name and its DNS, your data and a restorable copy of your backups, your software licences and subscriptions in your own name, and the documentation of how your environment is built. If any of those sit inside your provider's tenant, their registrar account, their backup account or their heads, you do not own your IT — you rent access to it, and leaving is expensive.

Can my IT provider hold my data hostage when I leave?

In practice the leverage is rarely the data itself — it is the access to it. The common pressure points are ownership of the tenant's global admin account, control of the domain registrar, backups living in the provider's own storage account rather than yours, and licences bought under the provider's agreement rather than yours. Establish who holds each of those before you give notice, not after.

How long does switching IT providers take?

The contractual notice period is usually 30 to 90 days, but the work that decides whether the switch is painless is done in the first two weeks: proving you can access your own tenant, confirming your domain and DNS are in your name, and getting a restore actually tested rather than promised. A switch fails when those three are discovered late, not when the notice is short.

What should I ask my outgoing IT provider for?

Ask in writing for: global admin credentials to your own tenant, transfer of the domain and DNS to an account you control, an exported and verified copy of your backups, a list of every licence and subscription with its renewal date and who it is billed to, network and system documentation, and the list of every third-party account created on your behalf. Ask for a date on each one.

Does this check send my information anywhere?

No. The check runs entirely in your browser as static JavaScript. It makes no network calls, stores nothing, and requires no signup or email address to show your result or generate your handover letter.

Free tool · Integrated IT Support Inc.

The day you leave your IT provider,
do you actually own anything?

A 12-point ownership check for any business thinking about switching IT providers — plus a ready-to-send handover demand list you can paste straight into an email. Find out what you own before you give notice, not after.

Runs 100% in your browser · no network calls · no signup · nothing stored

About this tool. Your result is a general indication based only on what you enter here — it is not an audit, an assessment, or professional advice. Inputs and benchmarks may be out of date, so do your own due diligence and use the result at your own risk. Want a real assessment of your environment? Call (647) 581-3182. Full disclaimer.

Why this exists. Switching providers almost never goes wrong on price or notice periods. It goes wrong on ownership — and the discovery always happens at the worst possible moment. The tenant's global admin account belongs to the provider. The domain is registered under their registrar login. The backups live in their storage, not yours. The licences are billed under their agreement. Nobody wrote any of it down. None of that is malicious; it is just how it accumulates when nobody asks. This page is the asking. It is free, it works whether or not you ever talk to us, and it will tell you things a provider being replaced has no incentive to volunteer.

The ownership check

Switch risk

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Establish these first — in this order

Your handover demand list

Generated from your answers. Send it to your current provider before you give notice — the answers you get, and how fast you get them, tell you more about your exit than any contract clause. Edit freely; it is your letter.

Copied — paste it into your email.

Have us run the switch with you What managed IT costs here Free IT health check

The 30-day switch, in the order that actually works

Before you give notice

Prove you can get into your own tenant

Sign in as a global administrator of your Microsoft 365 or Google tenant, using an account whose password only you control, with MFA on a device you hold. If you cannot do this today, nothing else on this list matters yet. This is the single point that decides whether your exit is an administrative task or a negotiation.

Before you give notice

Confirm the domain and DNS are in your name

Log into the registrar directly. Not a portal your provider gave you — the registrar. Your company should be the registrant, with billing on your card and the account recoverable to your email. A domain you cannot log into is a business you cannot email from.

Before you give notice

Get a restore tested, not promised

Ask for a real restore of a real file and a real mailbox, watched by you, dated. "We have backups" is not a backup; a restore you have seen is. Ask where the backup data physically lives and whose account pays for it — because that is who can switch it off.

Week 1 after notice

Send the handover demand list with dates

Every item above, in writing, each with a date attached. Cooperation in week one is the best predictor of a clean exit. Silence in week one is information.

Week 2

Take the licences and subscriptions into your own name

Every seat, every renewal date, every auto-renew, every third-party account opened on your behalf — moved onto your billing or, at minimum, listed so nothing silently lapses or silently keeps charging after you leave.

Weeks 2–3

Document the environment while the outgoing team still answers the phone

Network layout, firewall rules, line-of-business applications and who supports them, the printers everyone quietly depends on, the one server nobody documented. This knowledge is worth more than any file transfer, and it evaporates on the last day.

Week 4

Rotate every credential — then close the door

Rotate admin passwords, revoke old sessions and tokens, remove the outgoing provider's delegated access, partner relationships and remote-access agents. Confirm removal rather than assume it. An exit is not finished when the invoice stops; it is finished when the access does.

Questions people ask us

Is this page trying to make me switch to you?

It is trying to make you able to switch — which is a different thing, and it is useful to you even if you stay exactly where you are. A business that owns its tenant, its domain, its backups and its documentation is a business whose provider has to keep earning it. We would rather compete for you on that footing than lock you in on any other. If you run this check and the honest answer is that your current provider is doing all of it right, that is a good outcome and you should keep them.

Why would you publish the exact list of things to demand from a provider?

Because we intend to be on the receiving end of it one day, and we would rather be judged by how we answer it. Every item on this list is something we hand over on request, on a date, without a negotiation. Publishing the list is the cheapest honest way to say so.

Does anything I type here leave my device?

No. The page is static HTML and JavaScript. There is no form submission, no fetch call, no analytics on your answers, no email gate, and nothing is stored. Your letter is assembled in your browser and put on your clipboard only when you press the button. You can disconnect from the internet and this page still works.

My current provider says the tenant has to be under their partner account. Is that true?

A provider can hold a delegated administration or partner relationship to your tenant while the tenant itself remains yours — that is the normal arrangement, and it is reversible by you. What is not normal is the tenant being created and owned inside the provider's own subscription with no global admin account in your control. If you are told the second arrangement is a requirement, ask for it in writing and take the answer to a second opinion.

What if the check says my switch risk is high?

Then you have found it now, on your own terms, with time to fix it — which is the entire point. Nothing on that list is unfixable, and most of it is paperwork rather than engineering. Work down the ordered list, top item first. If you want a second pair of hands on it, that is what we do; if you want to do it yourself, everything you need is on this page.

Honesty note. This tool contains no benchmarks, no industry averages, no survey data and no statistics — because we will not publish numbers we have not measured ourselves. Your result is arithmetic on your own twelve answers, nothing more. It is a self-assessment and a preparation aid, not an audit, and it is not legal or contractual advice; your obligations to your current provider are governed by the agreement you signed, which you should read, and where the stakes are material, have a lawyer read. Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are the products of their respective owners; Integrated IT Support Inc. is not affiliated with them.
Integrated IT Support Inc. · Whitby, Ontario · Serving Durham Region and the GTA · Last reviewed 2026-07-14

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The day you leave your IT provider,do you actually own anything?

The ownership check

Establish these first — in this order

Your handover demand list

The 30-day switch, in the order that actually works

Questions people ask us

The day you leave your IT provider,
do you actually own anything?