Episode Details

I was riding solo for this Wednesday Live Show, and I had something on my mind that every MSP, IT professional, and business owner needs to consider: Can a client access everything their former IT company managed? I recently met with a prospect who believed they had administrative access, but when we sat down and checked, they did not have the level of access needed to manage their Microsoft 365 environment. They were dealing with other access problems too, including their website, account recovery, and network equipment.

My take is straightforward. Our job as MSPs is to manage what needs managing, but that does not mean we should own or control everything that keeps a client in business. Clients should know what they own, who has access, and how to get into their important systems in an emergency. That means checking Microsoft 365, domains, DNS, websites, firewalls, networking equipment, servers, backups, VoIP, documentation, password vaults, and recovery methods. We also need to be honest about what belongs to the MSP stack, what belongs to the client, and what happens when either side decides the relationship is over.

=== Chapters

• 00:48 Welcome to the IT Business Podcast
• 01:15 Solo Show Update and Upcoming MSP Guests
• 03:25 TEKSGiving and TechCon Unplugged Announcements
• 05:34 Can Clients Access Everything Their IT Company Managed?
• 08:15 Microsoft 365 and UniFi Ownership Problems
• 12:21 MSP Contracts, Vendor Commitments, and Client Flexibility
• 18:23 Real-World Client Lockout and Provider Transition Challenges
• 23:15 Building an Access and Ownership Checklist
• 29:02 Password Vaults, Emergency Access, and Formal Offboarding
• 40:51 NSITSP Update and Trupeer Client Training Videos

=== Shout-outs

• Paco Lebron: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pacolebron/
• Gunjan Sengupta: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gunjan-sengupta-354422ab/
• Travis Woods: https://www.linkedin.com/in/traviswoods/

=== Resources / Companies / Books / Podcasts

• TEKnowledge Worldwide: https://teknowledge.org/
• TEKSGiving: https://teknowledge.org/
• TechCon Unplugged: https://techconunplugged.com/
• National Society of IT Service Providers: https://nsitsp.org/
• Trupeer AI: https://www.trupeer.ai/
• UniFi: https://ui.com/
• Synology: https://www.synology.com/
• Active Insight: https://www.synology.com/en-global/dsm/feature/active-insight/overview
• IT Glue: https://www.itglue.com/
• Datto: https://www.datto.com/
• Veeam: https://www.veeam.com/
• AppRiver: https://www.appriver.com/
• Intermedia: https://www.intermedia.com/