Changing IT provider has a reputation for being painful, mostly because it is usually done in a hurry after something has gone wrong. Done calmly it takes about a month, and you should notice very little of it.
Week one: finding out what you have
We inventory everything. Every device, every account, every subscription being paid for on somebody's personal card. You will be asked some questions nobody has asked before, such as who is the registered owner of your domain name?
Things we will need from you:
- A contact who can make decisions, and a second one for when they are on holiday
- Whatever documentation exists, however out of date
- An introduction to your current provider, if there is one
Week two: the first audit
This is the same security audit we sell separately, and it is included in the onboarding fee. It produces a ranked list. The top of that list is what weeks three and four are for.
Nearly every onboarding turns up at least one account belonging to someone who left more than a year ago. The record is nine years.
Week three: agents and access
Monitoring agents go on every machine. This is done remotely and silently; nobody needs to stop work. Administrator passwords are rotated and moved into a vault that you own and we have access to, not the other way round.
| Item | Who does it | Disruption |
|---|---|---|
| Monitoring agents | Us, remotely | None |
| Admin password rotation | Us, with your contact | None |
| Multi-factor for everyone | Us and each person | Ten minutes each |
| Firewall replacement, if needed | Us, on site | One evening |
Week four: the fixes that cannot wait
Whatever the audit put at the top of the list. Typically that is multi-factor authentication for the people who were exempted from it, a backup that has never been tested, and one piece of equipment old enough to vote.
After that
You get a one-page summary each month and a call each quarter. Otherwise, if we are doing the job properly, you will mostly forget we are here.
Ready to start? Book an assessment.