CHOOSING A PROVIDER · SWITCHING
Switching IT providers in New Zealand: What Actually Happens
Switching IT providers in New Zealand usually takes about eight weeks from signing to steady state, and most of that time goes on discovery and documentation rather than technical work. What actually catches people out is discovering what your outgoing provider holds that you assumed you already owned.
WEIGHING UP A CHANGE?
Talk it through with a Lucidity advisor before you sign with anyone - including us. No obligation.
One conversation, no obligation.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- About eight weeks from signing to steady state, in four two-week phases
- Discovery and documentation take longer than the technical migration
- Your Microsoft 365 tenant is yours; your backup subscription may not be
- Expect to pay two providers briefly, and check your notice period before you need it
I’ve written this the way I’d want a client reading it before they switch to us – or before they switch away from anyone.
Already weighing up a change? Book a consultation with Lucidity →
SWITCHING PROVIDERS
Find out what your current provider holds before you give notice
A Lucidity advisor walks through the handover checklist with you, so you know what to ask for and what it will cost to leave.
- Who owns your domain, tenant and backup subscription
- Your notice period and any exit charges
- What documentation and credentials must come across
- How the overlap between providers is priced
No obligation, and useful whoever you end up with.
How long does it take to switch IT providers?
Plan on around eight weeks across four phases: Plan & Discover, Design, Implement, and Operate, roughly two weeks each. For a 70-seat business that’s about 102 hours of effort on our side, most of it in the first two phases before anyone touches a laptop. Daily standups run for the first fortnight after go-live, then it settles into a review and your first proper session with whoever’s managing the relationship.
- Plan & DiscoverWEEKS 1-2
- DesignWEEKS 3-4
- ImplementWEEKS 5-6
- OperateWEEKS 7-8
The technical migration is rarely the long pole. Discovery is – almost always because of what the next two sections cover.
What does your new provider need from the old one?
A decent handover checklist
- The Microsoft partner name and ID attached to your tenant, for a clean licence transfer
- Every credential in the outgoing provider's vault, transferred securely
- As-built documentation for servers, applications and device profiles
- Onboarding and offboarding procedures for your own staff
- Contact details for every third party your systems touch
- A handover meeting for each line-of-business application you run
That documentation is your intellectual property, not your provider’s, and it’s worth saying so plainly to whoever’s moving you across – not every provider treats it that way by default.
What do you actually own, and what does your provider hold?
More than people think, but not everything, and the gaps aren’t obvious until you go looking.
Your Microsoft 365 tenant is yours. A provider’s access to it should run through delegated, revocable permissions, not an account only they control. If it doesn’t, that’s worth asking about before you sign with anyone.
THE ONE THAT CATCHES PEOPLE OUT
Backup. You know you have it. What's less obvious is that the platform, its licence and its management often sit inside your provider's own vendor relationship, not as a simple add-on you can carry across yourself.
There are two honest ways to handle that. Some backup vendors support an in-place subscription transfer between providers, so history moves with you. Where that’s not available, the incoming provider stands up a fresh platform and runs it alongside the old one – typically around 30 days – so retention builds on the new one before the old one is switched off. Either way, ask who owns the subscription and how it would move, not just whether you have backups.
Not sure who owns your backup subscription? Book a consultation with Lucidity →
Can your current IT provider hold your systems hostage?
Rarely – New Zealand’s managed services market is small enough that most providers understand a clean handover benefits everyone, including the customer they’re losing. Documentation, credentials and recovery keys usually get shared without a fight. We apply the same standard in reverse: the environment belongs to the customer, and our job when we’re the one being left is comprehensive documentation and real transition support.
ONE OF THE HARDER HANDOVERS WE’VE INHERITED
An outgoing provider reluctant to share basic operational information, treating a fair amount of it as ``their data`` rather than the customer's - device build standards, deployment methods, recovery keys, system documentation and an asset register, all withheld. We told the client the risk that created from day one, and our team rebuilt the documentation from scratch while still handling day-to-day support, in places reverse-engineering configurations nobody had written down. Onboarding took much longer than a clean handover would have.
That’s closer to the worst case than the average, and outright refusal is rare. It does happen occasionally, though, which is why the next few sections are worth reading properly rather than skimming.
What do you have to do yourself?
A good onboarding is a partnership. Proposals get built on high-level information, and discovery routinely turns up things nobody mentioned at quoting stage – someone on your side needs to show up and validate what’s found.
You’ll also want one nominated champion coordinating across your teams and handling anything that needs a real person on site. A few hours a week from that person for the first month is a fair estimate. Sharing context – your VIP users, which processes can’t tolerate downtime – is what lets a new provider design around how you actually work rather than a generic template. Expect some disruption at go-live regardless, and give fast, honest feedback the moment something isn’t right.
Do you run both providers at once?
Usually, for part of the transition, which is why a straight cost comparison between providers can be misleading – for a few weeks you’re paying for two. That’s common enough that we bill the first month at 50% specifically to offset it, on any contract term. If a provider hasn’t mentioned this, ask how they expect the overlap to work.
Related: what managed IT actually costs in New Zealand → →
What does it cost to leave?
Two things worth checking with anyone, current provider included. First, your notice period – ours auto-renews annually unless you give at least a month’s written notice before it expires, and a short window is easy to miss. Second, whether migrating your own data out is included or billable – on our plans it’s chargeable, same as most honest providers, and better to know that before the final invoice than after.
Where a discount gets clawed back on exit, the fair version only pro-rates the unused portion of a specific project discount against the term remaining – never your everyday monthly discount, never the cost of bringing you on board. If a contract doesn’t draw that line, ask why.
Our own money-back position requires a 36-month agreement – not unusual in this market, and not something I’d claim as a first, but the condition belongs in the same sentence as the guarantee. If you read one anywhere without it, ask what it actually requires.
What should you ask before you sign with anyone?
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1
Who's the registrant on your domain, and whose email gets the transfer verification?
At Lucidity, you're the registrant with your own email listed, so you can request a transfer and get the confirmation directly - though releasing it still needs an unlock from whoever manages the platform. It's "you can direct the transfer," not "you can move it without us."
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2
Who owns the backup subscription, and how would it move if you left?
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3
What's excluded from "unlimited" support, particularly migration and restoration?
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4
How much continued support and documentation do you get after you leave?
None of these are trick questions. A provider with nothing to hide should answer every one in a sentence.
Want these answered for your setup? Book a consultation with Lucidity →
Wrapping up
None of this is meant to scare anyone off switching – most transitions go fine, and this market is small enough that bad behaviour catches up with people. The businesses that switch smoothly, though, are almost always the ones who asked these questions before they signed, not after.
If you’re weighing up a change, or you’ve inherited a mess like the one above, I’m happy to talk it through – no obligation. Email me at andrew@lucidity.co.nz or call us on 09 363-8888.
Top 10 questions asked about switching IT providers
Quick answers to the questions New Zealand businesses ask most before they change provider. Each one is covered in more detail above.
1. How long does it take to switch IT providers in New Zealand?
Around eight weeks from signing to steady state is typical, across four two-week phases: discovery, design, implementation and initial operation. Most delays come from discovery turning up more than expected, not from the technical migration itself.
2. What documentation should my outgoing IT provider hand over?
Microsoft partner details for licence transfer, all stored credentials, as-built documentation for servers and applications, onboarding and offboarding procedures, third-party contacts, and a handover meeting per business-critical application. It's your intellectual property, so it should come in full.
3. Who owns my Microsoft 365 tenant - me or my IT provider?
The tenant itself is yours. Your provider's access should run through delegated, revocable permissions rather than an account only they control. Backup services attached to the tenant are a separate question worth asking about specifically, since ownership there is less obvious.
4. Who owns my backup, and can it move with me?
Often the backup platform, licence and management sit inside your provider's own vendor relationship. Some vendors support an in-place subscription transfer so history moves with you; otherwise the new provider runs a fresh platform alongside the old one for around 30 days before the old one is switched off.
5. Can my IT provider refuse to hand over my systems?
It's rare in New Zealand's market, though not unheard of - documentation, credentials and recovery keys sometimes get withheld, usually through inertia rather than malice. Ask what your contract actually guarantees about handover before you need it, not after.
6. What do I have to do myself during a switch?
Nominate one champion to coordinate across your teams and validate what discovery finds - a few hours a week for the first month is a fair estimate. Share context like your VIP users and the processes that can't tolerate downtime, and give fast, honest feedback at go-live.
7. Should the old and new providers overlap during a switch?
Usually, yes, for at least part of the transition, which means budgeting for two IT bills briefly. Ask any new provider how they handle that overlap in their pricing before you sign. We bill the first month at 50% on any contract term to offset it.
8. How much notice do I have to give my current IT provider?
Check your contract's renewal clause specifically. Ours auto-renews annually unless at least a month's written notice is given before expiry - a short window that's easy to miss without a calendar reminder.
9. Does it cost extra to take my data with me when I leave?
On our plans, migrating your own data out is chargeable, same as most honest providers. Check whether it's included or billable before the final invoice rather than after, and check whether any discount gets clawed back on exit and on what basis.
10. Who should be the registrant on my domain name?
You should. At Lucidity you're the registrant with your own email listed, so you can request a transfer and receive the confirmation directly, though releasing it still needs an unlock from whoever manages the platform. If you're not sure who's listed on yours, book a consultation with Lucidity and we'll check it with you.
Mid-switch, or thinking about it?
Talk it through with Lucidity before you give notice. We'll tell you plainly if we're not the right fit.
