Running your IT and owning your IT are two different things

A company we know decided to change IT providers after four years. Then they tried to log into their own Microsoft 365 and found that the only account with full administrative rights was an address at their old provider's domain. Their company's email, files, and user accounts, and the one key to all of it belonged to the firm they had just given notice to.

Nobody did anything wrong on purpose. That is what makes this worth writing about.

Here is how it happens. During onboarding, your provider creates the workspace, registers the devices, and sets up the accounts. Whatever they put their own name on stays in their name, by default. The provider's email becomes the recovery contact. The provider's company is listed as the device owner. Their account is the one with full rights, because they were the one clicking. No inertia is required beyond the ordinary kind.

And nobody notices, because everything works. Ownership only becomes visible at the exact moment it becomes expensive: when you want to leave, when the provider goes out of business, or when an auditor asks who controls your systems.

If you are an HR manager, office manager, or founder who ended up responsible for IT, you can probably feel this even if you cannot name it. You have never logged into your device management console. You are not sure who holds the admin credentials. You never asked in a sales call, because nobody gave you the words for it.

The 6 things that should stay in your name

The questions matter less than the answers. Any provider will say yes to "do we own our stuff?"

What separates a transparent provider from one that creates dependency by accident is whether they can answer specifically, without checking.

Six questions. Any provider worth signing with can answer all of them in a single call, without checking.

Do you lose admin access when you outsource IT?

This is the fear that stops most people: "I cannot imagine not having admin access." You are not giving it away. A competent provider does need admin rights, because without them they cannot assign licenses, fix account problems, or automate onboarding. That is a reasonable ask, not a red flag.

The distinction that matters is different. Needing admin access is normal. Being your only admin is not. Your company should keep its own admin account active alongside your provider's. If they vanished tomorrow, you could still log in and keep working.

You are not handing over the keys. You are having a second set cut, and keeping yours.

Signs you are already more locked in than you think

• You have never seen your own device or software list.
• You do not know who holds your admin credentials.
• Nobody at your company has ever logged into your device management console.
• The answer to "can we have that exported?" is a meeting.

Most companies got here by accident, which is the whole point. Nobody locked you in deliberately. You just never asked, and nobody volunteered.

How deeploi handles ownership

We built deeploi for companies without an IT department or with a small one, which means we ask for a lot of access. So it is fair to hold deeploi to the list above.

Your workspace stays yours. Your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace belongs to your company, and we work inside it rather than owning it. Access is limited to a small group of trained staff and reviewed on a least privilege basis. Your own admin account stays active alongside ours, so you never need our permission to get into your own workspace.

Your device enrollment stays on your side. Your Apple Business Manager account is registered to your company, not to us, and you can disconnect us from it. Our device management platform is ours, and you see your fleet through the deeploi platform instead. For a company without IT staff, that is the right trade, because the alternative is a console nobody wants to learn.

Your licenses can move. We buy your Microsoft 365 licenses for you, which makes us the reseller on your invoice. It does not make the licenses ours. They sit in your workspace, and if you move to another provider the billing relationship transfers without touching your data.

FAQ

Do I lose access to my IT systems if I switch providers?

If ownership was set up correctly, switching means revoking the old provider's access, not rebuilding from scratch. Your data, accounts and settings stay exactly where they are.

Do I lose admin access to my own systems when I outsource IT?

No. Your provider needs admin rights to assign licenses, fix accounts and automate onboarding, but your own admin account should stay active alongside theirs. Ask for that in writing before you sign.

Who owns the Microsoft 365 licenses my IT provider bought for me?

Most providers buy them as a reseller, so the invoice is theirs while the licenses sit in your workspace. The question that matters is whether they can move to another provider. They can, without data loss.

What happens to my devices if I switch IT providers?

Devices enrolled through your own Apple Business Manager can be released and re-enrolled elsewhere. Devices enrolled under a provider's own account are much harder to recover. That is why enrollment is worth checking before you sign.