Business owners, is your IT guy or Managed Services Provider holding you hostage? Do they have full control of your domain name and key operating systems making it nearly impossible to sever a relationship with them should something go wrong?

Eric Aguado, COO and Partner with ThrottleNet, appeared on TNtv to discuss how a company can avoid a potential hostage situation with an employee or current MSP vendor.

First, Aguado said a business should be listed as the owner of their own domain name. The domain is your web address such as whatever.com or whatever.net.

In some cases a corporate IT person or an MSP may have registered the domain in their name, even though the company paid for it. The IT person is then listed as the domain owner and, should the relationship go south, he or she can refuse to relinquish it or even sell it back, leaving the business in a lurch.

To avoid this problem the business owner should make every attempt to establish the company name or his or her name as the owner of the domain. This should take place on the registrar of the site where it was purchased. This includes sites like godaddy.com. It should be done when the domain is first registered.

Second, a business owner should establish password policies so they have access to all important business operations. This includes knowing the passwords for the firewall, domain, and all administrative functions.

Some IT staff members and/or MSPs have been known to keep this information to themselves for use as intellectual ammunition should the business wish to terminate their employment or services contract.

Third, companies should pay attention as to who actually owns their hardware. Some MSPs will provide Hardware As A Service much like a Software As A Service contract. Under this scenario the vendor may be providing all the company’s hardware and use it as leverage should a problem occur.

Aguado said Hardware As A Service can be an efficient use of budgeting and technology but companies should understand all the terms and conditions of their contract before signing on the dotted line.

The same holds true for software. Aguado said some MSPs have volume software license keys from Microsoft and other firms. Once installed, all of a company’s programs thus are in the name of the vendor not your business.

Should you wish to terminate your MSP they can remove your Windows Operating System from all your equipment bringing your business to a halt.

Aguado said it is always prudent for a company to own all the key aspects of their technology and have complete confidence in their IT provider.

For more information contact ThrottleNet at 866-826-5966.

Watch the full episode below!