Before You Renew Your IT Contract, Ask These Questions
Your IT contract renewal is the one moment you have real leverage. Seven questions to ask before you sign — with our answers in writing.
Renewal season has a rhythm to it. A contract you signed a year or three ago is coming due, a renewal shows up, and signing it feels like the path of least resistance. Sometimes it is the right call. But the renewal is also the one moment in the whole relationship where you have real leverage — so before you sign, it’s worth an hour of plain questions.
None of these takes technical knowledge to ask. All of them have answers you can check, in writing. Ask them of your current provider — and of us, if you’re evaluating us. Our answers are below.
1. “Do I own my documentation and passwords — and can I have a copy today?”
Why it matters: your network documentation — how everything is configured, where the admin passwords live, how it all fits together — is the map of your business’s systems. If your provider holds the only copy, you don’t fully own your own network, whatever the contract says. The test isn’t what they promise. It’s whether they’ll hand it over when there’s nothing at stake.
Our answer: yes, and yes. We document your network as part of the service — configurations, admin credentials, how everything is set up — and that documentation is yours, from day one. Ask for a copy any time, including today, including if you never spend another dollar with us.
2. “If we leave, what exactly do we get back — and in what form?”
Why it matters: “you’ll get your data” can mean a complete, usable handover, or it can mean a raw file dump and a shrug. Ask what leaving actually looks like, step by step: documentation, passwords, configurations, data — in a form the next provider can actually use, with real transition help or without it.
Our answer: everything, in usable form, with a real transition. If we’re not the right fit, we hand over your complete network documentation, admin passwords, configurations, and data, and we help the handover happen cleanly. Not a data dump and a grudge. A company that’s easy to leave has to earn the stay every month — that’s the point.
3. “Is your pricing published — and is my renewal price in writing?”
Why it matters: a renewal is a price decision. If you can’t see what the service costs before the renewal conversation, you can’t tell whether your new number is fair, and you can’t compare it against anything. Quote-only pricing means you’re negotiating blind — at exactly the moment you’re about to commit again.
Our answer: our managed IT plans run $150–$300 per seat, per month, published on this website with worked examples and a calculator, so you can run your own number before you ever call us. That’s roughly $3,000 to $6,000 a month for a 20-person company. Your exact per-seat price is confirmed in writing before you commit to anything — at signing, and at renewal.
4. “What’s the notice period — and does this renewal lock us in again?”
Why it matters: two contracts can cost the same and commit you very differently. Ask how long the new term runs, how much written notice leaving requires, and whether the agreement renews automatically. The time to learn the exit terms is before you sign them, not the month you need them.
Our answer: give us 90 days. After the first 90 days, you can end your agreement with 30 days’ written notice — no long lock-in to renew into. We’d rather keep you with the work than with the paperwork.
5. “Who owns the licenses and the hardware?”
Why it matters: software licenses and equipment bought during the relationship have to belong to somebody. If your Microsoft 365 licensing runs through your provider’s account, or the firewall on your wall is theirs, leaving gets complicated and expensive in ways nobody mentioned at signing. Ask, item by item: the licenses, the hardware, the domain names, the phone numbers.
Our answer: you do. Your systems are yours. As one example of how we set things up: Microsoft 365 licensing is billed by Microsoft to you directly, in your own account — we show it in the math so your number is truly all-in, and it stays yours no matter who manages it.
6. “What’s actually included in this renewal — and what’s changed?”
Why it matters: renewals have a way of quietly reshaping a plan: something that was included becomes an add-on, or a price rises with nothing added. Ask for the included list, item by item, next to last term’s — monitoring, security, backups and whether those backups are tested, help-desk support, on-site support. If security is an upsell, the base plan isn’t finished.
Our answer: security is in every plan we sell — endpoint protection, email security, and multi-factor authentication — never sold as an add-on, and backups under our management are isolated and tested: restored on a schedule, not assumed.
7. “What condition is our setup actually in?”
Why it matters: a renewal signs you up for another term on top of whatever shape your systems are in right now — including the problems nobody has put in writing. Before you commit to a term, it’s worth one honest look: Are the backups really restoring? Who still has access that shouldn’t? What breaks first?
Our answer: that’s what the $495 Network & Risk Assessment is for — a fixed fee for a fixed scope: your network, email security, backups, and who has access to what. You get a written findings report with a prioritized fix list. The report is yours either way, whoever you renew with. And if you sign a managed agreement with us within 30 days, the full $495 is credited toward your onboarding.
Renew with your eyes open
Staying with your current provider may well be the right decision — plenty of relationships earn their renewal. The point isn’t to talk you out of anyone. It’s that a provider who answers these questions plainly, in writing, is telling you how they’ll treat you for the next term. And one who won’t answer them has told you something too.
Ask us these questions first — then decide.
Start with the $495 Network & Risk Assessment: a fixed-fee, fixed-scope review delivered as a written findings report with a prioritized fix list, yours to keep either way. Call (361) 704-1373, Mon–Fri 8am–5pm CT.
Related: What managed IT actually costs for a 20-person company
Not ready to book? Start with the checklist.
Our 10-Point Small Business IT Security Checklist walks you through the ten things that matter most — in plain English, no jargon. Work through it at your own pace. No sales call, no pitch — just the checklist.
Frequently asked questions
When should I start asking renewal questions?
Before the renewal is in front of you — ideally a few months ahead of the end of your term, while you still have time to act on the answers.
What if my provider won’t share our documentation or passwords?
Ask why, in writing. Your documentation describes your systems and your passwords open your accounts. A reluctance to hand them over is information — weigh it heavily before signing another term.
How much does managed IT cost for a 20-person company?
Our plans run $150–$300 per seat per month — roughly $3,000 to $6,000 a month for a 20-person company — depending on security needs and setup complexity. The full breakdown, with worked examples and a calculator, is in our cost guide on this site.
What is the $495 Network & Risk Assessment?
A fixed-fee, fixed-scope review of your network, email security, backups, and account access, delivered as a written findings report with a prioritized fix list — yours to keep either way. Sign a managed agreement within 30 days and the full $495 is credited toward your onboarding.
If we switch to Valhalla, what happens to our documentation?
You own it from day one — and if you ever leave, you take all of it with you: complete documentation, admin passwords, configurations, and data, in usable form, with a real transition. After the first 90 days, ending the agreement takes 30 days’ written notice.